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Changing The Label Makes Sin More Dangerous
One of America’s great needs is to recognize sin for what it is. We are too prone to explain it away or to soften its hours. Wilbur Chapman tells of a distinguished minister who preached on sin, and one of the leading members came to talk to him in his study. He said to the preacher, “We don’t want you to talk so plainly about sin because the more our boys and girls hear you talking about sin, the more easily they will become sinners. Call sin a mistake if you will, but do not speak so plainly about it being just plain outright sin.”
The preacher took down a small bottle marked “POISON” from the shelf and showed it to the visitor. It was a bottle of strychnine. He said, “I see what you want me to do. You want me to change the label. Now, suppose I took off this label marked ‘Poison’ on this bottle and put on some mild label, such as ‘Oil of Anise.’ Don’t you see what happens? The milder you make the liable, the more dangerous you make the poison!”
This is not new, for the religious people demanded that Isaiah and Amos water-down their preaching, saying repeatedly, “Do not prophesy to us right things; speak to us smooth things, prophesy deceits” (Isaiah 30.9-10; cf. Amos 2.12; 7.13).
Solomon declared, “He that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the righteous, both of them alike are an abomination to Jehovah” (Proverbs 17.15).
