Perhaps ... a bit much?

I had the privilege of teaching the junior high class at church last niters. We continued through our study of the book of Romans. We finished chapter 1! I intended on getting into chapter 2, but we ended up dealing with some of the things the Apostle says in 1:24-32. Here is the text:

“24Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. 26For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions; for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural, 27and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error. 28And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.” (NASB).

A great deal of our time was spent on definitions. The more words we defined (degrading, impure, envy, strife, deceit, malice, slanderers, insolent, arrogant, boastful, unmerciful) the lower their jaws slipped to the ground in shock.

How could Paul describe human beings with such colorful adjectives? Isn’t that over the top? Perhaps a bit much? I think the exact question, asked by one of our fifth graders was, “That’s harsh. Won’t some people find that hard to swallow?” LOL. Excellent question!

My answer to the class was that Paul understood something important: God has defined good and evil. But more than that, God has defined how His creatures are to live. It is with that in mind that Paul penned these words.

I was then able to segway (sp?) into the gospel – because, you know, I never want to leave my class with such despairing words =). Ahh, Romans.

Rusty