Sin is fun; for a season. So many sins that we commit are at one point fun to us. Just like at one point pornography was fun to so many visiting this site. The only thing is that many of those same people can tell you what a nightmare this sin can be as well. Wez puts it to the point very effectively with this blog. Thank you Wez for your input to this blog. – Brian Mac
Who likes a scandal or a spicy story? The Bible is full of them, especially the Old Testament. The story I found is from 2 Samuel 13. The reason it got my attention wasn’t that it has deception, sex and murder, (although that did assist my interest), it was because of the way it revealed the truth about a process that occurs when passion and desire become our guides or are let off the leash to play with our life.
King David had a son, Amnon, and a beautiful daughter named Tamar. Unfortunately, Amnon became infatuated and desired his sister, and this came to the attention of his friend Jonadab. Jonadab thought Amnon should have what he wanted so he devised a shrewd plan which Amnon listened to and decided to carry out. He pretended to be ill and when David came to see him Amnon asked if Tamar could prepare some food and serve it to him. David granted his wish. As she was preparing the food Amnon asked that everyone ‘go out’. When she came near to serve him he ‘took hold of her’ and said, ‘Come, lie with me’. She refused and asked him not to ‘do this disgraceful thing’. ‘However, he would not listen to her: since he was stronger than she, he violated her and lay with her.’
‘Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred… and Amnon said to her, “Get up, go away!” But she said to him, “No, because this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other that you have done to me!”‘ After he had thrown her out she cried aloud, tore her garments and put ashes on her head.
All this came to the attention of her brother Absalom who hated Amnon for what he had done. ‘But Absalom did not speak to Amnon either good or bad.’ Two years later Absalom organised a big party and invited everybody including Amnon. ‘And Absalom commanded his servants, saying, “See now, when Amnon’s heart is merry with wine… put him to death”. And the servants of Absalom did to Amnon just as Absalom has commanded.’
This story reveals the process of sin and death, a process we need to pay careful attention to. Amnon’s death was no accident. It was the direct result of an untamed thought life. He didn’t take his thoughts captive (2 Corinthians 10:5). When we neglect to control our thoughts they will develop into sinful passions.
The second mistake Amnon made was listening to bad advice. Whenever we are battling a sinful passion it will always attract Satan’s advice. If we are prepared to listen, it’s as good as done. We will start putting things in place to carry out our desire. His third mistake was getting alone with his desire. Amnon ordered everyone to ‘go out’. Being alone and unaccountable is a fatal situation for any Christian.
Sin is fun. And Christians shouldn’t be so naive about it. Many aspects of ‘the sinner’s life’ are a rush, fun and exciting. That’s why people do it! People start using drugs because they get a rush. People get drunk because it’s fun. People have affairs because it’s exciting. But there is a catch – it’s only for a season. It will not last.
I have no doubt Amnon was having a rush when he ‘lay’ with Tamar but as soon as it was over he hated it. Everything he wanted, the passion of his heart, gave him no fulfilment. The opposite occurred. Amnon’s experience is the same as so many, and not just from a sexual encounter either. I’ve heard people who ‘did drugs’ say the same thing. It’s a universal principle – sin is fun, but only for a season
What I find most interesting in this story is Tamar’s response to Amnon after he throws her out, ‘…this wrong in sending me away is greater than the other you have done to me!’ What did she mean by that statement? I believe it was all to do with owning up. In other words, ‘The fact that you won’t take responsibility for what you’ve just done is worse than the fact you raped me’. She was the evidence of his sin now and he refused to take responsibility.
What Tamar was searching for from Amnon was the same thing God was looking for in the garden after Adam and Eve sinned – ownership. God asked the question, ‘Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to?’ He didn’t ask this because He wanted to know; He had watched them do it! He wanted to see if they would take responsibility, which was now a bigger issue than the sin itself.
Two years later Amnon is at a party, and as his passion demands, he’s having fun. He must have thought all was forgotten but unknown to him, the process of sin and death was just about to complete its course. He was ‘merry with wine’ when payday unexpectedly arrived. His sin finally took responsibility for him. Here another principle emerges regarding sin – own it before it owns you.
It’s important that we take notice of the process and principles this story reveals. It all starts with a single thought. Untamed thoughts develop into sinful passions which are closely followed by sinful actions. Sin plays for keeps and always ends in death (physical and/or spiritual).
The human race is in a hopeless situation as the process of sin and death is irreversible. But God, Who is rich in mercy, has intervened. Jesus completed the process on our behalf by dying on the cross. The wondrous cross of Christ broke the power of sin and death both physically and spiritually. The complete victory of the cross has been forwarded on to us with one condition – we must own up. We must humbly confess our sin and repent. God cannot resist humble people and He always forgives those who turn from their sinful ways.
Wez Hitzke of Reasonablefaith.com.au