therefore, the world lieth in sin

“…The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live…”
(Ecclesiastes 9.3)
 
Wherewith shall I come before the LORD,
and bow myself before the high God?
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good;
and what doth the LORD require of thee,
but to do justly, and to love mercy,
and to walk humbly with thy God?
​(Micah 6.6, 8)

​america’s mad state of rebellion:
therefore, the world lieth in sin
30 march 2022

What is to be done when not just one person or a few people, but an entire society comes to believe and act as though madness is the norm; that insanity is sanity; that madness and insanity are the normal state of existence?
 
Columnist and reporter, Sharon Zhang, recently wrote, as so many have, of a form of madness that is viewed by many, many 10s of millions of Americans as normal, appropriate, and desirable. Actually, this piece catalogues not “a form of madness,” but multiple forms of madness.
 
“… the average bonus for Wall Street employees rose to $257,500 in 2021 – or roughly five times the average salary for U.S. workers. This is an increase of 20 percent from 2020; meanwhile, the average American only saw wage raises of 2 percent in 2021, which is far less than the inflation rate of 7 percent…”
 
Note, please, we are only talking here about Wall Street bonuses, not salaries. Bonuses, above and beyond salary, were 5 times the salaries of U.S. worders. And, we should not, on one side we are talking about “employees.” On the other, “workers.” I accept this distinction as Wall Street “employees,” for all their talk of the American work ethic, have never done a days work in their lives.
 
“… the average bonus for Wall Street employees has increased by a whopping 1,743 percent since 1985, when the average bonus was $13,970. If minimum wage had kept up with Wall Street bonuses, it would be $61.75 an hour, or 8.5 times higher than the current minimum wage of $7.25.
 
Not only do Wall Street employees not work, but they earn more for not working than ever before.
 
Millions of low-wage essential workers are struggling to make ends meet while taking care of our country’s basic human needs. Meanwhile, Wall Streeters are getting massively rewarded for high-risk behaviors that endanger the entire economy” …
 
Not only do Wall Street employees not work, they engage in practices and behaviors that hurt working American’s and put the entire U.S. and world economy at risk—as was the case a decade ago.
 
“… the minimum wage has remained stagnant since 2009. Not only is $7.25 an hour insufficient to survive nearly anywhere in the U.S., it’s also considered poverty wages in many places. With each year that goes by, that wage is worth less; with inflation, $7.25 in today’s dollars is equivalent to only $5.50 in 2009 dollars.” [1]
 
Not only do American workers actually work, and work harder and smarter than they did a decade ago, they earn less for doing so.
 
In what sane persons mind; in what sane society’s collective consciousness; in what sane legislative body’s policies does any of this sound like a good idea, reasonable, sane?
 
None. No, not one.
 
On its very face, such realities are clear indications of mad insanity. One needn’t be the least bit philosophical or religious to see the clear, abject madness of such conditions. One would think that the drive to survive built into human DNA over millions of years would be enough to cancel the existence of such nihilistic and destructive insanity.
 
That said, those who live in American society claim to be, if not philosophical, religious. Many tens of millions of them claim to be followers of one, Jesus, Son of God. And several millions of these “Christians,” those who once called themselves “Mormons,” also claim to follow Jesus—going so far as to call themselves, “Saints.” But, notwithstanding scripture’s unambiguous opposition, millions of these “Christians,” “Mormons,” and “Saints” have fallen prey to the sort of madness described in Zhang’s piece. In this, at least, there is no hypocrisy. They callously live the false doctrine they espouse—economic inequality is normal, appropriate, and justifiable before God.
 
So, again, to those who normalize madness, we must speak of God’s own word. They have, of course, heard it before, these madmen and women. Having rejected the word of God in the past, they will, likely, reject it once more. Still, we do not wish to be guilty of one of ancient Israel’s greatest sins: the failure to fulfill its calling to the world.
 
“Just look at my servant, whom I grasped,
   the one I chose, in whom I was pleased.
I placed my spirit upon him
   that he should[2] generate justice among the nations.
He won’t call out, or lift
   or make his voice heard in public[3].
He doesn’t so much as trample a crushed blade of grass,
   or an already sputtering wick
      to faithfully produce justice.
He is not to grow feint[4] or discouraged
   until he has established justice on earth;
      for the ends of the earth are in anxious expectation of his instruction.
This is what the God, Yahweh, said--
   the creator and expander of the heavens,
      the one who stretches out the earth and spreads out its life[5],
who grants life[6] to all peoples upon it
   and breath who live[7] on it--
‘I, Yahweh, called you, as is right,
   and would strengthen you and watch over you
and present you as a promise[8] to peoples
   and an example[9] to nations,
to open eyes that are blind,
   to lead captives out of prison
      from imprisonment those who abide in darkness.’”[10]
 
It’s very sad, don’t you think—the world, left without a warning voice because those called to warn wouldn’t lift a finger? Like that ancient nation, Jesus’ disciples today are “sent… out to testify and warn the people, and it becometh every man who hath been warned to warn his neighbor.”[11]
 
 And here is our warning in relation to the madness of the sort of economic inequality so well described in Zhang’s piece.
 
“It is not given that one man should possess that which is above another, wherefore the world lieth in sin.”[12]
 
You see? Inequality is sin. Economic inequality is sin. No matter how one dresses it up; no matter how normal it is presented to be; no matter how often and vociferously it is defended and justified, economic inequality is a form of madness. In God’s economy it is abnormal. It is not how the cosmos was created to function. It is indicative of a world wallowing in sin and in open rebellion against God. Its only end is disfunction, collapse, and destruction.
 
Unfortunately, a people, a faith, a society engulfed in this form of sinful madness to the extent that America is loses, as we have already said, the very ability to discern truth; to distinguish madness from sanity.
 
“Nevertheless, in your temporal things you shall be equal, and this not grudgingly, otherwise the abundance of the manifestations of the Spirit shall be withheld.”[13]
 
It is, therefore, difficult to see a way out of the present madness or a path that leads to future sanity. Repentance requires enough discernment to recognize and acknowledge sin. But the “manifestations of the Spirit,” so essential in revealing sin, have been and are disrupted; drowned in a flood of lust.
 
In calling for economic equality, we do not call for religious programs or movements. We only call for moral rectitude consistent with cosmic principles of happiness, advancement, and endurance as God, Himself, has outlined them.
 
We will not slacken in our commitment to warn concerning the madness. We will not cease in extending an invitation back from insanity to sanity. If we are unsure and doubtful concerning the possibility of reformation, we will plead before God, as one anxious, yet determined father once did,
 
“Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”[14]
 
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!


[1]“If Minimum Wage Kept Up With Wall Street Bonuses, It Would Be $61.75 an Hour,” Truthout).
[2] I understand this imperfect verb to be modal.
[3] Literally, “outside, in the street.”
[4] Again, the imperfect verb is read in a modal sense.
[5] Literally, “offspring, seed.”
[6] Literally, “breath.”
[7] Literally, “walk.”
[8] Traditionally, “covenant.”
[9] Literally, “light.”
[10] Isaiah 42.1-7
[11] DC 88.81
[12] DC 49.20
[13] DC 70.14
[14] Mark. 9.24