“They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless.”

I was reading the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans when I came across this in chapter one. What was particularly interesting to me was what Paul said when he wrote “…they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator who is bless forever! Amen.”

Sometimes, we Christians, want to condemn people for behavior that seems perverse or evil; people like pedophiles, whores, hookers, pornographers, pimps, sluts, politicians, lesbians, homos, perverts, rapists and the such. In essence we condemn their behavior which is nothing more than symptom.

All of those acts and lifestyles are symptoms of people who’ve suppressed the truth about God…that he is God, he is glorious, and he is Creator. The truth that has been suppressed is that He is worthy of worship. When suppression happens, as Paul observed, people exchange worshiping the Creator for worshiping the creature (or, created things). We become self-worshippers.

In reading history one would have to conclude that Paul gave a pretty fair assessment of Roman life. Historians and archeologist have documented the perversity and pleasure that drove Roman culture and society.

Paul didn’t just pick out the outrageously perverse, he gave us a snapshot of the full spectrum of those who suppress the truth about God; some are full of envy, but aren’t a pedophile; some murder, but aren’t a whore; some catalyze strife, but aren’t hookers; some practice deceit, but aren’t pornographers; some engage in maliciousness, but aren’t pimps; some are gossips and slanderers, but aren’t sluts.

Right in the middle of his list the Apostle Paul plants the fact that they are “haters of God.” One has to hate God more than ones self in order to suppress the truth about God. God can’t be as important as I am…therefore “I hate God” is the reality.

As such they can be insolent or haughty, lesbian or politician, boastful and inventors of evil, homos and perverts, disobedient to parents and foolish, or rapists; and in so being they are faithless, heartless and ruthless. That pretty much described life in Rome.

As I read this it sounds all too familiar; it sounds like America. All the junk is just symptom of what we’ve done to suppress the truth about God…that he alone is worthy of worship.