one of the tracks that dick keyes suggested i consider at l'abri... was sin.
i must admit that initially i wasn't interested in pursuing that line of study. i wanted to get right to my study of hell and who goes there. i already "get" sin.
sure... i've noticed a reduction of sin talks over the last decade or so. even more so in the emergent discussion. we don't tend to talk about specific sins so much anymore... we want people to connect with their need for Jesus, and thankfully we don't coerce guilt. today, we talk about rescuing people from the "consequences of their behavior"... giving us the life we always wanted. we talk in generalities about wrong. but we talk more about experiencing freedom and forgiveness. most people know something's not right in their life. we offer a Jesus who makes things right.
hmmmmm...
but my diversion to study "sin" led me to think about the implications of our current 0 carbs view of the bad stuff. it helped me connect with my/our tendency to deny... to blame shift... to excuse... to focus simply on the good and ignore ugliness.
my experience suggests that we lean toward obsession.
we either rant so much against sin that people get the impression that there is absolutely nothing good inside any of us. or we completely deny the dark side in us all... and society. we are appalled at the horrible stories in the paper... the fanatic agenda... the haggard explosion... the real life c.s.i. stories... ...but we can't seem to admit that we, ourselves have something in common with those people.
how do we hold these two realities in tension?
francis schaeffer referred to man as the "glorious ruin." we are both "glorious" and "ruined"... ...at the same time. so while i may have a bent to drift to one extreme or the other... holding them both is a necessary tension.
i must be speechless at the image of G*D in every person... in myself... in my kids... in the serial killer... everyone.
i must be speechless at the carnage in everyone... myself... my kids... mother teresa... everyone.
only then can i begin to gain understanding of eternal things... like hell... like salvation.
what i do know... thinking about the wonder and depravity of humanity helps me look at people differently. in a good way... it helps me not beat myself (or others) up so much when i fail or feel weak. i can't allow myself to disfigure the splendor still stamped on my soul. at the same time... it makes me look for the good in those who are the most despicable... including myself when i disgust myself. it also keeps me from raising myself above or lowering below... and reminds me of how desperately we all need redemption... how hard it is for us to admit we need it... and how easily we trade away.
as it relates to hell... i'm not sure of all the implications. but at this point it helps me engage the extreme love and justice of G*D... and refuses to allow me to fall to one side or the other.
whatever my conclusions about life after this one... those conclusions must consider the full personality and character of G*D. the ending is beyond my ability to comprehend it. and maybe always will be... at least in this life.
G*D... grant me contentment in knowing and following YOU... in spite of all that i can't know or comprehend.
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