Back in the 80s an American car company came out with a modestly priced car that was supposed to compete with the quality of foreign models. Unfortunately it suffered from the same quality problems the company’s cars were well-known for. In an attempt to pass off that same “cheap” car as something better, they dressed it up, added their luxury car brand name and raised the price by $5000. Did that make it a high quality luxury car? No. It was an overpriced disappointment that tarnished the reputation of their luxury car brand.
Here in China there is a huge market for counterfeit goods. The Chinese could make high quality products of their own design, but choose to copy other company’s popular products and sell them at much cheaper prices. They go to great lengths to make their counterfeits look like the originals, but they are not the same. They are low quality imitations. Adding a brand name, doesn’t change what they really are.
Our world has gone through dramatic changes, with many name changes to match changing opinion and attitudes. Sin has been relabeled as freedom; killing unborn babies is now a choice; and immorality has become an alternative lifestyle. Lust is called love and modesty is mocked as prudish. Christian values are considered radical by some and righteousness is called intolerance. Shameful behavior, once hidden, is widely accepted as entertainment.
Did these new names change the mind of GOD? The Bible says “if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land” (2 Chron 7:14). He didn’t tell us to change the names, He told us to change. Changing the name of sin won’t stop it from destroying us.
Changing names and popular opinion won’t change GOD’s love either. We are saved by unmerited favor because “GOD so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). If we accept GOD’s gift of salvation we will get new names and change from sinners to children of GOD. That change is more than just a name.
Wayne Lance (2015)