Doctrine of Sin
By Jerry Batson, Th.D.
Special to The Alabama Baptist
Impiety can be one of the more subtle sins of our times. If being pious is to possess reverence for God and the things of God, then impiety is disrespect or irreverence for Him. In this sense, impiety is a synonym for ungodliness — speech and actions that are not in character with God who is perfectly holy. Living in a world in which God is not always regarded or respected, people get sucked into a vacuum of godliness. Good churchgoing people can become careless in speaking of God and the things of God.
One manifestation of impiety or disrespect for God is in the use of His name. Long ago God commanded to His chosen nation, “You shall not profane My holy name but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel” (Lev. 22:32).
Something holy is profaned when it is treated as common or handled carelessly.
Far too often we hear speech that uses God’s name in vain. Carelessness with God’s name is quite common in human curses that are wrapped around the name of God. We all know of some of the more gross uses of the name of God in verbal profanity, in which God is called on to damn someone.
Somewhat less gross but still impious is the careless invoking of the holiest of names in bywords heard almost daily such as “O, my God” and its text-language version, “OMG.” This seems to have become an almost unconscious taking of God’s name carelessly and with lack of piety or reverence. Our times could stand a widespread revival of sensitivity for holy things, especially the holy name of our Holy God.
Impiety is manifested not only in the common disrespect of God’s name but also in the widespread lack of respect for the Lord’s Day, which has rapidly lost all vestiges of the holiness in which God commanded that the Sabbath should be held.
All too easily we tend to diminish the special emphasis God put on a day of rest and worship by treating it as any other day for engaging in secular or common activities instead of treating it as holy. Secularism has almost totally swallowed up the Sabbath, leaving only faint vestiges of its special character.
Our Baptist Faith and Message statement holds, “Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the lordship of Christ.”
Impiety or ungodliness sometimes takes the form of total disrespect and disregard for the truth of God. Romans 1:18 sets forth clearly God’s reaction to human beings who deny and reject God’s holy commandments by declaring, “The wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.”
Place of worship
Is it being too picky to think that God’s house as a place of worship should be given special treatment?
Whether running in the church building constitutes disrespect may be debatable. Certainly prior generations counted it so. And on occasion we can still hear a child admonished, “Don’t run in the church.”
Of greater concern would be letting places of worship become neglected or unkempt. A place of worship is lacking our respect if we seek to furnish its rooms with castoff furniture we no longer want in our homes. God’s directions for building and furnishing the temple suggest that a place of worship is treated as common if it is not the best that His people can afford.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Jerry Batson is a retired Alabama Baptist pastor who also has served as associate dean of Beeson Divinity School at Samford University and professor of several schools of religion during his career.
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