TACIT PERMISSION

TACIT PERMISSION

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Galatians [All GW today.] 5:7-10 You were doing so well. Who stopped you from being influenced by the truth? The arguments of the person who is influencing you do not come from the one who is calling you. A little yeast spreads through the whole batch of dough. The Lord gives me confidence that you will not disagree with this. However, the one who is confusing you will suffer God's judgment regardless of who he is. [1Cor.5:6]

“The latest sex scandal involving federal law enforcement officials has claimed its first high-level victim, with Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) chief Michele Leonhart stepping down after a Department of Justice Inspector General's (IG) report documented that DEA agents in Colombia had participated in "sex parties" with prostitutes -- in some cases hired by the very drug cartels the agents were supposed to be fighting. This comes following a similar well-publicized scandal in Colombia (where prostitution is tolerated) involving Secret Service agents, but the IG report covered problems of sexual harassment and misconduct not only in the DEA, but also in the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Meanwhile, the Defense Department continues to struggle with problems of sexual assault and pornography in the military.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest insisted, "The president ... maintains a very high standard for anybody who serves in his administration." Perhaps, however, what President Obama needs to do is engage in some soul-searching about his party's unqualified affirmation of the values of the sexual revolution -- namely, sex without boundaries (such as homosexuality) and without consequences (hence the necessity of abortion). If it is not permissible for the society or culture to demand sexual self-restraint from anyone, it inevitably makes it harder to demand such restraint even in the professional context of the military or law enforcement, which by now, should be very evident.”

  In reading over this morning’s messages the 2 paragraphs above from Family Research Council (FRC) stirred several memories with ensuing consideration.

  The earliest being one of Grandmother McGee’s repeated reminders that “It only takes one rotten apple to spoil the whole barrel full!”

  Then I thought of chapters 5 in 1Corinthians and Galatians.

  Next came a teaching from union classes decades ago for we elected representatives: The goal is not to always win the case at hand. In the flurry of negotiating do your best to get small concession(s) that can later be applied as a precedent (model), tacit (unstated but inferred) permission in later situations.

  And of course management had the same training. The trick was to find the white collars that dozed thru their classes or were Carter-like babes in the woods lacking in street smarts.

  Lastly I sit pondering Jude’s words from centuries past: “Dear friends, I had intended to write to you about the salvation we share. But something has come up. It demands that I write to you and encourage you to continue your fight for the Christian faith that was entrusted to God's holy people once for all time. Some people have slipped in among you unnoticed. Not long ago they were condemned in writing for the following reason: They are people to whom God means nothing. They use God's kindness as an excuse for sexual freedom and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. I want to remind you about what you already know: The Lord once saved his people from Egypt. But on another occasion he destroyed those who didn't believe. He held angels for judgment on the great day. They were held in darkness, bound by eternal chains. These are the angels who didn't keep their position of authority but abandoned their assigned place. What happened to Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities near them is an example for us of the punishment of eternal fire. The people of these cities suffered the same fate that God's people and the angels did, because they committed sexual sins and engaged in homosexual activities. Yet, in a similar way, the people who slipped in among you are dreamers. They contaminate their bodies with sin, reject the Lord's authority, and insult his glory.” (Jude 1:3-7)

EBB4