Anyone reading this article cannot fail to be moved by her appeal. She acknowledges that we need to combat ego, "to dethrone ourselves from the center of the world and put others there." She admits that "we need training in compassion because it does not come to us naturally." The problem with her case, and the problem with all kinds of moralism, is that it urges change of behavior without providing the means by which the behavior can be changed.

Moralism is defined as a natural system of morality, religion reduced to moral practice. It describes acceptable and desirable behavior but it provides no power to achieve what it promotes. The nearest she comes to suggesting motivation is when she writes: "Our differences define us but our common humanity can redeem us. We just have to open our hearts." My understanding of what she is saying is that our redemption from bad behavior can come through recognizing that we are all equally human, and that if we open our hearts to those who are different from us racially, culturally, religiously, socially etc. we will practice compassion through the golden rule.

The problem is that she, and all moralists, fail to recognize the problem of the human heart, which needs divine redemption, and the power of the Holy Spirit. What did Jesus say about this?

Jesus criticized the Pharisees and the teachers of the law of Moses who concentrated on outward conformity to the commandments but failed to deal with the heart. Bad behavior, he said, is the result of what is in our hearts. "For from within, out of men's hearts, come evil thoughts, sexually immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and make a man unclean." (Mark 7:21-23)

Jeremiah stated, "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" (17:9)

Ezekiel prophesies that one day God will "give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh. Then they will follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." (11:19,20) He exhorts them: "Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit." (18:31)

The problem of the human heart, the problem with our common humanity, which prevents us from redeeming ourselves, is that we are in bondage to our ego, our sin, our defensiveness, our selfishness. That is why compassion does not come to us naturally. In other words, we need a Savior, we need salvation from ourselves.

Moralism is like the Mosaic law and commandments, it condemns us by showing us what we should be, and how we have failed. St. Paul describes its effect in this classic passage: "We know that the law is spiritual, but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.... I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For what I do is not the good I want to do; no, the evil I do not want to do - this I keep on doing." (Romans 7:14-19)

This is the condition of the human race. When we look to our common humanity we see ourselves prisoners of our sinful hearts. We need more than moralism to help us change. This is why St. Paul concludes: "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God - through Jesus Christ our Lord!" (Romans 7:24,25)

The Rev. Dr. Samuel Annesley, father of Susanna Wesley, and grandfather of John and Charles Wesley, put it this way:

"It is serious Christianity that I press, as the only way to better every condition: it is Christianity, downright Christianity, that alone can do it: it is not morality without faith; that is but refined Heathenism: it is not faith without morality: that is but downright hypocrisy: it must be a divine faith, wrought by the Holy Ghost, where God and man concur in the operation; such a faith as works by love, both to God and man; a holy faith, full of good works."

St. Paul describes what made the difference in his life. "Through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering."

The Message puts it this way: "Those who enter into Christ's being-here-for-us no longer have to live under a continuous, low-lying black cloud. A new power is in operation. The Spirit of life in Christ, like a strong wind, has magnificently cleared the air, freeing you from a fated lifetime of brutal tyranny at the hands of sin and death..... The law always ended up being used as a band-aid on sin instead of a deep healing of it. And now what the law code asked for but we couldn't deliver is accomplished as we, instead of redoubling our efforts, simply embrace what the Spirit is doing in us. Those who think they can do it on their own end up obsessed with measuring their own moral muscle but never get around to exercising it in real life. Those who trust God's action in them find that God's Spirit is in them - living and breathing God!" (Romans 8:2-11)

Evil in the world, hatred between groups, violent behavior of any kind, exploitative actions by institutions, and companies, will not be changed by moralists and philosophers urging compassion, and education in the golden rule. Evil can only be overcome when the human heart is cleansed, redeemed, regenerated, and empowered by the work of the Savior through the Holy Spirit.

It requires handing your life over to Christ to direct. It involves putting to death whatever belongs to the sinful nature. It means getting rid of bad behavior through the power of Christ. It is putting on a new self which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. That is when you discover that there are no barriers between people of different backgrounds, and that everyone is defined by Christ, everyone is included in Christ.

"So, chosen by God for this new life of love, dress in the wardrobe God picked out for you: compassion, kindness, humility, quiet strength, discipline." (Colossians 5-12)

Compassion is possible because we are given a new heart by the Savior, and he gives us the power of the Spirit to dress according to our new nature and station in life. None of this is possible on our own. The heart has to be changed before the wardrobe can change. Otherwise we are like the wolf in the story of Red Riding Hood: dressed up in grandma's clothes, but still a wolf with sharp teeth!

The only effective remedy for the world in which we live has to deal with the need of the human heart. That is my need. I will only follow the golden rule, and show compassion, as and when I have undergone heart surgery at the foot of the cross of Christ.

O for a heart to praise my God, a heart from sin set free,
A heart that always feels thy blood so freely shed for me!

A heart in every thought renewed, and full of love divine;
Perfect and right and pure and good, a copy, Lord, of thine!

Thy nature, gracious Lord, impart; come quickly from above,
Write thy new name upon my heart, thy new, best name of Love.

Charles Wesley

Amelia Plantation Chapel
Amelia Island, Florida