I've talk with many Christians who struggle with sin. Sometimes, these people struggle with "big" sins - that is, sins that the church considers to be unacceptable - not acceptable sins like pride or anger or selfishness or covetousness. No, I'm talking about sexual sins among others. Most of the time, these believers who are struggling with "big sins" are repentant. As I'm discipling them, I tell them that the best thing they can do is confess their sins to the church and ask the church to help them deal with their temptation.
What response do I get? Most of them say that they cannot even return to the group of believers with which they once met, much less confess their sin to them. Why? Because they know they will be condemned by these followers of Jesus. How do they know this? Because they have seen how the church has condemned other brothers and sisters who have committed "unacceptable sins" - that is, sins that are not acceptable to the church.
The church is more than happy to accept those who are proud, resentful, angry, selfish, covetous, etc, even when they are not repentant. But, if someone repents of an "unacceptable sin", that person is condemned and rejected. This is not the scriptural way to deal with sin.
<idle musing>
Yep; sad, but true, isn't it? Bonhoeffer in Life Together talks about the necessity of public confession. Not just a generic collect, either, but specific confession.
As I look at the journal of John Wesley, one thing that continually strikes me is the centrality of repentance and confession of sin. I think that is one of the reasons that the Wesleyan revival lasted 60 years. Wesley preached the ability of Christians to live without sin, and believed it was possible here and now. But, he didn't shy away from calling a sin a sin when he saw it. But, we seem to have lost that. Either we preach that christians are sinners—they aren't, they are saints—or we preach that they don't sin—they don't need to, but can—and so close our eyes to blatant sins, such as selfishness, pride, greed, materialism, etc.
God, redeem your church! Save us from such blindness!
</idle musing>
1 comment:
This is one area I can speak to from experience. The Church is simply not a safe place. It's one of the reasons I'm outspoken about my past. I have discovered that many who name the name of Christ are overcome by my past sins. They cannot continue to act like my brother or sister. If we have not settled in our hearts that God can overcome all sin, then, like it or not, our Christianity is overcome. Sin is nothing to the blood of Jesus, so if He can overcome it why are so many Christians overcome by something like homosexuality?
I'm really liking your posts Cuz!
Lonnie
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