Deadly Sins and Transforming Virtues Series - 1
What Ever Happened to Sin?
In a blog written a couple of years ago, William Bradshaw asked a question that is stuck in my mind -
What ever happened to sin? He repeated a story originally told by Dr. Karl Menninger, a psychiatrist who pioneered many of our modern mental health treatment practices. Menninger Clinic is in Topeka, KS, and the following is true -
“On a sunny day in September, 1972, a stern-faced, plainly dressed man could be seen standing still on a street corner in the busy Chicago Loop. As pedestrians hurried by on their way to lunch or business, he would solemnly lift his right arm, and pointing to the person nearest him, intone loudly the single word ‘GUILTY!’
Then, without any change of expression, he would resume his still stance for a few moments before repeating the gesture. Then, again, the inexorable raising of his arm, the pointing, and the solemn pronouncing of the one word ‘GUILTY!’
The effect of this strange accusatory pantomime on the passing strangers was extraordinary, almost eerie. They would stare at him, hesitate, look away, look at each other, and then at him again; then hurriedly continue on their ways.
One man, turning to another who was my informant, exclaimed: ‘But how did he know?’
Somehow we all know we could live better than we do, many of feeling some level of guilt, but as Americans we are mostly without a vocabulary to talk about that guilt and/or feeling of shame. Why?
Bradshaw goes to write -
“Protestant Churches and the Roman Catholic Church taught that people were guilty of sin and needed to repent, up until the second quarter of the 20th century, when Protestantism began putting less emphasis on sin and the negatives of the Christian Faith and concentrating on the positives. In the 1950s, Norman Vincent Peale, famed minister of the Marble Collegiate Church in New York City, concentrated on the power of positive thinking, which became the title of his best-selling blockbuster.
Peale asserted that by concentrating on the positive things of life one could overcome the many fears of failure and develop the self-confidence needed to capitalize on his/her true God given talents and achieve success. He was criticized by many theologians and medical doctors for preaching false hope, but he was enormously popular. He was followed by Robert Schuller, founder of the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California. Gradually, mainline Protestantism concentrated only on the positive aspects of the Christian Faith.”
Mention the word ‘sin’ outside of more conservative churches and watch the reaction.
Some will be amused at your old-fashioned idea.
Some will quickly deflect, agreeing that there are a few grosser practices - human sex slavery, terrorism, child abuse ... for example- worthy of the word but they just as quickly will insist that their own failing are not sin!
We live in a world where evil is very real, where suffering splashes onto our TV screens in living color - brutal war on civilians, grinding poverty that makes people do desperate things, corruption that enslaves millions, religious terrorism that kills indiscriminately on city streets, child abuse that scars for life, gun violence right here in good old America, with shootings happening even in suburban schools in upscale neighborhoods and on beautiful college campuses. On top of that, we have crowded prisons, a drug abuse crisis that kills thousands annually, and increasing numbers of fatherless kids.
We know the ills, for nothing I have pointed out is news to anyone of us...
but yet the majority of Americans cannot or will not say the word ‘sin.’
I cannot speak of the rest of the world because I do not know the social norms outside of my country. However, it is not inaccurate nor and exaggeration to say that the majority of Americans not only reject the idea of ‘sin,’ they are increasing hostile towards those who believe in moral absolutes.
· It is laughable in our culture to say that greed or materialism is a sin as both are considered marks of success by most people.
· If we say that divorce, in most cases, is a sin we are seen as out of touch, or as naive fools. You may even be offended, wondering how I could be so judgmental!
· When we declare that sex outside of marriage is sinful, we invite ridicule, or at least a strange look as if we belonged to another century.
· If we insist the marriage of persons of the same sex is a choice that is outside of God’s will, we are likely to be labeled ignorant, and probably a hateful bigot.
· When we say that drunkenness or drug addiction is a sin, we raise the ire of those who quickly correct us to insist that both are ‘sickness.’
· While almost everyone agrees that ending the life of a unborn child is not a good thing, still about half of Americans resist, in the strongest terms, the suggestion that abortion is a sin. “How could you be so insensitive to the well-being of women in crisis?” they ask.
