It has been a while since I have posted! I have been undergoing an adjustment with my new school schedule and getting everything kicked off for fall here at our churches.
I had an interesting experience last week. I went to my interview with the District Committee on Ordained Ministry (DCOM) to be interviewed for the possibility of being passed on to the Conference level Board of Ordained Ministry (BOM) and commissioning for next sprint at Annual Conference.
The meeting was full of laughter and mostly warm faces (I knew a number of people on this committee already) and after some horseplay and some serious questioning, I exited the room and they voted. When I returned, they congratulated me and let me know that I would be hearing from the Conference about completing materials for the upcoming BOM meeting. This is all great news.
The interesting thing that happened to me was that I was questioned rather harshly on my written presentation of sin, evil and Satan. I was told to lighten the language and offered several other recommendations that I am taking under advisement (but not jumping right into action on just yet!).
My concern is that if we minimize our discussion of the destructive forces of sin, evil, and Satan (yes, I said it again) in the world, are we not somehow minimizing what Scripture assures us that Christ has overcome? I mean, if sin and evil are not pervasive, why do we need a savior?
Before I set out to pontificate more about these issues, I thought I would ask what you all think. Here are my questions:
what is sin?
what is evil?
is Satan real?
how would you relate these to your congregation?
Does the way that you discuss sin, evil and Satan impact your understanding of grace, Christ, or salvation?
These are just a few of the burning questions that I have rolling around with the marbles (yes, there are a few remaining) in my head right now.
Let me know what you think.
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5 comments:
The interesting thing about the relegation of discussions about sin and evil to the back corners of rooms seemingly only inhabited by "cooks" and "overly spiritual" people is that it makes us believe that evil is not a real and tangible force. I remember a time within the "non-denominational" church when whole series were devoted to understanding the spiritual realm, angels, demons, and the like. Now I'm not saying we should go back to that time because we were guilty of erring too far on the Flip Wilson side of theology (if you got the reference- 5 points for you). I do, however, believe that there is a very real and active sin presence in the world, an active "devil" or Satan whose goal is to undermine and destroy all that God would call "good" and utterly cause us to live for ourselves as opposed to that which is outside of ourselves. The Bible clearly references Satan (fell like lightning from Heaven) and sin (all have and fall short). Its the pervasive power of that sin that Christ came to redeem us from, the same sin that was introduced at Adam's decision to follow his own way (which seems right to man) as opposed to God's. So that's what sin is- a decision that we know better than God how to live and deciding to follow that way as opposed to His. It's the belief that we can illegitimately answer our legitimate needs with those things Satan (said it again) dangles before us like sirens luring us to a world that will utterly destroy us. Yes, sin is real, so are demons, and so is evil- the underlying current for both of the aforementioned. When we decide to not address those issues in exchange for increased attendance numbers or the decreased references to us as "bible thumpers" or "spiritual cooks" them we deny the full efficacy of Vhrist's redemption. Because if not from sin and its power why did Christ have to die?
Normally I understand sin as a alienation from Reality, meaning that sin is that which separates, prevents, and when we chose to ignore or hide from Reality as it really is and the implicit call that comes from that.
I think this allows for a sense of sin that is both personal and corporate, both conscious and operates on a beyond consciousness level, and one that moves sin beyond a simple morality play.
I say that because I think so often our images of sin lead us to a simple moralism, where we are right and that is wrong. When we get there is often when we loose sight of reality the most and commit the gravest sins known to man (Inquisition for example).
So my take on sin is: pay attention to reality, listen to the Spirit, move beyond simple moral rules into greater spirit depth i.e. don't call unclean, what God has made clean.
As for satan being real or imagined, that is easy: George Bush is satan, what else needs to be said? ;) (Or insert your favorite punching bag in place)
Daman,
I really agree that sin/evil/satan and ideas like this should not be left to a back room but need to be part the discussion in our lives.
I was curious how you understand the link between sin and evil. Are they the same thing? Do the words point to anything different?
As Chris Hedges says, doing away with the notion of God is not dangerous, but doing away with the notion of sin is dangerous. I would add, following Chris here, it is much more important to retain a notion of one's own embeddedness in sin than to identify sin "out there" with those "other people."
In fact, an inadequate notion of sin is probably at the heart of almost all forms of fundamentalism, whether theistic and atheistic, whether religious, political, or economic. Fundamentalism finally comes down to absolute confidence in your own power to know reality as it is (even if that confidence is only in your own power to interpret special revelation), which amounts to a failure to fully appreciate your sinful nature.
I am thus deeply suspicious of humanisms that want to do away with or minimize the notion of sin. I detect beneath them a vision of human perfection and a project for stripping away the superficial distortions that hide taht perfection. Such projects always have chilling ends, whether they are hatched by a a Hitler, a Pol Pot, or a Milton Friedman.
Nate, I don't necessarily believe that sin and evil are inherently the same, but do believe they can be intertwined. I think that in our constant push for entertainment and the ever present westernization, we have allowed the hollywood idea of evil (i.e. This malevolent disembodied force that causes murders and runs like a sludge beneath the city of NY a la Ghostbusters). In actuality, I look at evil as being that which wars against good. As God is the source of all that is good it is that which wars against God. This sometimes manifests itself in the form of murders and destruction, but just as often manifests itself in our selfishness and sin. Sin entered into a perfect world when mankind accepted the lie from the enemy of God as the truth. "We" gave evil an in and subsequently evil a foothold and a voice in our world. So, though not the same, evil AND selfishness lead to sin. Our job is to combat the forces of both.
To the issue of evil being out there expressed in the above comment- while there is a definite inward component to sin and the inherent nature of evil, I still can not completely dismiss the notion of their being outside forces at work. Jesus references it when he casts out "unclean spirits" it is again referenced since our fight is not against flesh and blood but "powers and principalities and wickedness in high places." Daniel references it in the OT. All that to say there is sufficient Biblical proof for there being both an inward and outward battle we fight.
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