From the Pastor’s Study

Jodie E. Jackson, Sr., Pastor

First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Salisbury, MO

SIN—NAME-BRAND OR GENERIC?

“Take 2 of these pills every day” says the good doctor as he hands me a prescription. I accept it with apprehension, because I know that prescription medications can be expensive. Sensing my concern about the unknown cost, he assures me: “This is the generic form.” I breathe a bit easier, knowing I will receive the same medication but at a tremendously reduced cost under the brand name.. You know the feeling too, don’t you!

Last week I elaborated on Karl Menninger’s question that was the title of his book: “Whatever Happened to Sin?” He wrote:

“The very word (sin), which seems to have disappeared, was once a proud word. It was once a strong word, an ominous and serious word. But the word went away. It has almost disappeared – the word, along with the notion, WHY?. Doesn’t anyone sin anymore? Doesn’t anyone believe in sin?”

There’s something about the word “sin”, written or spoken, that immediately puts “sinners” on the defensive. This reaction is not confined to the non-religious world! Poetess Phyllis McGinley captures the ministerial reluctance to deal with the word, SIN:

“The Reverend Dr. Harcourt, folk agree, nodding their heads in solid satisfaction,

I saw an illustrative cartoon the other day. It pictures a pastor whose announced sermon topic for the day was “We Are All Sinners”. He is confronted by an irate parishioner who haughtily informs the good padre: “We prefer the term spiritually challenged.”

This caption is indicative of our reluctance to use the “s” word. Euphemisms abound; no doubt you can think of others! People no longer commit adultery; they “have an affair”, or they “sleep around”, or they are “just doing what comes naturally”! Bernie Madoff did not steal $50 billion; he committed fraud! The cashier did not steal; he just short-changed! People don’t lie; instead, they “stretch the truth”, or tell “little white lies”. The husband is not a “wife beater”; he might from time to time “abuse” her. The judge did not accept a bribe; rather, he accepted a gift!

A number of years ago a prominent TV preacher was caught with “a lady of the streets”. (You see, I used an euphemism, rather than revealing her profession.) The following Sunday he stood weeping before his congregation and on television. He shamefacedly confessed with tears streaming down his cheeks: “I have sinned against God!.” But he couldn’t bring himself to identify the sin, not even by using alternative language to hint at what everybody knew! Shakespeare had love-sick Juliet uttering the famous lines:

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

Can you imagine the Old Testament prophets using politically correct terminology? They described spiritual defection (sin/sins) as whoredom! How’s that for rattling the cages of the p. c.’ers! Those men of God called “a spade a spade”!

The point is that when Jesus died for our sins He was well aware of the sins neatly packaged away by other names. And He was well aware of the odor of those “sins”.

The “s” word cannot be spelled without the middle letter, “I”. The other letters cluster around it as though to highlight the true nature of sin, i. e., one’s putting one’s ego self before God.

Let us not pray “and forgive us our sins as we forgive others” as a blanket prayer that does not challenge us to look at the ugliness of our sinfulness. Even if we do not wish to enumerate our sins in public, surely we ought to be up front with God in the prayer closet and point out, name, identify those acts. “If we confess our sins”, the writer of Sacred Scripture tell us, “we may find forgiveness.” I believe it is only as we agree with God in this matter that we may experience the forgiveness for which we plead, and for which Christ died.