You may have seen the reports about actresses Lori Laughlin (“Full House”) and Felicity Huffman (“Desperate Housewives”) being caught up in a standardized test scandal. At the time of this writing, Huffman had actually been arrested. It seems (and as much as I criticize those who leap to conclusions in this space, I hasten to add — innocent until proven guilty) some people were paying for special consideration so their children could get good grades on their ACT or SAT.
“Jesus answered them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son does remain forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.’ ” — John 8:34-36
Sinners do not properly understand the principle of being enslaved to sin. They know nothing other than slavery. They have found contentment and even joy in slavery. They have convinced themselves that sin is the inevitable and preferred state of mankind. By committing themselves to slavery, though, they are prohibiting themselves from living the life that they were, in the most literal of senses, born to live.
Those who follow women’s professional golf (and there’s bound to be one of you out there somewhere) are no doubt already acquainted with events regarding Lexi Thompson earlier this month. She was two strokes up on the 12th hole of the final round at the ANA Inspiration tournament, which is a “major” for the ladies. A rules official approached her and said she had incorrectly replaced her ball on the 17th hole the day before. She placed her marker. She picked up the ball. She placed it about an inch away from its previous location. That’s a two stroke penalty. And it meant she signed an incorrect scorecard. That’s another two strokes. Suddenly she was two strokes behind, not two ahead.
