DISCIPLE

Aristotle wrote: "Shame is the mark of a base man and belongs to a character capable of shameful acts." His error was dividing mankind into different categories, some base, some not base. God's analysis of humanity is that all men are base and capable of shameful acts, "for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). "There is none that doeth good, no not one" (Romans 3:12). Psychologists treat shame as the problem in itself, but they are wrong. They do a great disservice to mankind, teaching people to sin without shame. Shame on them! Shame is not the problem; sin is! Shame comes from sin, and sin must be repented of if there is to be forgiveness. Their false teaching only insures the judgment of God upon the unashamed and unrepentant. "Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore they shall fall among them that fall: at the time that I vi...

It was a few weeks after my mother’s funeral. The ache in my heart was still excruciating. I could hardly think of her without tears. I went about my work as a groceryboy in a mechanical sort of way. The owner of the store was away at lunch when the woman and her ill-mannered son arrived.     She flounced in through the front door with her incorrigible offspring at her heels. He made straight for the peanut barrel. In those days, long before lettuce was sold by the pound or steaks were wrapped in cellophane, the grocery store was a homey sort of place that you could enter without an engraved calling card, and where you could stop without having to observe traffic signals as you pushed a chrome-trimmed baby carriage around. I went on about my work of sacking potatoes and left the woman and her son to their own devices.     Suddenly, during a lull in my own operations, I heard a crunching sound. I looked over toward the peanut barrel. That eight-year-old...