Our Sick Society (and how to cure it!)

“Live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.”

Galatians 5:16

America is very sick. Unfortunately, many citizens don’t realize it or even recognize what’s really wrong with us. To many Americans, we are headed towards a more fair and just society. However, they are actually unaware of the precipice we are on and the dangers that lie ahead for us if we continue on this course. We all know that in many ways things just aren’t right in our country. But the cure we seek for it must be based on an accurate diagnosis of the problem. As every doctor knows, they must first accurately diagnose the problem to properly decide on the treatment for it. If they make the wrong diagnosis, the treatment that they prescribe to fix it may end up causing even greater harm. The same is true for our society.

The Problem

So, what are we sick with? What’s our problem?

To many Americans, they see our sickness as racial division, hatred towards other members of our country, unequal distribution of wealth, misinformation, homophobia, hate speech, police brutality, and religious zealotry. They often proclaim these as our illness when in reality they are only our symptoms. Underlying all of these symptoms is the illness of sin. When we look more closely, we see that these symptoms are caused by greed, anger, envy, laziness, lust, gluttony and pride. In other words, the seven deadly sins! This is the real problem in our nation and we must find solutions that will effectively deal with them.

Sin is also an individual problem. It is a problem built into every human being from birth. It cannot be eradicated by well-meaning social programs that target groups of people rather than individuals. Instead, it can only be treated individually. Just like a medical illness, no two people are exactly the same and so each individual must receive the proper treatment targeting their specific illness and circumstances. Consequently, each citizen must fight this illness of sin every day and seek treatment for it to keep it from harming themselves and others. There is also no immunity from it.

Another issue is that many Americans do not even recognize their sin, or the sins of others, as the underlying illness to our societal problems. On the contrary, they don’t see it as sin at all. Why? Because they have either rejected God entirely or have fallen away from Him and no longer read or trust in His Word. Consequently, they don’t know or recognize what sin is. So, if our leaders misdiagnose the problem as something other than sin, we end up with a treatment that is not effective. That appears to be what is happening today in America because the problems in our society are not going away despite our government’s attempt to treat them. Instead, the treatment they are applying often ends up encouraging more sin rather than reducing it.

Throughout history, governments have failed to effectively treat the problem of sin because it is an individual illness and not a societal illness. Governments can have effective economic, political and social policies that govern the lives of people in general, but those policies cannot remove the individual sins of its citizens. While governments can punish individuals for bad behavior (sin), that is not a treatment but rather a deterrent. The bad behavior (sin) persists because it has not been treated.

So, in reality, our problem in the United States is that our leaders have misdiagnosed the problems we face and have been applying policies that try to treat the symptoms rather than the real illness of sin.

The Cure

So, what is the treatment for sin? Is there a vaccine for it?

In Romans 8:23, Paul writes that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” He is declaring God’s truth that we are born sinful. In 1 John 1:8, John writes that “if we claim to have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” So it is clear that we all are infected with sin. And if we are honest, sin is at the heart of all of our problems. We also cannot get rid of sin in our earthly lives.  Sin will always be in us. Our only hope is to treat it and keep it from killing us (“For the wages of sin is death.” – Romans 6:23).

The only treatment that exists for sin is God’s Holy Spirit. The Apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 5:16 that we should “live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.” When we live by His Holy Spirit, it acts like a vaccine that does not allow the sin in us to destroy us. Like a medical vaccine, it gives us some level of protection and lessens the harmful effects. But it does not remove our sin nor cure it.

Is there a cure for sin? Fortunately, yes there is! It is faith in Jesus Christ! Only Jesus’ death on the cross can remove our sin. Jesus declared that he came to save the world from sin (John 10:9) by offering himself as the sacrifice for sin. Through His sacrifice on the cross, we are freed from the consequences of our sin when we put our faith and trust in Jesus alone! However, the cure cannot be experienced in this life, only in the life to come. In our earthly life, we have the treatment and the promise of the cure, but only if we put our faith and trust in Jesus!

When governments try to treat the illness of sin with social program and policies, the end result is that very little changes and the situation often gets worse. It is because they fail to even consider that our problem is spiritual and not physical. As a result, they ignore God and the spiritual solution He offers and thus fail to pursue the needed course of treatment for our problems. They are blind to the truth of both the cause and the cure!

So, when it comes to treating or curing the sin in our culture, it is necessary that each individual get the treatment for sin and accept the cure for it. The government cannot do that for them, nor can anyone else. It also cannot be mandated like a vaccine, but must be chosen voluntarily by each individual.

We as Christians need to speak this truth into our culture and lead people to Christ, the only treatment and cure for sin that exists!