Thursday, September 28, 2006

Stupid

Reading the devotion in Our Daily Bread today I was struck by the quote, "Sin makes us stupid." It really does, doesn't it? We've all fallen into that trap. There are things we know we shouldn't do yet we find ourselves doing them. Paul even wrote about it Romans 7. Maybe that's part of what frustrated me yesterday.

Yesterday I spent the day in a class on "Power and Boundaries." It is an important topic and I'm glad I did it, but there were also moments of frustration within the class. When talking about gross violations of boundaries (i.e. adultery, affairs, etc.) people became understandably upset with those violators. However, doesn't there need to be some sort of understanding on our part? I'm not saying we should accept this behavior? "Sin makes us stupid." Maybe our sins don't appear so heinous on the outside, but aren't we just as guilty of letting sin win in different parts of our life?

I've got a similar frustration with NBC and their recent "To Catch a Predator" series on Dateline. I thought it was good for them to do the first time. It served as a good reminder to parents that they need to be keeping track of what their children are doing on the internet, just like they need to monitor what they're watching on television, etc. However, this has gone on and one for some time now. They continue to vilify these guys. They are probably justified in doing so, but I would love to see them do something to help these guys before they reach this point. It seems to me that sin has taken over these peoples lives and now it has made them stupid. Do you seeing any of those men on "To Catch a Predator" proud of what they are about to do? So what are we doing to help them?

I suppose I could rail against a number of different things now, but I'll stop. For me the bottom line is "Sin makes us stupid" and none of us are immune to it. I would like to see us have a little more compassion towards those who sin because one day we may need that compassion. That doesn't mean that we accept their actions as being okay, but perhaps we can understand that it just might have us who committed that gross boundary violation. Maybe then we'll see that sinner a little bit differently. Maybe we'll be reminded that we need to rely on Christ.

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