Great PowerPoint slides are available for this sermon. Email jaykaymarsh@yahoo.com to get them.
Is Left Handedness A Sin?
Good morning. Welcome to The Shepherds’ House. Welcome also to our on-line viewers. I am glad you are here, and I pray that you gain a blessing from today’s service. Thank you, Diana, for that great children’s story. Thank you, Byron for reading the scripture this morning. Thank you to our sound and video team and our praise team for setting worshipful mood today. Thank you to the deacons, deaconesses and greeting for keeping things running smoothly here. Thank you to everyone who makes the shepherd’s House a special place. Let us pray before we begin. Dear God, I ask your blessing on this sermon today. May Your message shine through my flawed delivery. May those hearing it catch a glimpse of You today. I pray in Jesus’ name. amen
In November I preached I talked about how Christian views have changed over the years. (It is on Sermon Central as "Would Jesus Drive A Plymouth"). I gave three examples. Most Christians used to think the Bible taught that men were superior to women. Most Christians used to think that the Bible taught that Anti-Semitism was OK. Most Christians used to think that the Bible supported slavery. There are many texts that explicitly support those positions. Why did we change our minds?
I think we changed our views for two reasons.? First, we could see our views were causing obvious harm.? It was harmful for women to be forced into roles based on their gender when they were gifted for other roles.? It was harmful to Jews to be persecuted for centuries culminating in the Holocaust.? It was harmful to slaves to have their children taken away from them and sold to someone else.
The second reason we changed our views was because of Matthew 22 and Matthew 23. In Matthew 23 Jesus said it is hypocritical to obey specific laws like tithing and disobey broader more important laws like justice, mercy, and faith. In Matthew 22 Jesus said the two most important laws are to love God and love your neighbor. On these two laws hang all the law and the prophets. I did not mention it in my last sermon, but The Golden Rule in Matthew 7:12 echoes this. “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.” Matthew 7:12 NLT
Is it loving God and loving your neighbor to think of women as inferior to men?? Obviously, it is not.? Would you like to be thought of as inferior because of your gender? No. So, the Golden Rule tells us not to do that. Is it loving God and loving your neighbor to blame current Jews for the actions of their ancestors?? Clearly it is not.? Would you like to be blamed for the actions of your ancestor? No. So, the Golden Rule tells us not to do that. Is it loving God and loving your neighbor to force someone to work for you for no pay?? Obviously, it is not.? Would you like to be forced to work for no pay? No. So, the Golden Rule tells us not to do that. Since these beliefs fail the two most important laws, they must be wrong. Even though there are specific texts to support the belief, the belief fails the broader, more important law. So, the specific texts must mean something else.
Every belief, every doctrine, every policy, every action, must first pass the “Love God, Love Your Neighbor, Golden Rule test. If specific texts lead to beliefs, doctrines, policies, or actions that do not pass the “Love God, Love Your Neighbor, Golden Rule” test, then those texts need re-interpreting.
It is hard to believe it took 1800 years to realize that slavery, male chauvinism, and antisemitism were not “loving your neighbor.” It made me wonder, what ideas do I (or my church) have now that people in 2200 will wonder how I (or my church) could not see those ideas were not “loving your neighbor.” I said I would check all my beliefs to see if they passed the love God, love your neighbor test. And I asked you to do the same. This sermon is a continuation of that idea.
Parts of this sermon comes from an article by Stephen Ferguson in the December 1, 2023, online issue of Adventist Today. https://atoday.org/tag/left-handedness/.
Is being left-handed a sin? I suspect with so many other issues today, this is not one you have given a whole lot of thought to. I think we could all agree left-handed dominance is unusual, in the sense of being a minority condition affecting about 10% of the world’s population. ?There are also a variety of even rarer conditions on the handedness spectrum, including mixed-handedness, ambidextrousness, and dysgraphia, but let us not overly complicate things.
Even if we admit left-handedness is unusual, irregular, or aberrant, from a Christian perspective is left-handedness a sin? Before we look at left-handedness, we need to ask ourselves a more basic question, “What is sin?”
Before talking about sin, I want us to remember how much God loves us. Let us sing the Bible verse “Behold What Manner of Love.” Let us change the last line to “.... Daughters of God.” The culture the Bible writers lived in did not value women as much as our culture does.” I like the NIV translation of this verse best, “See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are.”
A few verses later is the most famous definition of sin is, “Sin is the transgression of the law.” (1 John 3:4b KJV). Let us look a little closer at that text. To me there are three important words in this text: sin, transgression, and law. Sin is what we are trying to define, so I will leave that. Let us look at the other two words. According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, “Transgression” means to go by the side of, to go past or pass over without touching a thing, to overstep, neglect, violate. So, sin is going over God’s law, overstepping God’s law, or violating God’s law.
