Just When You Thought....

Just when you thought we've gone about as low as we can go come two stories that make you do a double take. The mayor (Sam Adams) of Portland is back on the job this week after admitting last week that he lied about having a sexual relationship with a male teenager. Click on this link from the Seattle Times for more on the story. According to the story: The police union and four Portland newspapers had called for his resignation, but Adams found strong support to remain, including a Friday rally at City Hall that drew more than 400 backers.

Rumors of the affair dogged Adams throughout his 2007 campaign for mayor. The teenager, Beau Breedlove, told The Oregonian that he and the mayor did not have sex until he turned 18, the legal age of consent in Oregon, but the mayor had twice kissed him while he was 17 years old.
Now the shake your head part. People and the media were outraged that the mayor lied about the affair. No one seemed upset that it was a homosexual relationship with a teenager!

It doesn't get any better with the next one. A Sacramento State grad is trying to auction off her virginity to help pay for graduate school. I'm not making this up! From the Sacramento CBS affiliate's website comes this story:

The 22-year-old who is using the pseudonym Natalie Dylan for safety reasons is going through a legal brothel in Nevada to sell her virginity. "The main purpose of this is to finance a couple things in my life," Dylan told CBS13. "I think empowerment of women is picking yourself up and doing something on your own to better yourself."

Dylan says she's already taken a polygraph test to prove her virginal status, and is also willing to undergo a medical exam.

The auction will take place at the Bunny Ranch in Carson City, Nevada with bids coming in through their website. Owner Dennis Hof tells CBS13 that eBay rejected the auction, so he'll handle the entire process.

Apparently the Internet based auction is legal because prostitution is legal in Carson City, Nevada. Kudos to eBay for rejecting the auction! Apparently 10,000 bids have been submitted in the auction for flesh and one of them was reported to be as high as $4,000,000!

These events are simply sad. It's hard to point a finger when you've got a 4x4 log in your own eye, but the words of Jesus seem appropriate. Many non-Christ followers love to cite Jesus' relative silence on sins of the flesh and quote his words to the condemning Pharisees toward the woman caught in adultery in John 8. I don't share their interpretation of Jesus' stand on morality (because the Bible is the Word of God, and Jesus too), but I'm saying this is a popular argument for people who need to justify their behavior. However, they seem to overlook Jesus' words to the woman in verse 11, when he says he does not condemn her but warns: "go and from now on sin no more." No doubt the Apostle Paul understood what drives stuff like this (1 Corinthians 6:18-20; Romans 7:13-24).

And notice I've resisted the temptation to add the recent and bizarre defense mounted by the now impeached Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, who was convicted by his own legislature of trying to sell his state's Senate seat. He's gotten way too much air time already.

All of these are signs of depravity. These are not new sins. The sale of flesh has been going on way before any of us were occupying earth space. However, the blatant, willful disregard for morality seems to be getting worse. We are digging deeper and deeper in a pit with no escape. We have become more arrogant in our sin. We are simply reaping what we've sown. None of us is above sin, but those who are trying to order their steps after the teachings and example of Jesus should remember that the Father sent Him to rescue us from our depravity. Only Christ offers redemption from our continued path toward darkness. And He left the church to point the way by providing hope, clarity, a voice in the darkness, direction, help, and leadership to salvation through Him.

In Isaiah's prophetic word about the suffering Jesus we find these chilling words for our times: "All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way;" The urgency for imperfect, but redeemed Christ-followers to model, share and talk about a different way has never been greater! One day it will be too late. As the old Apostle says at the end of his Hymn to Christ: "so at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." Church, we've got a lot of work to do if we are to reach more people and impact their lives for Christ, so at His name they will bow obediently and willingly instead of by the force of eternal judgment.