10th December 2012

In creating humankind, Christians believe God made possible evolution of discernment between what builds up and what destroys, what's healthy and what's harmful for well-being. This discernment, our moral sense, works at a collective and personal level. It can be distilled into reasoned argument, but is more complex than this. It touches on every aspect of relatedness between self, others and God. So far the word sin has not been used. It belongs at the highest level of thought about human relatedness.

Sin is identified with mistakes or decisions causing needless suffering and chaos in life. It is rooted in self-centred motivation or attitude - putting self before others and before God, if God is acknowledged at all. The Genesis stories see suffering and misfortune, guilt, shame and blame emerge from an original human disregard and rebellion against God. Sin is about refusal to relate to God and respond to One who is source of all existence. 

Sin happens because humans are free, not prevented from doing what isn't good for them. Learning is part and parcel of human destiny. We come to understand what sin is by the damage it does. Experience teaches us which actions and attitudes do us no good. We discover through the passage of life that disquieting inner longing for God is better acknowledged and explored than it is ignored.

Scripture regards sin not merely as transgression against divine order, attracting punishment for the offence, it also regards sin as a spiritual ailment to be cured if we are to 'have life and have it in abundance'. With Christianity historically a cultural force in civilisation and nation building, it was inevitable that understanding sin in terms of crime and punishment would dominate.

Different generations and cultures have imagined Hell as a place of punishment, varied in relation to what kind of retribution people fear suffering most. Dante's classic portrayal of people in Hell reflected existing hierarchical social order. Measures of punishment were meted out to different ranks of people, according to the extent they abused their abilities, power and responsibility, or else surrendering themselves to passions that betrayed their humanity. 

The seven strata of Dante's hell are named after seven deadly sins - lust, greed, pride, vanity, anger, slander, avarice - each containing the appropriate corrective, applied eternally to all refusing to recognise their faults and failings. This status quo somewhat reflects the Gospel story of Dives and Lazarus, but doesn't equate with the Petrine idea of Christ rising from the dead evangelising spirits imprisoned in Sheol.

All ultimately face judgement, evaluation of their lives and consideration of their sin. The human face of God imagined by the church in the person of Jesus is one who enquires. "What have you done?" There's more in Scripture about Jesus as diagnostician and healer than about Jesus as judge.
 

7th December 2012

With the divine gift of freedom, human beings learn to change, adapt, be responsive to life and all its events. This leads to responsibility - how do we use the choices before us? To further our evolution or just to subsist and survive? For growth or destruction? For the benefit of self or of others? For good or for ill, however that may be understood in context.

Knowing that we are mortal brings with it consideration of what we might do or become within that finite time span of life. We reflect on these things at each major stage in life, matching our ambitions and plans against the reality of our achievements. However great or small our resources and potential may be, each of us is finite. It's quite natural to want to make the best out of our limited opportunities, and check that we are doing so. However, when our own expectations aren't met, either for ourselves or others, a sense of failure and inadequacy causes distress, undermines trust and confidence. This is of no benefit to a healthy life.

With good reason  Paul teaches: "There must be no passing of premature judgement." We cannot see the wider context in which present success or failure occurs. It's better not to engage in the kind of criticism which undermines, when what everyone needs is nurture and support. Jesus often speaks against pre-judging and condemning each other. He teaches that mutual restraint is vital for the health of all our relationships when he says: "Judge not and you shall not be judged." If we are to use our critical faculties considering our lives or the lives of others, it must be to build up and not to break down.

Scripture speaks of the End as the proper occasion for final judgement. Then, all created things and human beings are to give account of themselves for the part they have played in the unfolding of the divine purpose while time continued its course. When the End comes for us, whether it's early for us or finally: "It is our human lot to die once, with judgement to follow.." says the writer of Hebrews.

It's not an occasion to criticise or condemn, but for Christ's work to be completed, bringing salvation (wholeness and fulfillment) to those eagerly awaiting him. Only the Creator can ultimately evaluate what people make of themselves in this life. The reason why judgement and condemnation are so closely linked in our thinking is fear that inadequacy and failure will cause our annihilation. Scripture itself, born in a context of tough testing and trial has its share of imagery expressing this anxiety, but it is not the last word on judgement.

In the End, Christ will be all in all. No matter how anxious, dramatic and tortuous this process, the way to salvation remains open for every person to reach ultimate fulfillment in Him.