(no subject)

[pat]

I have heard several people on my friends list say something to the effect of "It is impossible for someone to 'hate the sin but love the sinner'."



I saw my friend C at church yesterday. I don't get to see him very often -- he is no longer living in our area.

There are decisions I have made about my personal life that C finds appalling. He has never said so directly -- the closest he has come is to say he was "very concerned" -- but I think I know him well enough to have a pretty good idea of what he thinks of the matter. If pressed, I'm pretty sure he would say, yes, he thinks that I am being sinful.

But when he sees me, he says "I really want to know how your life is going" and means it. He does not spend his time telling me that I am going to hell, or that the struggles I am experiencing in my emotional and spiritual life are a result of these decisions.

I think this is a clear case of "hate the sin, love the sinner."

The problem is that most people who actually say the above phrase, don't really mean it.

Comments

Re: Another important point

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

I understand your point, and I think it is a good one, but I still come back to the idea that if one is going to work towards a goal of "love the sinner, hate the sin" in speaking their minds, then it follows that one should make an equal attempt to follow the same ideal when he or she is on the receiving end.

As you said to one of my posts "nobody's perfect" and I certainly don't hold perfection as a measuring stick for my interactions (lord knows, I'd be waaaaaaaay shorter than that stick myself). But I do believe that showing behavioral signs that one is making the attempt counts for a lot.

Re: Another important point

[patgreene.livejournal.com]

This is a good case where literal wording does not carry the whole truth. In my "nobody's perfect" comment, I was attempting to make a sardonic reply to your observation about pathological solipsism. Obviously, I failed to communnicate well in that case.

Re: Another important point

[rmjwell.livejournal.com]

True, indeed. It does illustrate another point. My literal interpretation, though flawed, was of a conservative nature that continued communication can still occur. Basically, I want a robust process (if I'm using that term correctly) so that my mistakes will allow for more, not less, communication to occur because I know mistakes of interpretation or phrasing will occur.