Degeneracy
Moral Degeneracy
Moral degeneracy is
always related to the sin nature trend of self-righteous arrogance or legalism.
Moral degeneracy expresses itself in the sins of arrogance, the function of
arrogance like revenge, gossip, slander, maligning, crusader arrogance,
spirituality by asceticism.
Moral degeneracy is a
distortion, it combines morality with arrogance in the fragmented life and
contends that such modus operandi is spirituality. In rightly dividing the word
of truth then the believer must distinguish between morality which is related
to laws of divine establishment, and virtue which is related to the protocol
plan of God, and especially the function of the ten problem-solving devices.
Moral Degeneracy
1. Legalism unchecked
results in moral degeneracy.
2. Moral degeneracy
expresses itself in various sins of arrogance. E.g. motivational sins such as
jealousy, bitterness, vindictiveness, implacability, hatred, self-pity,
hypersensitivity, seeking to change others to conform to the pattern of
legalism. Secondly there are functional sins such as revenge, inordinate
ambition combined with inordinate competition to form conspiracy, slander,
maligning, gossiping, judging, crusader arrogance resulting in Christian
activism which results in the destruction of property, civil disobedience,
violence, and even in Christians committing murder in the name of Christ.
There are the sins of
asceticism including the commitment of heresies, extreme self-denial, and
self-mortification, abstinence from normality, abnormal austerity.
3. Moral degeneracy
substitutes human ability, human energy, human power, for the ability and the
energy and the power of God the Holy Spirit.
4. Moral degeneracy
justifies sinful and evil action through distorting morality into a system for
justifying tyranny and evil.
5. Moral degeneracy
follows the pattern of post-salvation sinning in three categories: a. Implode;
b. Explode; c. Revert. Degeneracy is defined as decline from standards
considered normal, to revert from divine standards, to sink to a state below
normal for the protocol plan of God.
If moral degeneracy
has any predominant characteristic it is the tendency to judge others. We will
classify this tendency as judgement arrogance. Judgement arrogance is the function
of the self-righteous legalist who is seeking to impose his false standards on
others. He is judging them for not accepting his standards; he is judging them
for not being like he is. He is in moral degeneracy.
Immoral Degeneracy
Immoral degeneracy
results from the sin nature’s trend toward lascivious/lawlessness [antinomianism].
It is a part of the fragmented life and is manifest in sexual sins, chemical
sins [drug addiction or an alcoholic problem], sins related to crime. In the
status of fragmentation believers are capable of the sins of antinomianism.
Perpetuation in the fragmented life results in the Christian committing the
sins of antinomianism and entering into a state of immoral degeneracy. In other
words if you don’t check fragmentation you are going to end up in what the
Bible calls corruption.
The reaction of
legalism to antinomianism results in the heresy of faith plus, or salvation by
works, and spirituality by works. Legalism erroneously contends that believers
who commit the sins of antinomianism and perpetuate this fragmentation are
really not saved in the first place because they didn’t add something to faith.
Then we have the
problem of judgement arrogance, the function of the self-righteous legalist who
seeks to impose his standards on others and judges them for not accepting these
false or non-pertinent standards.
Loneliness is one of
the easiest of all problems to resolve. Any time you are lonely you can thank
God for it because loneliness is often a means of accelerating your spiritual
growth. Once you have reached a certain point and you have a greater capacity
for love, for friendship, for happiness, when you are using the problem-solving
devices, all of a sudden that loneliness comes to a halt and you find yourself
involved in wonderful relationships with people as a result of your momentum in
the protocol plan of God.