SIN'S PROGRESSION REQUIRES TRUTH'S SUPPRESSION

In order to live on in sin, a person must throw out God's truth and establish an untrue truth, a lie, and then live that lie as though it is the truth. This is not new. Consider the words of the apostle John: "This, then, is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices wicked things hates the light and avoids it, so that his deeds may not be exposed" (Jn. 3:19-20).

Furthermore, the apostle Paul reminds us that "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness" (Rom. 1:18). Why and how do people suppress the truth? Answer: Because of and by their unrighteousness.

Mike Minter, in his book A Western Jesus: The Wayward Americanization of Christ and the Church, said, "No one rejects truth for no reason. No one rejects truth with their intellect; they reject truth with their [ungodly] morality" (72). Again, the only way to continue living a lifestyle of sin is to keep God's truth suppressed by believing and living a lie as though it's the truth.