What about the word “Law?” According to Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, the word “Law” (Greek.?nomos) means anything established, anything received by usage, a custom, usage, or command. So, sin is overstepping or violating anything God has established or commanded. Do you see any problems with this definition? How about Deuteronomy 22:8 NKJV, “When you build a new house, then you shall make a parapet for your roof...” Since the commands in the Bible were given to a different culture in a different time and place, we need to look at the ideas behind the commands. The idea behind this command is to build your house so people do not get hurt. So, we disobey the words of the command and do not put railings on our roofs, but we obey the idea behind the command by making the roof strong enough to hold 40 psi of snow. So, sin is overstepping or violating the idea behind anything God has established or commanded. This implies that sin is an action, and this is supported by many texts in the Bible. Saul sinned when he offered sacrifices in 1 Samuel 15:24. David sinned when he numbered the people in 2 Samuel 24:10.
Is sin limited to actions? The tenth commandment (Ex 20:17) tells us coveting is a sin and coveting is not an action. It is a thought. Jesus told us in Matthew 5:27-28 that a man that lusts after a woman has already committed adultery in his heart. Or if you are angry with your brother (Matthew 5:22), you are in danger of judgement. In the Greek, these texts are in the progressive tense which means to continue. So, sin is overstepping or violating in continued thought or action anything God has established or commanded. We tend to focus on the action because we can see it. The thought may be more important because the thought comes before the action.
Is sin an action/thought or a condition? The classic definition of sin we just talked about is a rather free translation. Almost every other version (ESB, BSB, BLB, NKJ, NASB, LSB, Amplified, CSB, HCSB, ASV, ERV, NRSV Youngs’ Literal) of the Bible translates this verse just as the Greek says as Sin is lawlessness. In my mind that definition of sin makes sin even worse. Here is why. Adding the suffix “Less” to a word mean “without.” Fearless means without fear. Joyless means without joy. Adding the suffix “Ness” to a word means “State of.” Shrewdness means the state of being shrewd. Quietness means the state of being quiet. Lawlessness then means the state of being without law. An attitude of “I do not have to follow any laws.
And that is how we are born. Psalm 51:5 NIV, Surely, I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Psalm 58:3 NLT, you have done wrong and lied from the day you were born. No one must teach a child to lie or be selfish; rather, we go to great lengths to teach children to tell the truth and put others first. Sinful behavior comes naturally. It seems that sin is a condition that leads to sinful thoughts that lead to sinful actions.
Sin has left its mark. The eventual consequence of sin is death. The wages of sin is death. Sin has other consequences other than death. Immediately after Adam and Eve ate the apples, they were ashamed. A few hours later when God came to visit, they were afraid and hid. Because of sin, there are thorns and thistles, cancer, and car accidents. Some consequences are the results of our sins, others are because sin has changed nature itself. In Eden, the lion and the lamb lived together in peace. Today my dad’s cat thinks it must kill birds when the cat’s dish is full of food. And not just kill them but torture them first. Ms. Silver bears the marks of sin. We all bear the marks of sin that we can do nothing about, from baldness to arthritis to cancer.
God offers us escape from our sinful condition. If we accept His offer, He will change us. In an instant He will justify us. Over a lifetime he will sanctify us and take away our sinful nature, our sinful thoughts, and our sinful actions. We have seen it happen in us and our brothers and sisters in Christ. “The things they once hated they now love, and the things they once loved they hate. The proud and self-assertive become meek and lowly in heart. The vain and supercilious become serious and unobtrusive. The drunken become sober, and the profligate pure. (SC 58.3)
Yes, God forgives our sins, and changes us to be like Him, but He (generally) does not take away the marks of sin on our minds and bodies. Even though their sinful natures are changed, Balding Christians do not (generally) grow their hair back. Wheelchair bound Christians do not (generally) walk again. All of creation, from you and me to the whole environment around us, groans to be freed from the marks of sin (Rom. 8:18-22). We look forward to being set free from the marks of sin in the earth made new, but on this Earth, God does not generally free us from the marks of sin. Since God does not (generally) change the marks of sin, the marks must not be sin. It is important to distinguish between the two.
So, returning to our original question, “Is being left-handed a sin?” Does it go against God’s commands? Let us look. The Bible mentions:
a consistent preference for the right over the left
In Gen. 48:13-18 Joseph brings his sons, Ephriam and Manasseh to be blessed by Joseph’s father, Jacob. Joseph places his oldest son, Manasseh, on Joseph’s left so that Manasseh will be on Jacob’s right and receive the bigger blessing. Even though Jacob is blind, he crossed his hands and gives the bigger blessing with his right hand to Ephriam. Joseph tries to correct Jacob, but Jacob is determined to give the bigger blessing to Ephriam. Everyone knew the right-handed blessing was better.