Christians who have held convictions on these matters and so many others have often been inconsistent and hypocritical, but that does not change what we learn from Scripture. And please understand that in no way am I suggesting that the previous list is an exhaustive one. I name those things as examples. There are others choices we make that were once spoken of as sin, in moral terms, which we no longer view in the same way.
I am sure that there are more than a few of you in this room, at this moment, who are very
uncomfortable with some, if not all, of the statement I just made. Knowing me you may give me the benefit of the doubt as to being a bigot, but at the same time you remain skeptical about assertions about sin.
So, why did Americans stop talking about sin?
The short answer to a tough question is this -
We were seduced by teachers who reject the idea of Truth as being too rigid, often out of a sincere desire to be loving and accepting,
and
For many reasons, even Christians have largely abandoned the Authority of the Holy Scripture or are completely ignorant of what it says.
Paul warned Timothy, and us, of this human trend, not unique to the 21st century.
"For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths." (2 Timothy 4:3-4, NLT)
A word of caution here - please hear me. The subject I am dealing with today cannot be reduced to simple ‘cause and effect.’ For example, it would be very wrong to buy that often repeated myth that ‘because we stopped praying and reading the Bible in public schools’ America has lost her way! That is seeing a symptom as the sickness! The foundations started to erode a long, long time before the Supreme Court ended prayer in school. That decision was simply symbolic of the grip of secularism on our country and in our minds.
There is no singular cause for the erosion of convictions about sin and the moral decay that is a deadly rot at the core of our society. So, we must not delude ourselves by scapecoating or blaming. It is not a problem for ‘people out there,’ it is our issue. Peter reminds us that “it is time for judgment to begin with the family of God; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And, “If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?” (1 Peter 4:17-18, NIV)
PAUSE —
Then, too there is the deep divide in most of our minds between the ‘sacred’ and the ‘secular,’
those things that are in the realm of God and all the rest of life. We have a spiritual blindness that keeps us from seeing our lives in the light of eternity, or ourselves as accountable to God. We have tamed God, robbing Him of His majesty, which allows us to sin without fear.
Like Isaiah, we need a new vision of the Holy. When that preacher was caught into the Presence of God, he did not high-5 the Father. He says“It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” (Isaiah 6:4-5, NLT)
Rod Dreher makes this powerful observation.
“America has lived a long time off its thin Christian veneer .. now stripped away by mass consumer capitalism and liberal individualism. The flood of secularism is rising to the rafters in American churches. Every congregation in the land must ask itself if it has so compromised with the world that it has been compromised in its faithfulness. Is the Christianity we have been living in our families, our congregations, and our communities a means of conversion? Or, does our faith function as a vaccination against taking faith as seriously as Christ’s Gospel demands?”
-The Benedict Option
He goes on to opine that it is only a few zealots who continue to think that some effort at legislation can turn back the tide. Then he says, “American Christians must face the fact that we live in a culture in which our beliefs make little sense. We speak a language that the world either cannot understand or which they reject as offensive.” Ibid.
The primary values of our society are individual freedom of expression and personal happiness.
Both of these run head-on with Jesus’ statement that those who would come and follow Him must die to self and make Him Lord of life. He says that ‘if we try to save our lives for ourselves we will ultimately lose them,’ and ‘that no one can serve two masters.’
Why is recovering a vocabulary of sin important?
Is this just a way to control human behavior by shaming others, by creating heavy burdens of guilt? No!
Recovering a Scripturally based language for sin lays a foundation for whole and healthy lives!
Consider this - Isaiah was a preacher to God’s people who lived in the holy city of Jerusalem. The Spirit moved him to challenge them about how they were living. They falsely assured themselves that because they were Abraham’s descendants, because Jerusalem was home to the holy Temple of the Lord - judgment could not fall on them. They, much like many Christians today, believed that as long as they said the right things and kept the traditions, that they could enjoy God’s blessings no matter their day to day choices.
Isaiah spoke God’s truth to them ...
