Welcome to the real world with all the real people.
Even without a formal doctrine of the Fall, we have no trouble seeing that humanity is broken. However, Scripture points out that this broken condition cannot be fixed on our level of existence. Thus, the vast collection of competing secular theories about how humanity could be alright if only (fill in the blank) with the long history of inhumane results. You can play semantic games all you like, but we are broken and only God can fix us. It’s pointless to extrapolate whether God knew or intended things to be like this; He pointedly says it shouldn’t be like this now.
He also pointedly says you can’t get started in the right direction without repentance. That’s related to a concept we know as “confession” — agreeing with what God says about things. If you agree with His moral character, you can’t be too happy with everything you see in the mirror. Then again, you have to learn how to see, and realize that the real mirror is His moral character, not that coated sheet of glass on the wall.
I deal with the false guilt from the false morality of Western mythology in other places. We can still use the labels because we know better than to restrict ourselves to Western notions about how language is used. In the Bible, human language is just a road sign to indicate a pathway, not a neat package with a clearly defined content. Parabolic language is the only way you can address matters above the intellect, which includes just about everything you might say about God and morality. God’s truth cannot ever fit inside our mental categories and cannot be defined by reason on any terms. If you don’t learn to operate from the heart, you cannot please God.
So what do you see in the mirror? A murderer? A sexual predator? A hateful ogre who wants to destroy everything? It matters not a whit what you might have actually done or even consciously thought. What matters is the basic human flaw, the tendencies that obviously contradict God’s moral character. If you don’t confess what God says about your various sinful lusts, then you cannot claim His power to overcome.
It’s a bit like the pedantic difference between a child molester and a pedophile. In general, a molester is a pedophile, but most pedophiles never get around to molesting. Yet in our silly Western society we only pretend that there is a difference because we have this crazy notion about taboos. We like to abuse words to bash people over the head with false guilt. Manipulation is so very powerful and is the basic tool of Western society. So while Western language presumes an educated precision with terminology, we are taught to cheat on the rules in every way possible.
Go to any urbane and highly educated church and tell folks you aren’t a molester but do wish to overcome your pedophile tendencies, and then tell me they won’t make damned sure you aren’t close to any children without parental supervision. I’m willing to bet it won’t be too subtle, either. Watch their faces.
You won’t experience God’s mercy there.
I’ll let you in on a scary secret of psychology: The wiring that makes one person a pedophile is the exact same wiring that makes another such a gifted teacher who is able to understand children on their own terms. Empathy with children is the fundamental capability for both. That’s the basic human paradox — the greatest talent is the capacity for the greater harm. Safety means eviscerating everything you do by handing it over to least competent. The same paradox applies across the board with murderers, ogres, and all the other nasty humanity you can name. The best is also the worst.
God uses broken vessels because that’s all there is. How He uses them depends on whether the vessel is self-aware of the breaks. He won’t heal the wounds we hide from ourselves. Granted there’s a certain complexity to telling others about the cracks and holes in your soul. The paradox of our society is that the church people who should be the most understanding are the ones most likely to punish your honesty. Whatever it is we make of this virtual parish business here at Kiln of the Soul, we dare not fall into that trap. Our brand of religion has to be more consistent with how God works, not how the rest of the world around us works. Yeah, we know how the others do things. Let’s depart from that, please.
The Flaming Sword of Truth can be fearful, but it brings sweet release from sin’s bondage. You cannot wield that sword until you have first turned it on yourself. His wrath is also His blessing. That’s not masochism or some other perversity; it’s our Western morality that is so perverse.
What does the mirror of truth show you?
