Questions 2017, Part I

On the Sunday after Easter, it has become a tradition at St. Paul's to offer a chance to the congregation to ask the pastors questions about faith, the Bible, the church, etc. This year, we invited our Pastor Emeritus, Ron Hoellein, to be a part of our "panel." We pastors are not given advance notice of most of the questions, so we each have a chance to offer our thoughts. It's an interesting exercise, and usually generates even more questions! However, we can never get to more than four or five questions in each worship service, so I offer to tackle some of the "leftover" ones in this blog, dealing with a couple of them per post. So, here goes:

If we commit sin, no matter what it is, are we forgiven?

There were several questions about sin, the nature of sin, and if and how God forgives sin. While libraries of books have been written about this stuff, let me take a stab at answering.

While the Bible lists a lot of things as sins, it is a pretty broad subject. Here 's where I'm at in my understanding: God seems to call anything sin that separates people from God, each other, or may cause physical or psychological harm to any person. In short, sin is what makes communion with God and/or others difficult, if not impossible. Even something like the Thou shalt have no other gods before me prohibition from the "top ten" is more about how adopting multiple "gods" could divide or fracture God's people Israel, hence God says, "Don't do it." In fact, that is exactly what happened, and it DID divide Israel. I am convinced that God calls stuff "sinful" precisely because doing it--and in some cases even thinking it--can break community and put enmity between ourselves and others. It is this heinous disregard for others and the kind of harmonious community that God wants to see us have (dare I say, the Kingdom of God?) that disappoints God to no end, not the actual thing we do. In other words, our stealing stuff might not be a thing for God, but because it will fracture the community or make it near impossible to sustain IS a thing that ticks God off. Another example: a person committing adultery probably doesn't actually "harm" the Creator of the Universe, but it ruins the lives of people God loves, and will drive a wedge into any family. Is this making sense?

I think when we make sin all about "making God angry," a lot of people just aren't swayed by that, especially if they are nominal believers at this point in their lives. However, if we see sin as that which takes a huge toll on the human community that God loves, then maybe all of us can see how disruptive and demeaning it can be. This view also helps us understand why certain things are prohibited in earlier eras of the scriptural record, but that as the needs and circumstances of the society--the people of God--changed, so did the list of "sins." The Bible doesn't specifically prohibit bullying or abusing drugs, but in our day, these clearly threaten persons and communities.

Part two: Are we forgiven? Short answer: yes. One of the major reasons Jesus came was to "unplug" the power of sin as something that would condemn us eternally. However it worked, on the cross, Jesus said, "It is finished," and I believe he meant the idea that our sins would forever separate us from God. However, he spent most of his time on earth teaching us how to behave toward each other so that we might become a loving, just, and peaceful people together. While the power of sin has been cancelled, its "shadow" still must be erased from human action in such a way that we no longer harm each other and we learn how to "all get along." I think the Holy Spirit was sent to empower us to do just this. We live in a post-resurrection community where we are empowered to forgive each other to love each other and to work for justice and peace. These are the things that glorify God.

People sometimes confuse forgiving sins and accountability. While God forgives, we are usually not dismissed from the human--and sometimes even very physical--consequences of our behaviors. God may forgive me from having an angry argument with my wife, but I must ask her forgiveness, apologize, and work to reconcile the hurt and separation caused by the argument. This is a fairly benign example. Another: God forgives me for breaking the speed limit in my car, but the officer will not refrain from giving me a costly ticket for the infraction. You can figure out the accountability for more dangerous behaviors.

As a post-resurrection world, I don't think we need to worry much about "hell" or "damnation" in some eternal sense. I think the Christ Event was huge enough to take care of all of that, even for the whole world. However, if we don't get with loving others according to the teachings of Jesus, we will miss out on any kind of "abundant life," and may do much harm to ourselves, others, and any chance of building a loving, just, and peaceful human community. That sounds like a "hell" to me! And while I don't really know much about what Heaven will be like (the Bible really doesn't say much), it is clear that we will continue to relate to others, and if my temporal life was more about me than thee, and if I was more of a divider than a uniter (to paraphrase a past President), then my early experiences in Heaven will provoke some tears. That's why Revelation 21 has to say, "And God shall wipe away all their tears..." The tears will be the ones we created. The Good News is that God will even begin to heal THESE in eternity. The lessons of Jesus, however, were about how to stop hurting, using, beating down, and marginalizing each other now, in this life, so that we are more ready to share eternity with each other, whatever form that takes.

More questions in upcoming posts..."Go and sin no more!"