Sin and Accountability in the 21st Century-Part 1

Someone once said that there was nothing new under the sun, and in many ways that is certainly true. The sins of today, the sins that plague our world, our marriages, our churches, and our homes are the same sins that God spoke of thousands of years ago. They are the same sins that your fathers dealt with, the same sins that saw the rise and fall of empires long since gone and the same sins that future generations will undoubtedly have to overcome.

But what has changed in this modern era is the multitude of ways in which sin can now enter into our lives, presenting new challenges and new temptations. God desires for us to walk a pure life with Him, living by His word. However, we are living in a fallen world and sin threatens to separate us from God and draw us down a destructive path. The technological age has increased potential threats to the innocence and safety of our children, to the fidelity of our marriages, to the trust relationship with employers and offers new stumbling blocks for those struggling with addictions whether it be gambling, pornography, or other such vices that can destroy our lives.

Living in the 21^st Century with the technologies that we have available presents two major problems:

1. A Sense of Anonymity: If you were to walk into a local bar, buy pornography, steal from your work place, gamble, or go to a hotel in your home town there is a greater risk that you would be discovered. Additionally, you would have to actually go through the motions with others around you, aware of your behavior. But in today's internet and mobile technology age it is easier to hide your sins from others (or so we are lead to believe) and that sense of anonymity removes the accountability factor; after all, if no one knows what you are doing but you there is no one to hold you accountable, or so the mind will often reason. This often leads us to do things that we would not do if it we did not have that veiled privacy or sense of anonymity to shield us from facing who we are and what we are really doing.

    

   Of course, the truth is that even if you think no one else will ever know, you know. You have to face yourself every day. And more importantly, God knows. We can not lie to God or hide from Him. Knowing this basic truth, sin tends to eat away at us in many ways and at times isolates us from our own lives and takes us further from God.

    

2. A Bombardment of Temptation and Ungodly Influences: In today's world our families are constantly being exposed to images of violence, sex, drug use, crime, gambling, the occult, adultery, and other sinful behavior. That, coupled with a culture that justifies and glorifies sinful behaviors and attitudes, makes it a constant battle to protect your family and yourself from the potential downfalls of the world. And for anyone struggling with an addiction or sin issue in their lives, this constant temptation can be quite stressful and put you in a position to fail in your pursuit of living a Godly life.

Understanding these two key components can help us become more aware of the problems and potential problems that could occur as part of our modern age which in turn can help us to use our internet and mobile technologies in ways that will be pleasing in God's sight. But how exactly do we go about doing this? How can we protect our families when they are online? How can we shield ourselves from the temptations that are only a mouse click away? The key is accountability- accountability to yourself, to others, and to God. Luckily, there are tools and programs available to help you in this task. In part two of this article we will look at the issue of accountability and the resources that can help you to overcome the problems of sin and sin addiction in the modern era.