Tag Archives: Genesis 3

Ashley Madison and the search for security

The folly of sin is when we flee from security in search of security. We run away from what’s good and justify it as the search for good. It’s a daily universal pattern. Sometimes this pattern becomes even more clear than usual.

Earlier this year there was big news for the customers of Ashley Madison – their personal details had been hacked and published on the internet.

This would be poor form for any online business, but was more nerve-jangling for these clients since Ashley Madison exists entirely to promote infidelity and sexual unfaithfulness. Who cares about credit card details once the whole world knows your secrets?

The irony of this hack is that it was a security breach of the company whose business model was to breach security.

Ashley Madison promote married dating (ie, cheating). They target people who have made promises to a partner, people who have also heard promises from their spouse.

Of course no marriage is perfect. Yet it’s wonderful that men and women seriously promise each other the security of life-long commitment, “until death.” That’s a basis for security!

But at some stage the clients of the Adultery Madison Ashley Madison opted for the fragile security of an on-line business. “Oh look”, they might have thought, “they have secure socket layer security. I will definitely trust that!”

And so the potential adulterer says farewell to the security of a spousal promise, and entrusts privacy to the security of the internet. Dumb choice.

That is like sin in the heart of every person. Just as in the Garden of Eden, where the man and woman lost the whole garden because they opted instead for the one banned fruit.

Or, in the Lord’s words through his prophet, “my people have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out broken cisterns that can hold no water” (Jeremiah 2:13).

The folly of sin: we run away from what we really want, under the impression that we will find what we want.

So Ashley Madison is a jolt to all of us, not only the individuals named.

  • It’s time to turn back from seeking good things in bad places.
    Repent of the adultery sites, of ‘financial security’, of looking as good as whitewashed tombs.
  • It’s time to turn back to the living water himself, Jesus Christ our good Lord.

 


 

Be like God

The serpent spoke about eating the fruit: You will be like God (Gen 3:5).

The Lord spoke of the law he gave his people: You will be like me (Lev 11:45).

So similar sounding, yet one was hate-filled and the other perfectly loving.

The serpent hated God so much that he sought to dethrone God. His ‘be like God’ was a putsch, a revolution to overthrow the rightful ruler. This antipathy for God resulted not in divine downfall, but the overthrow of humanity. To hate the Creator is also to hate his creatures.

The Lord’s ‘be like me’ is loving gift and invitation. He saved and provided for his people. He was taking them to a place to live – the Lord himself would live among them. The Lord’s good gift was to raise humanity to share with him in holiness.

The same destination was on offer – likeness to God.

The pathways to this end-point diverged completely.

Be careful! When you are offered a good thing, check out if that good comes in a good way. Because the same ‘end’ is offered by Satan and God, we know that end does not justify the means.