Moral Purity is Meant to Be Difficult
The difficulty to pursue and maintain moral purity is built into the seriousness and nobility of such pursuit. It wouldn’t merit any rewards in this life and the next if it were easy.
The failure of many to attain this causes them to lose heart and, most times succumb to the temptation of permanently relinquishing their wills.
They conclude that such a goal is impossible, unnecessary or even unnatural. And because there is no shortage of morally challenged people in the world, he finds a community, and therefore this erroneous belief is confirmed in his heart. He thus stops every major attempt at addressing his moral failures.
But think about it – let’s say his moral struggle is cheating on his wife – sexual morality in general. The first time he steps out of line, he knows beforehand he is doing something wrong, which means he is doing something against his will and/or intentions. Something in him would rather not do what he has done.
He is overrun by temptation and loses control, so he yields his freedom temporarily and fails.
This abdication of freedom is at the root of every moral failure.
This man appears free because it looks like he is making a series of free choices, but in reality, he is captured by something more powerful than him. So instead of continuing his struggle uphill, he convinces himself and his cohorts to set up camp with him at the foot of the hill and declare it the mountain peak. He then mocks everyone around him, who continues with great difficulty to struggle uphill.
