DANGER SIGNAL

The late Dr. J. Wilbur Chapman used to tell of a Methodist preacher who often spoke on the subject of sin. He minced no words, but defined sin as “that abominable thing that God hates.” A leader in his congregation came to him on one occasion and urged him to cease using the ugly word. Said he: “Dr. Blank, we wish you would not speak so plainly about sin. Our young people, hearing you, will be more likely to indulge in sin. Call it something else, as ‘inhibition,’ or ‘error’ or a ‘mistake,’ or even ‘a twist in our nature’.”

“I understand what you mean,” the preacher remarked, and going to his desk brought out a little bottle. “This bottle,” he said, “contains strychnine. You will see that the red label here reads ‘Poison’. Would you suggest that I change the label, and paste one on that says, ‘Wintergreen?’ The more harmless the name the more dangerous the dose will be.”

His critic saw the point. Sin is sin — and as it is defined and pointed out in the Bible there can be no doubt of God’s hatred of it, and that its wages is death. It is a dangerous thing to call it by any other name, for sin by any name is evil, and evil never changes its character or its effects.

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