the bottomline

Some Sins Seem to Do More Damage
Tuesday, April 16, 2019 by Dan Allen

A drunken sea captain and airline passenger, as well as an angry train engineer led to problems on the sea and air and catastrophe on land.

In late February comes three transportation stories. This first is of a drunken sea captain who crashed his Russian cargo ship into a bi-level bridge in South Korea. Fortunately, there were no injuries, but the bridge had to be shutdown to check it’s stability, not to mention the red face of the sailor. Then there’s the drunken airline passenger who tried to slug a member of a flight crew. The flight, which had traveled four hours from Hawaii toward South Korea, turned back to expel the inebriated passenger. I’m guessing the other 262 passengers and 13 crew were none too happy for this almost 10-hour delay in arrival.

But the worst story comes out of Egypt. An engineer–less engine smashed into buffers at an Egyptian train station platform filled with travelers, causing a firestorm when its fuel tanks exploded. So far two dozen are dead with more than 70 injured. Where was the engineer, you ask? According to one report, he had hopped off the engine, thinking it was stopped, and was fighting with another engineer whose train was in his way.

Anger and drunkenness—one causing embarrassment and the other, mayhem, devastating lives forever. Both, sins identified in the Bible. 

Drunkenness, not necessarily a key Biblical sin, is mentioned, however, along with envy, orgies, and things like these in Galatians 5:21. And it’s cast as the opposite of Holy Spirit filling when Paul notes we should not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, (Eph. 5:18). I’ve been a teetotaler all my life so this has never been an issue. I had a son and father killed by a drunk driver and one high on drugs, respectively. Thus, the issue strikes a sore note with me, not to mention the thousands who are killed on our roadways each year by those who are drunk or high. So to me, it’s an egregious sin.

But anger is a particular sin that creates untold havoc and affects all of us to one degree or another. 

According to an assortment of Scriptures: anger, obviously, doesn’t produce righteousness (James 1:20). It’s a tool of fools and lies in their laps (Prov. 29:11; Ecc.7:9). It is ranked along with rage, malice, slander and filthy language with which we should rid ourselves (Col. 3:8). It causes fights and quarrels (James 4:1)—a natural outbreak of it. It is subject to judgment (Mt. 5:22). And, if that isn’t enough, to my knowledge it is the only sin identified that is an entrance way for Satan to get a foothold in someone’s life (Eph. 4:27). All others are as well, but this is specifically mentioned as such.

So, there’s a good reason not to sin. Not only because it displeases our God, which is the ultimate reason we should not sin, but its consequences are numerous and often disastrous and deadly.


Previous Posts

We vs. I
Dan Allen

2/23/2022

Going to Hell
Dan Allen

12/14/2021

Stay Away from the Meatloaf
Dan Allen

11/6/2021

A Dog Leading the Way
Dan Allen

7/27/2021

The Speed–Breakers of Life
Dan Allen

7/10/2021

High School Reunion
Dan Allen

4/8/2021

"Skin, it's the thing that's in"
Dan Allen

3/13/2021

Emerging from a Covid Cell
Dan Allen

2/20/2021

'Twas The Real Night Before Christmas
Russell T Allen

12/17/2020

Christmas Catalogs
Dan Allen

11/14/2020

Cancel This!
Dan Allen

10/3/2020

Don't Judge By Its Cover
Dan Allen

9/8/2020

Our Plans Trumped by God
Dan Allen

9/5/2020

We Fall Down
Dan Allen

8/5/2020

Battle with a Bug
Dan Allen

7/13/2020

Be Sure Your Sin Will Find You Out
Dan Allen

7/3/2020

Setting the bar too low
Dan Allen

6/25/2020

Good is Evil, Evil is Good
Dan Allen

6/9/2020

Misguided Freedom
Dan Allen

6/4/2020

A Preaching Nightmare
Dan Allen

5/9/2020

Restaurant and/or Church Possible
Dan Allen

5/2/2020

A Good Dose of Cloistering Going On
Dan Allen

4/15/2020

So, Where is God in All of This?
Dan Allen

4/14/2020

I Finally Learned How to Wash My Hands
Dan Allen

4/13/2020

Fire Truck - Glory Train
Dan Allen

4/16/2019

Some Sins Seem to Do More Damage
Dan Allen

4/16/2019

The Canopy is Gone
Dan Allen

12/15/2018

Brushing Teeth with Iced Tea
Dan Allen

11/5/2018

Never in Danger, but Could Have Been
Dan Allen

11/4/2018

Another Festival
Dan Allen

11/3/2018

Cow Town
Dan Allen

11/2/2018

Dressing Down
Dan Allen

11/1/2018

#MeToo
Dan Allen

10/25/2018

All Alone Among 1.35 Billion People
Dan Allen

10/24/2018

Does Anyone Know What Time It Is?
Dan Allen

10/23/2018

Time To Be Spiritual Weather Forecasters
Dan Allen

10/22/2018

Words Change . . . But Someone Gets the Final Word
Dan Allen

9/4/2018

To Cremate or Not to Cremate
Dan Allen

7/15/2018

I Want to Hold Your Hand
Dan Allen

7/4/2018

I Finally Caught a Foul Ball . . . Sort of
Dan Allen

6/8/2018

I Can Only Imagine
Dan Allen

6/1/2018

Do Panhandlers Have Regulars
Dan Allen

4/8/2018

Can't Good Dogs Go To Heaven?
Dan Allen

4/3/2018

At the Taj . . . in pictures only
Dan Allen

1/24/2018

Cold, But Warm Inside
Dan Allen

1/22/2018

Don't Remove the Plastic
Dan Allen

1/12/2018

Put Your Big Boy Pants On
Dan Allen

1/9/2018

In the Spirit . . . or not?
Dan Allen

1/3/2018

You Could Cut It With a Knife
Dan Allen

1/1/2018

Personal Message Boards
Dan Allen

11/24/2017

Men Acting Badly, err Should We Say---Horribly!
Dan Allen

11/18/2017

History of Bible Fellowship Church of Ephrata
Dan Allen

8/29/2017

Large Crowd Diversion
Dan Allen

6/19/2017

Bikes, Bikers, and Trying New Things
Dan Allen

6/18/2017

Lessons from T-Ball for Churches
Dan Allen

6/17/2017

Authenticity of and in Jeans
Dan Allen

5/11/2017

Don't Let Me Fall
Dan Allen

4/22/2017

Have We Lost the "Awe-factor," Wonderment?
Dan Allen

4/21/2017

Bumped - Not Bumbed
Dan Allen

4/13/2017

Go Fly a Kite
Dan Allen

1/18/2017

What's In Your Bag?
Dan Allen

1/17/2017

Cultural Faux Pas
Dan Allen

1/13/2017

The Three Hour Trip Ends Up 23 Hours
Dan Allen

1/12/2017

Walking Headrest Cover
Dan Allen

1/9/2017

The Gift that Keeps Giving
Dan Allen

12/17/2016

Let's Keep Things in Perspective
Dan Allen

8/1/2015

I've Got the Nine
Dan Allen

6/26/2015

God Often Works in Mysterious Ways
Dan Allen

6/5/2015

I'm From Negadelphia
Dan

3/24/2015

Positive Spin
Dan Allen

2/16/2015