What would happen to a culture if they dismissed God's picture of sinful behavior (the law)? For example, our culture has given up the idea that ENVY is a sin. But this has serious repercussions. You'd think that giving up envy as a sin would lead us all to be more satisfied with our respective lots -- but no! Envy continues to rear its ugly head, only now we don't shame people who admit to it. Instead, we see envy in one person (or group) as a signpost that points to the inevitable conclusion that there is some sort of inequity present. Envy, instead of being a character flaw in the one who has it, becomes the alarm revealing "social injustice." If there were no social injustice, everyone would be at peace, right? QED.

There are many problems with being our own moral indicators, but for the sake of the line of thinking, let's accept the premise. Then the worst is yet to come. What is the solution for social injustice? Equalization, which usually takes the form of the redistribution of wealth. The people who have unjustly gotten more than the others should be penalized: fined, taxed, made to pay restitution -- in short, anytime envy rears its ugly head, we call for the one who is envied to pay. This is like the parent who, when confronted with the inevitable, "That's not fair -- he got more than I did," takes a part from the one who has more and gives it to the one who has less. What lesson is learned? That if you want more, just whine about it, and the powers that be will get it for you.

The reason this approach commands such attention in our day is that it seems compassionate. How can you want those poor people to be abused? What have they ever done to you? The question is not what have they done to me, but what have they done to God? Envy is a sin because it breaks the 10th commandment: No coveting your neighbor's anything! Why should we not allow coveting? Because it is faithless. This brings us full-circle: we envy because we don't believe that God will provide for our needs. We have dismissed God from the equation, so when we see imbalances between the haves and have-nots, we assume that there is an injustice, and try our best to fix it from our own perspective. The trouble is, envy is NEVER SATISFIED, and imbalances will be ALWAYS WITH US. No matter what we do, we cannot make the playing fields level. We can't make everyone have the same upbringing, same IQ, SAT scores, go the same colleges, have the same character, the same work ethic, the same capital, the same talents, or the same investments. The outcomes are always going to be different because WE are simply different. The only answer is to allow God back into our explanation about life, and trust that His love will bring about His good in our lives no matter what our circumstances. Of course with this love comes His description of reality, and part of that description says, "No coveting." It is sin. This just means that when we sense envy in our hearts, we call it the ugly evil that it is, and pray for help getting rid of it. Then get on with the difficult work of standing against the effects of the Fall, and fighting real injustice, not the injustice we have to modify with the word "social."

For an example - have a look at this: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/business/15mortgages.html