Two Levels of Moral Deficiency

Two Levels of Moral Deficiency

1989 8 August 16-17 Two Levels of Moral Deficiency (419) If one’s skin becomes dirty, being on the outer surface of the body, it can easily be washed clean. But if some malady develops, deep within the body, no amount of water will wash it away. Religious matters are on an exact parallel, in the sense that if one’s religious life becomes contaminated in some superficial way, there is always the hope of God’s forgiveness. But if the corruption runs deeper, permeating one’s entire soul, there can be little expectation of divine mercy.

Let us consider the moral condition of a man who commits an evil deed against his own better judgement. His conscience never ceases to prick him, he becomes disgusted with himself and his feeling of self-abhorrence begins to abate only when he turns to God to seek His forgiveness and to ask for His protection from Satan. The inward state of such an individual is proof that it is only his external being which has been affected by his sin. His wrongdoing has not permeated his soul. Such a man is like one whose body has been smeared with dirt, but whose inner self has escaped defilement. His soul is still in a healthy state, for God has promised that He will cleanse such people of their sins, thus making them fit to enter the pure world of Paradise.

Now, let us consider the state of those whose very souls have become contaminated by their own unremitting wickedness. Their misconduct – the result of evil premeditation – is far from signifying a temporary lapse: it has a sustained deliberateness of purpose about it which feeds on such negative emotions as jealously, hate, pride, vengeance and contumacy. Such wrongdoers are in the grip, not just of a superficial disorder, but of a deep-seated lingering malaise which taints the very roots of their being. There is no hope of their being purified by God. Having reached this abysmal level of sin, they are fit only for the flames of Hell.

The minor and infrequent offenders of the first category are people who take themselves to task in this world so that they should be spared the wrath of God in the life after death. Members of the second category, however having avoided introspection and self-appraisal in the life of this world, will still bear the stains of their guilt when they are brought before their Maker on the Last Day of Judgement. At that fatal moment, there will be no escape for them from the terrible punishment of the Almighty.