voice from the edge of forever

Pharisees and sin, continued...

Let’s talk about sin, shall we?
In a comment on my "It’s not about Speed" post, The Other Sarah stated:
"Your post left me with the impression that you are saying we are supposed all to live our lives according to our own understanding of what we think it means to "love God and neighbor", and that our understanding can be completely devoid of any concrete, established, moral or spiritual principles."
The statement was in regard to my definition that "there were only two rules; Love and respect God, and love and respect each other. I may be guilty of over simplifying what Jesus was saying, but he did, in fact state:
37Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' 38This is the first and greatest commandment. 39And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 40All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."(Matthew 22)


. Is there more to it? There shouldn’t need to be, but as we are so prone to sin, Jesus gave us many lessons on recognizing and avoiding sin.
We all have a list of things we shouldn’t do, a list of things that are sinful. Stealing, adultery, homicide, cheating, and so on. What if I told you that none of those actions is actually sinful? I’m guessing that some of you are probably getting a little angry, but listen Jesus’ words;
27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.' 28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. (Matthew 5)


I have read that verse many times, and always read it as saying that in addition to adultery, just looking at another person was a sin also. But that is not what it says. Jesus says that instead, "but I tell you", when you look at another, you commit adultery. What he is saying is that it is not the action, but instead, the idea, that is, the motive, that is the sin. Jesus continues this theme through out his lessons;
21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.' 22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment." (Matthew 5)
43"You have heard that it was said, 'Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven." (Matthew 5)
1"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven." (Matthew 6)
5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. 6But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."(Matthew 6)

16"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full."(Matthew 6)
19"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also". (Matthew 6)
22"The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are good, your whole body will be full of light. 23But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!" (Matthew 6)
1"Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." (Matthew 7)

What Jesus was saying is that it is the motive, not the action itself that matters. The motive, lust is what makes adultery, as well as premarital and casual sex, wrong. The act of stealing something is not as much the sin, for in truth, everything belongs to God, but instead it is the motive of greed and coveting that is sinful. When you start breaking down the Commandments and the teachings of Jesus in this way, you see it is all about motives. There are the desirable motives; love, honor and trust in God, love of each other, joy, peace, patience, kindness, faithfulness, trust, and compassion, to name a few. Some of the undesirable motives would be; lust, greed, pride, hate, anger, impatience, unfaithfulness, and a lack of love and trust in God.

So, even looking at sin from a motivational viewpoint, you might think it doesn’t change anything. Stealing is still stealing, killing is still killing, and so on. But is stealing always a sin? What about the man, with a starving family, who after exhausting every avenue he can think of, steals food to feed his family, is he guilty? Or are those who turned him away, or pretended not to see or hear him guilty? What about the man who takes the lives of a number of men defending his family, village, or even his country, is he guilty? What about the women, locked into a marriage she didn’t choose, to a man who is cold and brutal; if she meets and falls in love with someone else, is she guilty? It is all about motives, friends.

Let’s examine some of the issues of today. I believe abortion is wrong, but what about the teen age girl, who, if her Dad finds out she is pregnant, will get beat, perhaps even killed, because of her mistake? That is an extreme case, but there are girls out there who face that very possibility, if not from a parent, then perhaps from the father of the child, or from a boyfriend who was cheated on. What about victims of rape or incest, who may be traumatized having to carry around a child conceived in terror? There is no easy answer here, but perhaps as Christians, we should put aside our beliefs and judgement, and just reach out in love. The real goal should be trying to ensure that unwanted pregnancies don’t happen.

Pornography is rampant these days, especially on the internet. But what is it about pornography that is a sin? I do not believe that images of nakedness are sinful. In fact, in Genesis, it states:
25 The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame. (Genesis 2)

Even images of sex acts are not necessarily bad. Consider that you can go to the zoo, or watch a National Geographic special where animals are mating. Is it really any different? In truth, it is the lust that occurs when some view these images that is the sin. You look at a picture of a child sitting in a bathtub, and you think "how cute". A pedophile will see that image as porn. Motive. At the fertility clinics, they provide porn to the men who donate. They are helping people who may not have any other chance to conceive a child, so are they sinning by viewing it? In any case, it is not the images themselves that are bad, but the motives for veiwing them, and making them in the first place, that makes them wrong.

Then there is the issue of homosexuality. Anyone who says that people are not born homosexual are just plain wrong. I have read of studies that verify that the brains of men and women work in dramatically different ways. And in a man born homosexual, his brain works like that of a woman does, while in women born homosexual, they work as a man’s does. I have a friend who is gay, someone who grew up trying to fight what he was. And contrary to what some may believe, he did not become gay because of what people believed. It was a part of him for as long as he can remember, he just tried to fight it, which actually led to other consequences. But I must stress, not all homosexuals are homosexual because they were born that way. For some, it is just a choice, born of lust or boredom. For them, it is just about sex. For those who are born homosexual, it is about more. It is often more about love, trust, and commitment than it is about sex. In fact, if you had two people of the same sex, who loved each other deeply, but never had sex, would their relationship still be wrong? What if they only held hands? What if they only kissed? Is it only the act of sex that makes the relationship wrong? My friends, it has nothing to do with the sex. It is all about the motive in the relationship. Love or lust. Right or wrong.

The whole issue of motives goes much farther. It is at issue in every aspect of our life. For instance, do you take liberties with your taxes, telling yourself every one else does? What about work, do you "borrow" supplies to use at home, telling yourself that the company has more than enough? And what about using work time to check e-mail, play computer games, or for doing any personal matters? Aren’t each of them theft, as well? We can examine our motives for worshiping. Are we doing because we truly love God? Or are we doing it for our kids, or for the community we get at church, or because our parents expect us to. I know people who go to church for those very reasons, and yet see no wrong in it. Do you really consider all you have as belonging to God? We are called to be good stewards of all we are given, yet when we make our purchases, are we making them out of lust, greed, and covetousness , or out of humbleness and a simple desire to meet our needs? Who among us really needs a 50" plasma TV? Do we really need great big, gas guzzling SUV"s, or would something more economical work just as well? When we give at church, or to charities, do we give out of compassion and generosity, or do we give only what we think we will have left over after satisfying our own "needs"? What about your marriage, or other relationships? Do you strive to truly serve your spouse, or is it "all about you"? Is the time you spend with your kids, and how they are raised based on what is truly best for them, or on what works best for yourself? I could go on and on here. I think if we examine our lives based on motives, we will find we are seriously lacking.

When Jesus gave his life for us, he did so, in part, to abolish that list of "rules" that was in place. It was not because no one could live by them, in fact, many of the Pharisees and prominent Jews of the time lived by the rules. But their motives were impure. Everything they did was for show, for their own pride, and not for God’s glory. Jesus labeled them as they were: hypocrites. Let us not be a church of hypocrites too.

Let me be clear, I am in no way condoning pornography, adultery, theft, or any other behavior. While some of the questions and opinions on today’s issues may be just speculation on my part, the premise of motive instead of law is, in fact, Biblical truth. Read your New Testament, concentrating on the Gospels, and it will be clear. If we, as the Christian church, are to be a positive force in the world today, we need to have motives that are pure. Just like the Pharisees, there are too many Christians, including many very prominent ones, who live according to the "rules", but who’s motives are focused on themselves. It is this reason, perhaps, more than any other, that people turn away from the church. Let us become the church that Christ called us to be; a church of love, forgiveness, and compassion, a church devoid of hate, pride and judgement. This is what we are called to be, friends. This is what I hope and pray for each of us to become. May God bless you all richly, Ken

posted by the voice @ 10:05 AM