"Eros will have naked bodies; Friendship naked personalities. "
There's more to this than 8 words... A friend has said that we can only really love someone when we are willing to see the darkness in them and embrace it. That's neither saying "yes" to it, nor winking at it. It's really seeing it, realizing that it is a part of the person, and still choosing to say, "I love you, warts (or worse) and all. I'm not going to (try to) change you (we'll leave that to the Holy Spirit); I'm not going to reject that part of you."
At the Canopy we say, "Come as you are." I really hope people can and do come as they are. I really hope that the Canopy is a safe community. And I really hope that everyone who comes as they are ends up different then they were - not because I've changed them (God forbid - to quote the Apostle Paul) but because the Spirit of Jesus is alive in them.
If the church were to understand this -- and I'm speaking as one who knows the theory, and struggles with the practice -- we might actually grasp what it is to "hate the sin and love the sinner," and we might actually have a real voice with those sinners. Instead, we often hate both sin and sinner, and our voice is nothing more than one more voice shouting condemnation. And we wonder why the gay community hates us so.
One more quick thought - hating the sin. Do we hate a particular sin because it is wrong or do we hate it because of the damage that it has done, is doing and will continue to do to someone we love?
Why does God hate divorce? Because it is the undoing of what he has done in joining two people into one flesh, and thus is an act of rebellion? Or because it is the tearing apart of one flesh into two pieces, and thus is an act of violence against two of his children?
That's not to say that sin isn't rebellion. But is God a loving Daddy or a demanding Ruler? Better check with Jesus before answering that one...
Just a few thoughts stirred up by a great quote.
8.15.2006
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Oh, how this post reminds me of a former life... a time when "Come as you are" really meant something to me, when I 'loved the sinner, hated the sin'. It's so easy when you're niave - I thought we had it made. Now, it's gone and will never be the same - I feel like it's lost forever... tossed into the Sea of the Forgotten.
ReplyDeleteBut, how 5 years can mature a guy. I can truly embrace "Come as you are"; for, if I do not, I cannot embrace myself, nor allow Christ to embrace me.
Loving the sinner is easy because I feel we're in the same boat. Hating the sin... I'm thinking about setting sail again, but for now, that ship is docked.
Here's the sense that I get as people "Come as [they] are". We're all a bit doubtful. "Is it really true?" is what we all ask ourselves.
I know we'd all like it to be true; but, we know that it really isn't - not totally. It can't. Not in our context. Or.... maybe these are just words still stinging from a forgotten time.
There's still Hope - if even just a glimmer.
Because you haven't posted another deep thought, I'm going to comment again....
ReplyDeleteI love the sin-ponderance. Eric, that is so where Love comes from! I love that revelation! It's so heart-breaking when the Church judges sin because it's wrong - how we must have retribution, be it with an individual or the devil. Sin desserves vengence!
But, why are we so sin-concious? Don't we become what we think about most of the time? I guess the term "sinner saved by grace" is about as far as many of us will ever get. Never "free in the beloved", "blemish-free bride", "friend of Christ".
I totally agree that the disdane for sin is not about sin at all. In God there is no sin, so how can He be focused on it all the time? No, His intent is on the redemption of Man; not the punishment of sin. He longs to see the hearts of His Beloved set free - I don't think He has any interest in the eternal punishment of the soul.
J - I understand where you are coming from, but I just can't go there. It's not where Jesus goes - he talks more about eternal rewards and eternal punishment than anyone else in scripture.
ReplyDeleteIn my post, I'm not saying that God isn't a ruler who is concerned about our rebellion - the Bible makes it very clear that he is. What I am saying is that he's also a loving Daddy who is concerned with the hurt we do to ourselves and inflict on others.
The problem I see is that too often we act like the ruler, and take it upon ourselves to be offended by sin, and that's a dangerous place to put ourselves.
Just because you punish your kid for doing something wrong - or warn them of impending punishment - does not mean that your intention is for them to be punished.
ReplyDeleteI don't care how many times damnation is mentioned in the Bible, if you take it out of context it's just wrong. I know what Jesus says. I know what God said to Moses and the prophets. But, if I only read those warning and chastisements singularly - as in just the moment they were written/spoken - then I'm missing the point.
If your kid related to you as one who was focused on punishing them when they did wrong, how would that relationship be? It'd be distant at best.
And, we wonder why people find it almost impossible to be intimate with God.
If we're going to read the warnings God gives us, it has to be in the context of the greater message - Love, Redemption, Salvation. It's the virtues that God is focused on developing in His Body, not the vices He wants to punish. If the virtues are strong, the vices will have no place.
That I can say a big "Yes" to!!
ReplyDeleteBTW - thanks for reading & posting to, my blog!
Eric, you have a great thing going, here. It's my pleasure to be a part of it!
ReplyDelete