The Wages of Sin — Part Two

To disobey any of God’s commandments is definitely deleterious to this human experience.  No matter how badly carnaldom attempts to discount the concept of sin and its impending judgment, it always comes to pass.  There are no exceptions.  It is naturally impossible to escape the ramifications of one’s sins.  But thanks be to God, for He has made a supernatural way of escape; a place of mercy and grace; a place of truth and forgiveness; a place of redemption and peace.  This amazing place is found in the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and the world’s only possible way of salvation. 

Have you made your peace with God?  Have you surrendered your life to Jesus Christ, the Lord of Glory?  Have you been born-again?  I have good news for you.  Today is your day of salvation.  Click onto “Further With Jesus” for simple details.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 4:7:

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door....

GOD SAID, Galatians 6:7:

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

GOD SAID, Job 4:8:

Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

GOD SAID, Romans 6:23:

For the wages of sin is death;...

MAN SAID: Sin is an old, archaic term that has no relevance in today’s erudite society.  The term is a throwback to the Bible, a book that also has no real relevance.

Now THE RECORD.  This is Part Two in a short series dealing with the reality of the Biblical concept of “the wages of sin.”

Is there truly a price to pay for disobedience?  The following paragraphs are from Part One of this series, “The Wages of Sin – Prepare To Be Shocked:”

Consider the following passages.  John 8:34:

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

Romans 6:17-18:

17  But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.

18  Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.

Disobedience and sin are synonymous, and if we choose to be disobedient, we must serve sin with the literal sweat of our brows, and if not repented of, in eternal punishment.

Is it possible that if you serve Mr. Sin, the wages he will actually pay you will be the literal subtraction of life?  Remember, “the wages of sin is death.”

A simple concept to remember in this series is the one of employment.  A person takes a job agreeing to sacrifice so many hours a day in exchange for wages.  In essence, you give hours of your life, which cannot be replaced, in exchange for a paycheck.  You give life for cash.  When you give up your cash, you are in fact giving away part of your life.  Imagine that when someone or something takes money from your wallet they are very literally taking part of your life.  In this series, we will be measuring the wages of sin.

All of mankind belongs to the common family of Adam and Eve, and as in any family, what one single member does has an effect upon the others of that family.  Even though I may not have participated in the particular deed, I am still affected.  So, when Mr. Sin is served, the wages he pays is death.

Could God’s Word actually be correct?  After all these thousands of years, is the Bible still the unadulterated truth?  [End of quote]

This is GodSaidManSaid feature article #358.  All of these features—archived on this site in text and streaming audio—cover subjects from Creation to Armageddon and beyond.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, a new feature is published.  All of them endorse the inerrancy of the Word of God, proving the Word of God academically and pragmatically.  The Word of God is true and righteous altogether.  Embrace it and live.  The Bible principle of the wages of sin will be just one more proof.

The other day while listening to a commentator on the radio, I heard that over $1.70 of the price of a gallon of U.S. gasoline (presently around $3.00 per gallon) is made up of taxes and costs caused by government regulations.  You can be confident that everything we buy has numerous hidden taxes that far exceed the overt taxes you see and pay on your pay stub, local income taxes, sales taxes, etc.  You’ll be shocked at just how much it really is.

This feature will deal with the epidemic of pornography.  Consider how much this so-called victimless crime costs society, and your wallet, in particular.  As an important aside, Jesus said in Matthew 5:27-28:

27  Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:

28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart.

The following excerpts are from various data files which we’ll list at the end of this article.  Under the heading “Pornography: Harmless Fun or Public Health Hazard?” which was a public testimony before the 2005 summit on pornography by Daniel Weiss, you’ll find the following:

At a Senate hearing last fall, medical experts corroborated Cline’s early breakthroughs. New technology is allowing doctors to look inside addicts' brains to determine just how damaging pornography is. The witnesses described research showing the similarity of porn addiction to cocaine addiction. Further, because images are stored in the brain and can be recalled at any moment, these experts believe that a porn addiction may be harder to break than a heroin addiction.

Now, no one is seriously advocating the legalization of cocaine or heroin, but somehow the pornography industry has convinced a large segment of the population that viewing porn is not just harmless fun, but is also a fundamental right.

By not calling pornography what it is—highly addictive and destructive material—we are heading for troubled times. Dr. Patrick Carnes, a leading researcher on sex addiction, estimates that 3 to 6 percent of Americans are sexually addicted. That’s as many as 20 million people.

This epidemic isn’t confined to individuals, however. Pornography is one of the leading causes of family breakdown today.

Two‑thirds of the divorce lawyers attending a 2002 meeting of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers said excessive interest in online porn contributed to more than half of the divorces they handled that year. They also said pornography had an almost non‑existent role in divorce just seven or eight years earlier.

A poll conducted through my own organization’s Web site found that 50 percent of more than 50,000 respondents had been negatively affected by pornography.

This devastation isn’t confined to adults either. The Justice Department estimates that nine of 10 children between the ages of 8 and 16 have been exposed to pornography online. Software company Symantec found that 47 percent of school‑age children receive pornographic spam on a daily basis, and representatives from the pornography industry told Congress’ COPA Commission that as much as 20 to 30 percent of the traffic to some pornographic Web sites are children.

