The weirdest thing happened the other day!

So I was watching a basketball game (well, half-watching) and it's going along, everything as normal.  Back and forth.  2 points here, 3 points there.  Every other shot, there's a foul and a free throw.  But then... I heard the crowd go wild.  I looked up at the t.v. to watch the replay and I see the player with the ball (we'll call his team the Bulls) accidentally step out of bounds.  Of course he tried to save it and throw the ball to an "in bounds" teammate, but he was definitely out of bounds with the ball.  That's not the weird part.  The weird part is the ref blew his whistle and signalled it was the other team's ball.  The out of bounds Bulls player argued... not that he was out of bounds but that there should be a new boundary in this incident.  The ref thought about it and then okayed it.  The fans went wild.  The fans were ecstatic. 

Weird, right?  When have they ever moved the boundaries in a basketball game?  So now, the boundary was an arbitrary foot outside the real boundary.

Fast forward a few minutes later.  A player on the opposing team (we'll call them the Lakers) falls out of bounds by a couple feet, crashing into the court-side chairs.  The ref blows the whistle.  The player argues that previously the Bulls player had stepped out of bounds and the boundary had been moved, so why wouldn't they just move it again.

Lo and behold, the ref agreed.  They asked everyone with court-side seats to move.

This went on for the rest of the game until the boundary was a jagged line around the court jutting as far into the stands as 4 rows up the bleachers.

I had never seen anything like it.

..................................................................................................................................

Ok, but honestly, moral relativism.
We have an agreed upon boundary.
Someone steps outside said boundary.
So, instead of helping them back in the boundary, we make the boundary a little bigger and cheer them on.

The implications in a basketball game are so obvious.  Clearly, chaos ensues if you stretch the boundaries.  That's why it never happens.  There are boundaries on the court for a reason.
The implications in life - well, many people reading this would be ticked.  They would say who the heck are you to tell me where my moral boundaries should be?   

[I'm not saying MY moral boundaries are perfect... but there is a perfect standard, and that is God's.  His are perfect.]

The Bible says the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. (Psalm 19:7)

Some would say, even to God, who the heck are you to say there should be moral boundaries?   On a much less serious, but equally absurd level, it's like the basketball player saying to a ref who the heck are you to tell me I can't step out of bounds? 

But if we stretch the boundaries, when do we stop?

It continues until... when?  Forever?



p.s. the other night at bible study, we were talking about the fall (Genesis 3).  A discussion about boundaries came up and my sports efficianto friend Trevor commented that there are boundaries around a basketball court for a reason.  He originated the analogy :)