Letters From Grandpa #502

• LETTER FROM GRANDPA
• 502

Dearest grandchild,

Today’s letter, of all things, will be about “blushing”. Normal people blush, but the Scriptures charge that the people of God in the days of Jeremiah somehow forgot how to blush. They were so perverted in their thinking that nothing was normal to them. They called evil good, and good evil. They put darkness for light and light for darkness. They put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter (Isaiah 5:20). Jeremiah asked this piercing question: “Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.” (Jeremiah 6:15).

Charles Darwin was fascinated by blushing. An article on the internet notes: “Blushing is a reddening of the skin of the face caused by dilation of the facial blood vessels which become engorged with blood, usually due to embarrassment or shame. The origin of blushing has long been an ‘evolutionary enigma’. It bothered Darwin for most of his working life because this trait was yet another factor that differentiated humans from our putative closest relatives, the apes. And it is yet another trait that is unique to humans—no evidence exists that any animal blushes. In Darwin’s words, “Blushing is the most peculiar and the most human of all expressions.” He also concluded that some animals may appear to blush, but their reaction is very different than blushing.”

The article continues: “Darwin devoted an entire chapter to blushing in his book, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals. He concluded blushing was a uniquely human characteristic that appeared to defy evolution for several reasons. These reasons include that no one had been able to explain why something like blushing, which most often does not help—and may even hurt—the blusher, would evolve. In contrast to most emotional responses, blushing is not a conscious behavior. As Darwin acknowledged, we cannot cause a blush. Rather, it is produced by the autonomic nervous system, “which is completely beyond our control”.

Blushing apparently involves our “conscience.” Conscience is also a uniquely human characteristic and is mentioned 29 times in the New Testament Scriptures. Infants do not have a conscience and consequently they do not blush. At some point in time, however, the infant will mature to the point that they intuitively know right from wrong. At this point, when they do something wrong, their conscience will cause they to blush. As Darwin observed, this is beyond their control. Paul makes reference to this by explaining that the Gentiles who do not have the law, do have a conscience “Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or excusing one another.” (Romans 2:15) Yet, even though we have a conscience, we can destroy our conscience to the point that we no longer blush!

This is what happened to Israel. “No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush.” Obviously something damaged or destroyed their conscience. Paul warned of a conscience that is weak and defiled (1 Corinthians 9:7). He also warned that our mind and our conscience can also be corrupted (Titus 1:15). He warned Timothy that “The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron.” (1 Timothy 4:1-2) Those who have their conscience “seared with a hot iron” lose the ability to blush! As Isaiah observed, they “call evil good and good evil”.

We are creatures of habit! There was a time when we could not walk, now we can walk in our sleep. There was a time when we could not talk, now we can talk in our sleep. We can also do wrong

so often that it too becomes a habit. When Nero became the emperor of Rome he had a tender conscience. Under the guidance of philosophers like Seneca and Burrhus the future seemed bright for the Empire. Seneca thought Nero “incapable of learning cruelty.” Something, however, happened to Nero! Apparently he started doing little things that he knew were wrong but did them anyway. He kept violating his conscience until it became so calloused and hard that evil became a habit. Nero is now remembered as one of the most degraded monsters who ever lived. He ordered the murder of his brother, his mother, and his first wife. His second wife died from his abuse. He put multiplied thousands to death without blushing. Nobody was safe from his madness. Suetonius wrote that Nero set Rome on fire to clear the site for his planned palatial Golden House which included lush artificial landscapes and a 30-meter-tall statue of himself. Then to escape the guilt of his own crime, he blamed the fire on Christians and put thousands of them to death. Nero also has the dubious distinction of executing both the Apostle Peter and the Apostle Paul. Obviously, he had forgotten how to blush!

If your conscience tells you something is wrong, please don’t violate your conscience! A person without a conscience is like a ship that has no star by which to steer. Violating your conscience is a dangerous habit that can have eternal consequences. Paul warned the Christians in Rome never to violate their conscience. Some, for example, “believed” it was wrong to eat meat. “One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables.” (Romans 14:2) The man with a weak conscience needed to be educated, but was still strictly warned not to violate his conscience. “Blessed is the man who does not condemn himself by what he approves. But the man who has doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and everything that does not come from faith is sin.” (Romans 14:22-23) There is nothing wrong with eating meat, but if you violate your conscience by deliberately doing something you believe is wrong, then eating meat becomes a sin. It can harden and destroy your conscience!

Jeremiah advised wayward Israel to “Ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls.” (Jeremiah 6:16) Perhaps we too need to seek out the “old paths” when our nation had a conscience. Note our decline! The first movie to use profanity was Gone With the Wind in 1939. The first use of the “f” word on TV was by Kenneth Tynan in 1965. The first nudity on TV was in Steamboat in 1973. The first lesbian kiss was in Drama Girl 1974. The first same sex wedding on TV was on the sitcom “Roc” in 1991. The first Drag Queen Story Hour was in San Francisco in 2015. We have degenerated, now however, to the point that pornography is protected and the Bible is condemned. Christian News reported February 28, 2013: “Ottawa, Ontario — The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that Biblical speech opposing homosexual behavior, including in written form, is essentially a hate crime.” In 2022 Matthew Meinechke was arrested in Seattle for reading passages from the Bible at an abortion rally. In 2023 Damon Atkins was arrested in Reading, Pennsylvania for reading Bible verses in public regarding homosexuality. While the charges were later dropped against Meinechke and Atkins, their stories add credence to the wisdom of Jeremiah recommending the “old paths” when men and women were still capable of blushing!

I love you,

Grandpa Boyce