If you want a snapshot of how society thinks, here is former Health Secretary – Matt Hancock – describing what led to him resigning from office:
I think his argument resonates with the current zeitgeist. It is, however, a despicable argument and an utterly abhorrent way to distance yourself from your own sinful actions. At it’s most self-justifying, sin-distancing worst, Hancock says: ‘We fell in love and… that’s something that was completely outside of my control.’
Here is man who committed adultery on his wife. He left behind his children. He broke up his family. But it’s okay because they ‘fell in love’. It was ‘completely outside of my control’. Love is love and all that. C’est la vie. What could he do?
Faithfulness is in short supply these days. As is taking responsibility for our actions. But the fact is, Mr Hancock was in full control of himself. He chose to leave his wife, he chose to abandon his children, he chose to setup home with another women. Whether the world believe this to be really wrong or not is one thing, but few will fail to see through the self-serving ‘I couldn’t help it’ nonsense. It was a choice; plain and simple. A particularly damaging and unpleasant one at that.
But we are experts at distancing ourselves from our sin. Even quite public and obvious ones.