Title got your attention, huh? Good. That is what is was suppose to do.
Matthew 12:31
New International Version (NIV)
31 And so I tell you, every kind of sin and slander can be forgiven, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.
My pastor, Brian Hughes, spoke today on the 3rd part of a series called "Destination Unknown"...and it was about who gets into Heaven and who does not. He asked us on Face Book a few days ago who we thought was the worst of the worst of people or the biggest sin. I knew this was a trick question since we have (small group) discussed this before. The Bible tells us that all sin is equal. Many people responded on this question; answers included murderers, liars, child molesters, etc. I would have to agree on the child molesters/abusers. I don't think I would be able to 'take it' if someone hurt my Chaytor or Martin Russell (to be). Could you? Could you honestly say, I know God will punish the person that did this to my child? And what if this person confesses and asks God for forgiveness.....which again, the Bible says that God would forgive and that person would be let into heaven (if the person truly confessed and was sorry). Could you take that? Could you take that one day you could be sitting side by side with the person who sexually molested or murdered or beat your child? My only answer right now would be I pray I never have to face this question. Because I would fail here. I would have to say, I don't find this fair. I don't believe I would trust that this person would be punished in the right manner. I have thought about it before. I have wondered if I would be able to forgive the person who did this to my child. And, right now in my life, the answer would be no. Hell NO to be exact.
Maybe in the future that would change. I don't know. I hope I never have to know.
But it does make us start to think about how we compare (or judge ourselves) everyday against every person we know. You may sit there and say you don't do it, but you do.....stop and listen to yourself. I do it, hell I am sitting here writing this saying to myself 'people who say they don't do it are full of crap'....so you see, I am even doing it while I'm writing to you about doing it!!!
We do it all the time. It can be as simple as judging people on their driving abilities (or disabilities), it can be 'people watching' at the mall or in the open commons at lunch, think about clothes shopping (especially for the first day of school- your kids know they are going to be judged on their outfit, or back pack, or lunch box)....heck, we even pick on our Pastor for his attire he wears!! But he does deserve it (LOL). We watch The Biggest Loser and think 'oh my GAWD!!!', or other reality shows and judge their decisions...I mean the list goes on and on...hell, I did it in my last post! it's right there..me saying how I was being judged on my teaching when this other teacher does all this unprofessional stuff I don't do at all.
And it makes me wonder.....when did we learn to do this to each other? When did we learn that judging others is ok, especially if it makes us feel better about ourselves? Is this behavior in our DNA? Or is it learned from society? is it learned from our parents? If we could put a group of newborns in a closed environment with no one (cause adults would have to be there to help like feed, etc.)allowed to exhibit any judgemental behavior, no TV, no fashion magazines...what would happen? Would these children grow up accepting each other and not judging each other? I really would like to know.
So, Brian wrote down a list of all the responses we wrote to his question. He then started to put them in order of bad to worse. He was making a statement of how society (us) views these 'sins' and how we compare ourselves to one another. And the excuses we use to make ourselves feel better about our sins. Which we do this...quite a lot. I do compare myself to other teachers to make myself feel better. I am a good teacher..but I ain't perfect. Far from it. And as my teaching career goes on pause for a while, I am finding that it is time for me to take a break. I am becoming very negative about the teaching profession and that is the last thing I want to be.
So, bottom line is how do I change this way of thinking? Not just the teaching, but all of it. If someone speeds past me or cuts me off....do I need to think anything about it? Is it our human nature to judge everything that happens, even if it doesn't directly effect us? When I watch the news at night, what should my reaction be to all the people I see on TV who have hurt another person? I believe the answer is I am suppose to pray for them? right? What if they have done this offense several times....do I say 'well, they got what they deserve?'....
I am a different person since I accepted Jesus as my savior. I have 'calmed down' on the judging...but I still fight it when I am wronged or I feel I am wronged. Does this count for something with God? Does he judge us on what we are or what we are trying to become? Does the between phase of starting the journey and finishing the journey count? Will I ever NOT judge others? Will I ever, with no middle confusion, not worry about anyone elses behaviors but my own?
I still find it hard to grasp the Biblical concept that all sins are equal (except the blasphemy against the Spirit). It is so hard to think that a lie I told or a slip of the tongue in anger is as bad as a murderer or a child molester. It is just hard to get that. But that is what the Bible says, right?
1 comment:
The value of people is one thing, the damage their sin causes is another. A serial killer leaves a wider damage path than a single murder of passion. We'd agree on that. The problem is that we assign VALUE to the personhood based on the depth and breadth of their sin's damage path, right? That's what we do.
Now, I think God would agree that a serial killer causes more damage to the world than a single crime of passion. It's not judgmental to day that Osama bin Laden caused much more damage to our generation than some guy who beat up his girlfriend (and that's a horrible thing to do, by the way, I'm just illustrating).
But God still looks at the entire spectrum and says, 'all of you are marred. You might have caused less damage, but you still caused some. And that's the point, Karen. Your SIN didn't damage people like a child abuser's. No question about that. But it still caused damage. it made for a less than perfect record. That's what we have in common.
By the way, I'll deal with the scripture you brought up next week - the unpardonable sin.
And, you asked, 'when did we learn to do this to each other?' When Cain and Able brought their offerings, God knew their hearts. Cain devalued Able as a brown-noser, a kiss-up. He compared himself to his brother, and I think it's been happening every since.
Glad you are talking and wrestling with this stuff!
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