Sins We Love to Ignore
“What about gluttony?” the person standing next to me shouted towards the stage. There was a large man near the platform speaking at the microphone at this particular denominational gathering. He was accusing a ministry leader (the man standing next to me) of being reckless for inviting a pastor who was known to drink beer to speak at a conference.
If you’re not Baptist, you might wonder why this is noteworthy.
The scene was as comical as it was ironic. The man making the accusation was obese by any imaginable standard. The Bible isn’t shy on its position against gluttony. In fact, gluttony was listed as one of the seven deadly sins by church leaders hundreds of years ago, long before the invention of microwaves or McDonalds. Imagine what they would have to say now?!
On the other hand, what the man was condemning — alcohol — is treated the same way as food in the Bible. Moderation is the operative principle for both, neither food nor drink are condemned. While the response the hefty man received from his interlocutor may not have been kind, it wasn’t wrong. The scene reminded me of Jesus’s words about removing the plank from our own eye before we point out the splinter in someone else’s eye.
Why is it that we tolerate arrogance? It’s hard to find a sin more uniformly denounced in Scripture than pride. Yet if you visit a denominational gathering and get a peek behind the veil, you might think it’s a virtue and not a vice.
Why do we put up with gossip and slander in our ranks? I don’t have a PhD in biblical counseling, but I think Scripture is pretty clear on the issue. And yet if you spend any time around theological education, you’ll learn that theological credentials don’t seem to slow this sin down one iota. In fact, as someone who has spent a fair share of time in the room where it happened, it seems to do the opposite. Knowledge puffs up, the Apostle Paul tells us (1 Cor. 8:1). It seems he was right.
These three things, gluttony, pride, and gossip are not foreign among religious leaders or the communities they lead. Yet I don’t know if I’ve ever heard them preached about at a religious convention. Why? Folks tend to get energized about those sins they can boldly denounce from a distance. For example, you can get a bunch of religious men far more fired up about the role of women in the church than if you preached against being arrogant, overweight, or slanderous. Why?
Yes, I’m not accidentally stepping on toes here. I’m aiming for them. I’m reminded of the line that a gentleman never offends someone unintentionally. And I’ve not even mentioned how we love to ignore the massive list of biblical commands to care for the poor.
If you bring that up you’ll be labeled a progressive-liberal-woke-social-justice-leftist. Why? Which brings the topic full circle. We pick and choose and draw the circle of acceptable sins conveniently around where we want to live. Then we comfortably point our finger at everyone on the outside. It’s not a bad gig, is it?
But what if there’s a better way? What if we all recognize our need for grace? We don’t need it any less or deserve it any more than anyone else. What if we lived with the recognition that we all need help living up to our moral aspirations, even as we recognize we all have blind spots? And what if instead of yelling at each other from afar, and hurling accusations, what if we loved and supported each other?
Life is hard enough without being surrounded by professional critics. None of us are Jesus, and all of us need him. So let’s help each other live that out. I think he will give us some help along the way too. I’ve heard he is good at that.