reinbeck umc - the view out my window

Today someone broke into my car and stole my son’s wallet. 

 That is such a small thing compared to the stories in the news this week:

 Two separate men throw their children from bridges on opposite sides of the country.  Is that the image of God?

 Terrorists line up to strap on explosives to kill people who believe differently than they do.  Is that the image of God?

 Crack addicts with gaunt faces covered with lesions, rotted teeth, and thin brittle hair.  Is that the image God wants us to see?

 12 year old boys convicted of felony sexual assault.  How can that be in God's image?

 Sometimes I look at the things people do and I have to wonder where the “made in the image of God” tag has gone.  Has it been thrown out like the Styrofoam that surrounds your new computer, the mysterious “inspected by #4” tag, or the plastic fortress that protects your new CD?

 What has happened to this image?  Where has it gone?

 Of course, I know the orthodox answer that sin entered the world through Adam and Eve.

 I also know the neo liberal answer that sin is innate in our being.  Something that came from our (evolutionary?) history or genetics.

 

II

 

As I reflect on being robbed, and the news stories around us I am unsatisfied with either answer.  Both make sin into something that we can not avoid.  Both take away at least some of our personal responsibility for sin.  They both make sin sound like it is a “given” part of the human condition.

 I don’t know about you, but I can’t remember the last time I broke a window and stole a wallet . . . oh wait maybe I can. . . NEVER.

 I can’t remember the last time I killed a couple of children, or a group of bystanders on their way to the grocery store, or took crack, or committed assault . . .  wait a minute maybe I can. . . NEVER! 

 I’m not saying I have never sinned, not by any means!  But I can honestly say I have never been tempted to do any of those things I mentioned from the news. So, what is it? Are some of us more susceptible to sin?  Are some less able to make right decisions?  Are some people intentionally more hurtful or evil than others?

II

On the way home tonight, with the wind noisily flailing at the plastic on my car window, I couldn’t hear the radio, so I had 2 hours to think.  I could never imagine breaking someone’s window to steal a wallet?  Why is that?  Why is it so foreign to me, but apparently so easy for someone tonight?  It didn’t take me long to express my reason.  I would never do that because I feel too “connected.”  Connected to others, who would be hurt by that action; connected to others who might be negatively influenced by my behavior; connected to others who might use my behavior to justify their own hurtful actions against yet others and then the race is on!

 Secondly I feel too connected to God who would be terribly disappointed and even angered by my repeated failure to be what God wants me to be.

 Is it possible that some of the most hurtful sins are committed because people feel disconnected?  They think no one will really be hurt (no one they know anyway.)  They think that this one little action (it’s just one car window out of hundreds in this parking lot)  couldn’t possibly have any real effect, could it?  It’s the same excuse for robbing the quick shop, evading taxes and assassinating the president.

I know that alcoholism and other dependencies are worse when the addict is alone. . .  could we say “disconnected?”

 Many mental illnesses like schizophrenia and even depression are characterized by a sense that the patient is really alone, or different, or separated, or singled out from the crowd.  Could it be that the disconnectedness is not only a symptom, but also a root cause of the illness. When one is extremely disconnected from self we call that Psychosis.  When one is extremely disconnected from others we call that antisocial personality disorder.

 What is it when one is extremely disconnected from God then?  Sin?  Could sin work the same way?  Could sin be defined as disconnectedness from God and neighbor?  Could sinful behavior be considered any action taken out of this disconnectedness between God and neighbor, rooted in greed and opportunity?  (Thus making sin less a matter of breaking one of the rules, and more a matter of motivation, and attitude. and intention)

 Or maybe disconnectedness is not the source, but the result of bad behavior.   Or maybe this is one of those “chicken and egg” situations where the cause and the consequence are virtually inseparable.   Maybe, but my gut tells me, that even though I am sure we feel less and less “connected” with every sin,  one would never make the decision to sin in the first place if they felt adequate and intimately connected to others and God.

 This, of course fits with the orthodox doctrine of original sin: sin entered the world when people were first convinced to self-differentiate themselves (much like 2 years olds and teenagers self-differentiate from parents) from the one who created them, the creators instructions and the creators will. 

 It also fits rather well with the neo-liberal tradition by blaming our sinfulness on the fact that we are built or programmed this way.  It isn’t my fault I was made this way!

 I think I will wear this definition of sin for a while and see how it fits,