Just Business

If there is one thing that I am absolutely confident of it is that the scripture teaches and experience confirms the total depravity of human beings apart from God's grace. While this does not mean that people are as bad as they could possibly be it does mean that there is no aspect of human life, and thus human culture, that is not distorted by sin. Occasionally we all hear about things that remind us of just how debased our culture can be when it no longer attempts to even maintain the appearance of godliness. Dr. Mohler addresses one such example on his blog this week describing a website whose expressed purpose is to aid people looking to have an adulterous affair. You can read Dr. Mohler's comments HERE.

What is most disturbing to me isn't even the website or the user statistics. It is the fact that people are able to so effectively rationalize these kinds of things. The most impactful part of the article for me is the following paragraph where Dr. Mohler records the view of the website founders wife on his activity.


"Biderman’s wife, Amanda, seems unconcerned about both the business and her husband’s chosen role as the captain of the adultery industry. In a statement of almost complete moral evasion, she says: “Really, the business itself doesn’t match who he is as a person — it’s not our lifestyle or value system or any of that.” Well, here’s a clue: if you conceive, establish, and run the business, it is your value system. When “Life is short. Have an affair.” is your motto, adultery is “who you are as a person,” even if you never have an actual affair."


Dr. Mohler nails it when he points out that one cannot simply separate their actions from their identity. It seems that we have come to a place in our culture where people can justify and separate heinous actions from themselves because they profited from them. Apparently if you are in the process of making money all bets are off. What is more many people insist that they should be identified based upon their own self image rather than as a result of their actual lives.


I recall a few months ago watching a TV show where a person who had done something unpleasant kept repeating that "it wasn't like them" and was "outside of their character" to do what they had done. If, however, they in fact did "it" then it was exactly like them to have done it and now, having done it, it was perfectly consistent with their character to do so.


Every one of us has a flawed character and are constantly struggling against our sinful nature. It is most unfortunate that we are seeing a proliferation of companies who are enablers to and profiting from wickedness. What is more unfortunate, however, is that it is becoming so easy to distance oneself from the reality that we are rebellious sinners who stand in opposition to God. This blindness to our true condition is unfortunate because without that realization we cannot humble ourselves before God to avail ourselves of His saving and renewing grace. Let us pray for revival in our country so that many would be saved from pursuing such destructive madness.