I would love to hear your response to this. What contributes to the moral train-wrecks?
- Minister has an affair.
- Longtime Christian wife/mother decides to leave her husband and children.
- Church leader reveals a fifteen-year addiction to pornography.
- Longtime Christian is sent to prison after numerous incidents of theft. He explains that the motivation for his theft was the desire to have nice things.
- Church member swindles several other church members in a business deal.
- Married woman (in her 40s), who is a longtime children’s Bible class teacher, becomes involved with a man ten years younger.
Do these behaviors describe most Christian people? No. Not at all. Yet, I don’t want to ignore these very real examples.
Yes, I know that all Christians sin and that believers are not exempt from stumbling into all kinds of sinful behavior. However, I think it might be helpful to ask what are some of the factors that contribute to these moral train-wrecks. What contributes to these behaviors?
Could these be contributing factors?
- A lack of accountability.
- Being more enamored with a desire to feel a certain way than with Jesus.
- Lust.
- A desire for power.
- Making stupid, foolish decisions that might make one more vulnerable.
- Arrogance (I’m above all of these temptations).
- Seeking pleasure or relief during times of defeat, failure, loss, pain, etc.
- Being vulnerable during a time in which you have isolated yourself from others.
- Pride.
No doubt there are many other behaviors that might be contributing factors.
What have you observed? What are some other contributing factors to moral train-wrecks?