I took one of my blog posts and adapted it for the use of Heartlight Magazine. The article was called “She Had An Abortion.” It ran on their website last Wednesday.
I received a number of comments on that article, mostly positive. One was blisteringly negative. The writer said, “Tim can Criticize Christians for Speaking the Truth ? But Christians Are Wrong for Speaking the Truth Against sin ??” He ended the e-mail by saying:
Shame on the False Teacher , teaching Half-Truths.. Read the Text, Read your Bible, You have One Life, you have an enemy and sin IS his weapon.
As I read it, I felt sorry for the person that wrote it. Not that I’m against speaking out against sin, but this person was advocating vigorous condemnation of those entrapped by sin. When I commented about the message to Steve Ridgell, my co-worker, he immediately said, “That person is hiding something in their own life.”
A flash of recognition came over me. That’s where I’d heard that tone before. Those who are hardest on sin are typically those with hidden sin in their own lives. They are especially merciless if they can relate to that sin. The person struggling with sexual sin will condemn the adulterer with a fury. The person fighting addiction will denounce the alcoholic. I’ve seen it enough to know that it’s true.
There’s usually one of three things going on:
- These people don’t understand that salvation is by grace.
- These people don’t understand that God’s forgiveness is ongoing.
- They aren’t aware of the work of the Holy Spirit in helping us overcome the flesh.
Because they are painfully conscious of the struggles in their own lives, they can be brutal with those who yield to similar temptations. They’ve seen the ugliness of sin in their own hearts, been repulsed by it, and direct that repulsion to others.
Obviously, that’s not true of everyone. But I’ve seen it far too many times. Even in myself.
“Those who are hardest on sin are typically those with hidden sin in their own lives.”
Nailed it. I’ve seen this so many times. I actually have a brother who was as hardline as possible, speaking as harshly as possible to “all those winners in the world,” ruling his children and wife with an iron fist. He was arrested for driving around naked and exposing himself to women. Had been doing it for 9 years. I’ve heard many teachers, preachers and elders who were so hard on “sexual sins” and really obsessing over how women dress, only to find out later that they had problems with pornography and lust themselves. Like yourself, I can also have those tendencies. It’s only as I’ve grown a bit older and, hopefully, wiser, that I’ve learned to temper that tendency just a bit. Thanks for the thoughts.
Tim,
This just didn’t ring true to me. i typically find nearly the opposite to be true. i find myself tending to be harsh and merciless toward those who struggle with something i can’t relate to, and tending to be extremely patient and tolerant of those with struggles similar to my own.
i guess i tend to think that when we’re harsh toward others’ sins, it’s true we likely have unacknowledged sin in our own lives. But i guess i don’t see why it’s likely that the unacknowledged sin in our own lives will be of the same variety as that which we judge harshly. i guess i take it that that’s precisely why we feel so justified in raining down condemnation–because we take pride in not having that problem (thinking of the Pharisee and the publican here).
–guy