No, you can’t! All right, I know that’s the title of a Statler Brothers’ song, but the principle is true whether it’s about chocolate cake or stealing someone else’s girl.
There are rules about that. Some are written down while others are so obviously true they don’t need to be written down. You can’t have your cake and eat it too – and, you can’t have your own wife and someone else’s wife too. As I said, there are rules about that.
A syndicated writer recently made some comments on the lives of “soap-opera” families:
“They are reputed to be fiction,
but I think they are all too often a
very clear picture of many homes
and families all over this nation.
Maggie is married to Jason, but
she has been to bed with three other
men. Jennifer is married to Brad, but on the nights
Brad is not home, she is out with Bart or Bert or Bret
(the names are fictitious to preserve the semblance
of gentility).
Jerry is having a fling with two women, although he is
married to Jo Ann. I don’t know where the writers get
their ideas, but some of them live on Main St., USA.”
That statement is quite broad, but isn’t it possible that some of our neighbors get the idea for their “fling” by viewing 21st century television? Or movies, or magazines? Or is it really vice-versa? Do the magazines and movies get the idea for their “drama” by watching the folks next door?
Even our media types are concerned about rising “amorality” (defined as “lacking a moral sense; unconcerned with the rightness or wrongness of something…”). They like our modern “pluralism,” which is a second cousin to amorality, but they fear that some who subscribe to that viewpoint need to be more careful how they apply it.
A decade ago a man named George was arrested for armed robbery. The evidence against him was compelling, and the sentence was about to be given. George had his attorney go to the District Attorney to plead for mercy. Since George had no prior arrests the D. A. was willing to consider a suspended sentence. But when he asked George to return the money taken in the robbery George refused. He said that his family needed that money and he was not going to return it. Guess what – George is still in prison in a western state. Why? Because you “can’t have your Kate and Edith too.”
The religious world has not helped at all. Many are defining the word “repent” as simply saying, “I’m sorry.” But a first grade student should be able to see the flaw in that idea. And, when we turn to the Bible we find that to “repent” means much more than merely saying “I’m sorry.” Note the words the Holy Spirit inspired in 2 Corinthians 7:10:
“For godly sorrow produces repentance to salvation, not to be regretted: but the sorrow of the world produces death.”
George’s problem was that he thought he could fool the Judge and the District Attorney into letting him go because he said he was “sorry.” But he was not sorry at all. In fact, his “sorry” was exactly what is called the “sorrow of the world” in 2 Corinthians 7:10. No, it was not the “godly sorrow,” and it didn’t work for George, nor will it work for someone who wants his “Kate and Edith too.”
Is this hard to understand? Is this “deep theology”? Is this “legalism” or some form of religious bigotry? Or is it just using the reasoning ability that human adults use all the time. You can’t ignore that which is obvious to all.
The answer to this issue is found in the Bible, but it is also understood in virtually every segment of human thought. It perfectly reflects the working of the human brain. Check out the following:
- I like your car, so I take it when you’re not looking. Now, it’s mine.
- If I come to understand that I have done wrong, I must feel remorse for stealing it. But I can keep your car, because I said, “I’m sorry”? Yeah, right!
- You have a wife, but you like mine too. You steal my wife, but then realize your sin. You tell me “I’m sorry I took your wife, but I’m going to keep her.” Now, you’re all right with me and with God? Yeah, right! You had better lock your door at night.
- At the store I see one of those new I-Pods. The price is $200, but they are small enough that I can stick it in my pocket. The next day, the police come to my house and find the stolen item. I realize that I should not have taken it, so I tell the storeowner “I’m sorry – but I sure like that I-Pod. So I’ll keep it.”
No one in their right mind would think that makes sense – especially if it involves your wife, or your car, or your I-Pod.
True repentance is not just mouthing, “I’m sorry.” It is changing your mind and your behavior. If you take someone else’s wife, repentance demands that you give her back. You must have a “godly sorrow,” and only that will result in repentance that leads to forgiveness. Check that out in the Bible – and in your common sense.