"When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide my eyes from you; even if you offer many prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are full of blood; wash and make yourselves clean. Take your evil deeds out of my sight!
Stop doing wrong, learn to do right!
Seek justice, encourage the oppressed.
Defend the cause of the fatherless, plead the case of the widow.
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the best from the land; but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword.” For the mouth of the Lord has spoken." (Isaiah 1:15-20, NIV)
What was the way to be restored?
To accept God’s invitation ‘reason together,’ to talk it over, to learn His truthl; and then - to become ‘willing and obedient.’
John states the same truth in the New Testament. He says-
"If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But -
if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all wickedness.
If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts. My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin. But
if anyone does sin, we have an advocate who pleads our case before the Father. He is Jesus Christ, the one who is truly righteous. He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world. And we can be sure that we know him if we obey his commandments.
If someone claims, “I know God,” but doesn’t obey God’s commandments, that person is a liar and is not living in the truth. But those who obey God’s word truly show how completely they love him. That is how we know we are living in him." (1 John 1:8-2:5, NLT)
When we refuse to speak of sin, we slide into self-deception.
When we agree with God (which is what confession means) He ACTS to forgive and to cleanse!
Our sins are real but His grace is greater. And the complete truth is that Jesus does not just remove our sin-guilt. He liberates us so that we can leave our sins behind as we grow in obedience and intimacy with Him.
Christian, there are some cautions in talking about sin.
First is one that Jesus gives. He tells us before we try to help our brother get a speak of sawdust out of his eye, we would best deal with the wooden post in our own.
That does not translate into the modern maxim of tolerance that says, “I’m OK and you’re OK” and therefore I will not speak of anything that might make you uncomfortable or feel judged.
Jesus tells us to commit ourselves to authentic lives that are open to the Spirit’s correction, to keep on dealing with the failures in our own lives, so that we are not hypocritical.
Second, we must be careful about ‘black and white’ thinking that fails to reckon with the complex nature of our human experience. There is a context of life that requires compassion.
Let me use divorce as an example. The Bible is quite clear that divorce is something God hates. Divorce breaks the most basic covenant that exists between human beings. When Jesus taught on the permanence of marriage his own disciples blurted out - “If this is the case, it is better not to marry!” But Jesus recognized the imperfection of human relationships and acknowledged that is why God permitted divorce that was just, based on limited circumstances. You see there is a context.
Very few would say divorce is a wonderful experience. No reasonable Christian would suggest that the immediate answer to an unhappy marriage is divorce. But, even though God hates it, there are times when divorce becomes the only answer in an imperfect world. Does it make less a sin? No, but it provides for a redemptive way back for those caught up in terrible circumstances.
N.T. Wright, a pastor and excellent author, speaks to this black and white simplistic thinking that keeps us from discerning God’s will. “The dualistic division of the world into good things and bad things won’t do. There is a distinction between good and evil, but we can never get at it by expressing it in terms of different parts of the created world. Chocolate is a creation of our good and loving God as much as bread. Sex, despite what you would think after hearing some Christians talk, has been God’s good idea all along. Alcohol is a thing that Jesus a lot of at a wedding. ... Falling in love is so important an entire book of the Bible is devoted to it. It would be bizarre if following Jesus who made more wine for a wedding meant automatically renouncing alcohol and sex. ... A serious Christian will realize that sin comes not in the thing itself, but in its wrong use.” - Following Jesus
Jesus would not celebrate promiscuity nor drunkenness. And He would ask us to be able to name those sins so that we could deal with them as we ought to.
So, friend, I am going to explore Vice and Virtue with you throughout the coming weeks of Lent.
It is not my intent to impose regulations on you, but rather to invite you to ‘reason together’ so that we can recover the beauty of holiness that is to be evident in the lives of all Spirit-filled Christians.
The conversation may be difficult, but I will seek to be redemptive. Which is where I close this message.
You may still be stinging from something I said, feeling shame or guilt or anger - at a label that stuck to you while I was speaking. Let us come together to the Cross of Christ.
"Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts. Let him turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will freely pardon. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord." (Isaiah 55:6-8, NIV) Amen .
