Celebrating a Negative

More from What in the World!

A Maryland woman has produced a line of greeting cards for adulterers. Her “Secret Lover Collection” includes 24 cards with messages such as, “I can’t imagine my life without you—even if I have to share you,” and she’s already printed 100,000 of them. Another card urges a partner to leave his or her spouse: “Let’s live our lives together and finally be one. Let’s start living our lives for ‘us.’”

“She’s just making money out of other people’s misery,” says Robin Sawyer, a professor at the University of Maryland. “I think most of us would agree that infidelity is a negative thing, so we’re now selling cards to celebrate a negative thing.” The author of the cards says she won’t say whether affairs are good or bad; they simply happen. (Los Angeles Times, 7/12/05)

It’s funny, but in this society that is increasingly open to more and more perverse living arrangements, one of the last (but perhaps weekly) holding taboos is the affair. It’s certainly not because of the sexual component– since internet searchs (and I don’t advise doing this) show that many people are willing to cheat– it’s probably the contractual or vow component. Somehow it’s
still wrong to be cheating on a husband/wife. And now, we have cards for those in affairs, trying to make it seem normal as well.

In Ecclesiastes, Solomon admonishes us that there is nothing new under the sun. In reading through the Old Testament you can see the fall of many cities and civilizations that were headed the same direction that we are. Many libertarians and others will make the argument that whatever you do in your own home as long “as it doesn’t effect anyone else” is ok. The problem is that society is judged by the morals that we keep.

I often have wondered how Sodom and Gomorrah could have gotten as bad as the account with Lot. How is it that people see new men come to the area and immediately believe they deserve the right to sleep with them? How is it that Lot feels that he can offer his daughters to them? What justifies all this? Then I get to thinking about the fact that these people weren’t always bad, and that these changes in their society probably took place over time. How? Well, if
you read Ezekiel you’ll see that Sodom was filled with idleness, fullness of bread, etc. They had too much time on their hands to do things other than fulfill their needs.

With extra time and no need to do more work, it’s a quick move from there to find things to fill that time, and among them are perversions. But, no one wants what they are doing to be termed wrong– that would necessitate change or giving up something that’s pleasurable for right now, so they have to gain acceptance. But that isn’t enough. Sin has a way of making you want more and more dangerous things. So, they continue to need more– more acceptance, more risky things, etc.– until finally they want all of their pleasure not just available “in the privacy of their homes” but they want it everywhere and accepted everywhere.

We in America need to stand up and take notice. Look at how things that were in their homes are now in public– especially where you can find all these things on the Internet. If history is any indication, those nations that sink into self perversion are those that will not last much longer.