Ralph DiClemente, a behavioral scientist at Emory University, described the danger of this exposure. He said, “[Children] can’t just put [porn] into their worldview, because they don’t have one.” He went on to explain that pornography becomes a building block in a child’s mental and emotional development.

When pornography becomes a filter through which the rest of life is understood, serious damage occurs. A 2001 report found that more than half of all sex offenders in Utah were adolescents—and children as young as 8 years old were committing felony sexual assault.

The porn industry fights laws such as the Child Online Protection Act, which requires pornographers to use age verification systems, because they know this flood of pornographic imagery is creating a new generation of consumers.

This increased culture‑wide sexualization is generating incredible public health risks. One in five adults in the United States has an STD, and 19 million new STD infections occur annually, almost half of them among youth ages 15 to 24.  [End of quote]

Again in another article, Weiss reported the following under the heading, “Pornography and Child Exploitation on Peer-to-Peer Networks:”

Exposure to Pornography on P2P Networks

In 2003, the United States General Accounting Office (GAO), in conjunction with the Customs CyberSmuggling Center (CCC), conducted a more detailed study of P2P (peer‑to‑peer) programs and discovered rampant pornography and child exploitation.

Pornographic Files

The GAO analyzed 1,286 titles and file names returned from 12 keyword searches associated with child pornography.

• 42 percent indicated possible child pornography

• 34 percent were adult pornography

• 24 percent were non‑pornographic

Pornographic Images

The CCC further analyzed 341 downloaded images.

• 44 percent contained child pornography

• 29 percent contained adult pornography

• 13 percent contained child erotica

• 14 percent were non‑pornographic

Exposing Children to Pornography

The CCC also investigated files returned from innocuous searches routinely conducted by children. Of 177 images found using search terms “Britney Spears,” “Pokemon,” and “Olsen Twins:”

• 34 percent contained adult pornography

• 14 percent contained cartoon pornography

• 7 percent contained child erotica

• 1 percent contained child pornography

• 44 percent were considered to be non‑pornographic

The most commonly sought material was pornographic, with 42 percent of all searches, for adult (35 percent) or child (6 percent) pornography.

Seeking Pornography on P2P Networks

Also in 2003, Internet security company Palisades Systems monitored a popular file‑sharing service to determine how people used the system. During the three‑week study period, Palisades monitored 22 million searches and randomly selected 400,000 for detailed analysis. The most commonly sought material was pornographic, with 42 percent of all searches, adult (35 percent) or child (6 percent) pornography.  [End of quote]

The following excerpts, citing various sources, are from a February 2004 article of the Lighted Candle Society.  It will help drive home the concept of the wages of sin.

• According to the Internet research entity “Sextracker,” pornography sites receive twenty‑seven million hits daily, the biggest sites getting as much a 2.8 million per day.

• Seventy percent (70%) of all porn traffic occurs during the 9‑5 workday.  This equates to one in five employees accessing pornography at the office.

• In the United Kingdom during the year 2000 companies lost more than ten billion pounds ($18 Billion) due to lost work productivity because of Internet misuse, seventy percent (70%) of which was estimated to come from accessing pornography. (Geoff Haggart, VP of Europe Websence)

• A study in the United States done by the Computer Security Institute and the Federal Bureau of Investigation concluded that in the year 2001 American companies lost a total of two hundred sixty‑five billion dollars ($265 Billion) from abuse by employees of Internet access. (Remember that seventy percent (70%) of the Internet traffic in pornography takes place from the hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.)  (www.gocsi.com/prelea/000321.html)

• During the Victoria’s Secret online fashion show American companies lost more than one hundred twenty million dollars ($120 million) in productivity during the forty‑four minutes of the show. (Websence)

• By the end of the year 2003 the United States economy will loose ten billion hours in productive workplace time from Internet misuse.  These hours amount to an estimate $250 Billion in lost wage expenses paid to employees who misuse the Internet. (prweb.com http//www.prweb.com/releases/2003/10/prweb 83395.html) [End of quote]

This article only deals with lost job productivity and not the real girth of the actually immeasurable damage of pornography. 

We need to be aware that wasted wages are built into the cost of goods.  The consumer must pay for the crimes that other “family” members commit.  The number in 2003 of $250 Billion in lost wage expense paid to employees (and you can be sure it’s much higher now in 2008), when divided by the number of American households, 121,521, 886, yields a cost-per-household of $2,008.  Divide $2,008 by the average U.S. household income of $47,034 and you’ll come up with the number of 4%.  Four cents of every dollar we earn is paid out in a hidden porn tax.  Think of it this way: 4% of your life this year will be forfeited to the sin of pornography.

In the first feature, we discovered that the cost of crime eats up approximately 35% of your household income.  Now add to that 4% just for internet misuse at work.

The Wages of Sin List:

Crime 35%

Porn 4%

SUBTOTAL 39% SIN TAX

When God says, “Don’t,” wise men and women and boys and girls get in line.  This is just another proof that God is!

GOD SAID, Genesis 4:7:

If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door....

GOD SAID, Galatians 6:7:

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

GOD SAID, Job 4:8:

Even as I have seen, they that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the same.

GOD SAID, Romans 6:23:

For the wages of sin is death;...

MAN SAID: Sin is an old, archaic term that has no relevance in today’s erudite society.  The term is a throwback to the Bible, a book that also has no real relevance.