The Bible says, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient” (Rom.1:28).

The Greek word has the meaning as: “base,” “unqualified,” “worthless,” “not standing the tests,” or “unapproved.”

A reprobate mind is attained through one’s constant rejection and rebellion against light. A reprobate mind is a mind with no moral compass. A reprobate mind is the final state a person comes into after passing through several stages of rebelling against the known will of God.

The way one comes to possess a reprobate mind is clear from the teachings of Scripture.

The first step down is the suppression of known truth about God, including His “eternal power” (everlasting or perpetual power,) and “Godhead” (Supreme Being) disclosed in an understandable way through creation. But men reject this knowledge and create an imaginary god, to their own liking, that allows them to serve themselves and satisfy their creature desires and live in sensuality (Rom.1: 18-25).

The next step down is the consequence of their first choice. The result of rejecting the truth they knew about God was God giving them over to erotic activity with members of their own sex. Men and women exchanged the natural sex relation found in biblical marriage for that which is against nature. And for this violation of God’s law they were recompensed with STD, guilt, personality deformities and psychological abnormalities (vs.26, 27).

The next step down is the consequence of their second choice. Because they refused to retain any knowledge of God and did not see fit to recognize Him as either Creator, Sustainer, Deliverer, or Judge, God gave them over to a “reprobate mind.”

With a reprobate mind, they began doing all manner of things that “are not convenient,” (improper and not fitting) which they are “filled with.” In verses 29-32, follows a long dark list of sins that characterize the life of a person who is completely alienated from God.

This list is almost exactly as the one in 2 Timothy 3. Both lists perfectly describe the sins of a narcissist.

The list is too long to include here, but one should read it while thinking about the state of our society, and how so many politicians today are guilty of committing most of these sins.

Three times in this passage of Scripture the words, “God gave them (up) over,” (vs. 24, 26, 28).

“When it says that God gave them up, it does not say He gave them up to nothing, as if He merely removed His hand from them and allowed them to drift away. In each case, it says God gave them up to something: “to uncleanness,” “to vile affections,” and finally, “to a reprobate mind” and the wickedness a reprobate mind creates.”

“In other words, God will permit the ungodly to go their own way, but He has determined … when they go, it will be according to His rules rather than their own.”

When these sins that are a result of a reprobate mind are seen in the lives of our politicians, then it’s safe to say we have many that are making decisions that impact our lives, who by choice are alienated from God.

These politicians who abuse sex (vs. 24), and pervert sex (vs.26, 27), have deified sex, and who practice the other sins (vs.29-31) know what they’re doing is wrong. Still they legalize these sins and feel a sense of camaraderie with their partners-in-sin (vs. 32).

Homosexuality — among both men and women — and the reprobate mind that follows, is the first and most evident sign of a society upon which God has turned His judgment and is intent upon destroying (Rom.1:18-32).

James H. Cagle is a resident of Ray City.