In Ex. 15:6 RSV Moses and the Israelites sing because the Egyptians have been destroyed in the Red Sea. “Thy right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, thy right hand, O Lord, shatters the enemy.” God’s right hand is signaled out as better. There is at least a dozen similar texts1
Gal. 2:9 RSV, “and when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James, Cephas, and John, who were reputed to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised. Not the left hand of fellowship, the right hand.
Ehud, a left-handed assassin is called by God, but it is not clear whether Ehud is akin to Cyrus or Nebuchadnezzar, that is, a flawed man being used by God for godly aims (Judges 3:12-29)
The Benjaminite's had 700 hand-picked lefties (Judges 20:16), but this is within the context of the tribe supporting a bunch of rapist murderers, who were practically annihilated by the other Israelites.
on the Day of Judgment, the righteous sheep will be on His right, while the sinful goats on His left (Matt. 25:33);
Ecclesiastes 10:2, “A wise man’s heart directs him toward the right, but the foolish man’s heart directs him toward the left.”
Jesus has been exalted to the right hand of the Father (Acts 2:33 and at least a dozen other texts)3.
At the very least, the Bible appears to portray left-handedness in a negative light. One commentator says, “Left handedness is significant because the left side of the body is often associated with deception or darkness, it is a tactical advantage in war against the majority who are often right-handed and is symbolic for being outside of the culturally accepted social norm of leadership in ancient Israel.” Niditch, Susan (2011-03-01). Judges: A Commentary. Presbyterian Publishing Corp. ISBN 978-0-664-23831-5.
Since the Bible presents left Handedness in such a negative light, do we expect lefties to change? Is is even possible? Scientists tell us left handedness is something a person is born with. It is genetic. Scientists have not discovered the one gene that determines handedness. They think at least 40 genes contribute to the trait.
So, if scripture speaks so negatively of left-handedness, and science confirms it is genetic, do we expect left-handed people to change? ?If God is a god of miracles, can’t He cure the left-handed condition? Can’t lefties ask God and pray their left-handedness away?
If you think I am being ridiculous, consider that until recent times left-handed children in most Western countries were physically forced to write with their right hand. Now we see it as cruel.
So, what is the answer? Since Left-handedness is not a continued thought or action that goes against the idea behind God’s law, it is not a sin. Since left-handedness causes troubles for lefties, and because lefties are born with it, and because God does not heal it, it may be a mark of sin. I think the most that could be said scripturally, scientifically, historically, and culturally, is that right-handedness is an “ideal.” There is nothing wrong with the Church’s preaching biblical ideals. We might say that the Brady's and the Cunningham's represent ideal families worth emulating, but we also need to realize that not everybody can live like that.??
In Jesus’ own words, some behaviors such as celibacy are preferred, but too hard for most people (Matt. 19:11-12). Likewise, if the Apostle Paul says elders and deacons must be the husband of one wife (1 Tim. 3:2), the corollary includes lay members’ not living up to that.
Since left-handedness may be a mark of sin and not sinful, I suggest a new approach. I think lefties should be accepted into membership. More than that, I think lefties should be accepted, period. It means we approach left-handed people with compassion, not condemnation. We should affirm lefties.
There are texts that seem to say lefthanded-ness is wrong. Is it loving God and loving your neighbor to tell a left-handed person they must write with their right hand? If you were left-handed, would you want to be forced to use your right hand? Since the belief fails the two most important laws and the golden rule, the belief must be wrong and the texts that support the belief must mean something else. Like singing “Daughters of God” in place of “Sons of God” or understanding what “Build a parapet” really means, we can be faithful to the ideas of the Bible and still affirm lefties.
You will probably realize by now that the point of this is not really left-handedness. At one time, left-handers were indeed discriminated against. We now know better. No, our point here is to note that we must be careful about showing prejudice against people for things that merely reflect the complexity of the human condition. This in turn requires a new response – a response many Christians might have trouble with. It is important because whether we like it or not, these issues are not going away. And in implementing a new approach, let us err on the side of grace because “Mercy trumps over judgment “(Jam. 2:13).
Notes
1. Is 41:10, Ex 15:6, Is 48:13, Ps 89:13, Ps 18:35, Ps 138:7, Ps 98:1, Ps 74:11, Ps 118:16, Lam 2:3, Ps
3. I Pt 3:22, Acts 5:31, Luke 22:69, Ps 110:1, Rom 8:34, Heb 10:12, Acts 2:33, Mk 16:19, Heb 12:2, Col 3:1, Heb 1:3, Eph 1:20, Acts 7:55
