Helpless in a Good Way

The group that meets at our house on Thursday nights is going through the book "The Stranger on the Road to Emmaus" by John Cross.  Its a great overview of the Bible's message, and a book I would highly recommend to anyone, from long time Christians to those unfamiliar or even hostile to the Bible.  This past week, the author touched on a foundational principle that really impacted me, he outlined the difference between a "sinner" and a "helpless sinner".  

This impacted me personally because I have often taught others the Biblical truth that everyone has a knowledge of right and wrong.  The Bible teaches that because we are all created in the image of God this knowledge of His law is "written on our hearts" (Romans 2:14 - 15).  From the primitive tribesman in the deep jungle to the most sophisticated and educated men and women in our urban centers, everyone you meet has this internal "check", everyone has a sense of moral guilt.  

What I realized though through this author is that I have been making a fundamental error in my thinking, and in my presentation of this Biblical truth to others.  I have failed to make a distinction between a "sinner" and a "helpless sinner".  

Here's what I mean:  In all my travels I have never met a person who is unwilling to admit that they are a violator of God's law, what the Bible would call a "sinner".  Any of us, when we are honest, realize that we have fallen short even of the standard towards which our own conscience would call us.  

But heres the catch: those who are "just" sinners have options, don't they?  They can try harder.  They can plead ignorance.  They can claim that they are a victim of circumstances beyond their control. Or, as is often the case, they can simply adjust the law of God to something more manageable and do their best to squelch the resulting protest from their voice of conscience.  

The religious people in Jesus day had done just that with the law of God.  They had made it all about externals.  Something they might even have the potential to achieve, or at the very least something they could do better than the next guy.  

The helpless sinner, on the other hand, has no options.  The helpless sinner remembers the terrifying words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew chapters 5  verse 21 - 48) that clarify for us that the law of God is not primarily about externals... it is instead about the issues of motive and thought and desire.  Jesus explains that murder is really about hatred, and adultery is really about lust... whether you do the deed or not is secondary, because the act is only an expression of the sin that has already taken root in the heart.  

So simply realizing I am sinner is not enough.  From that position rationalization comes too easily.  Its only when I see the vast, eternal gulf between the righteous requirements of a Holy God and my own self-centered motives that I begin to appreciate my desperate state.  Its only when I am willing to examine the darkness of my thought-life in the light of God's  perfect commandments that my true position becomes clear.  

When I grasp this truth, then I move from a sinner to a helpless sinner.  Its only then that I am truly ready to receive the message of God's rescue provided through His only Son.  Its only then that the beauty of God's grace dawns on a desperate heart.  Its only then that my voice and my prayers can truly rise in worship towards a merciful and loving and magnificent God.

Thinking about Self

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am fascinated by the concept of "worldview".  There are a lot of different opinions about the idea (read the wikipedia article) but the most simple explanation is that a worldview is our way of looking at the world.  Its a filter or a lens through which we evaluate everything we see, hear, and otherwise experience. 

People who study this stuff say that our worldview is formed and influenced by many different factors; the culture we live in, our experience within the family, our education, exposure to various forms of religion, art, and entertainment etc.  All of this comes together to create our understanding of the world and our place in it.

Recently I listened to a talk by Lou Huesmann in which he addressed the concept of personal identity, which in my opinion is a subset of worldview.  Of course, there are quite a few ideas among thinkers about the nature of personal identity (as you can read here) but I am primarily interested in how our concept of our own identity impacts and informs our overall worldview.   

Think about it... how would you describe yourself?  And how does that understanding affect how you think and plan and interact with others and respond to the various circumstances of your life?  What possibilities are within your grasp, according to your understanding?  What kind of things are not available to you, because of who you are?  All kinds of things affect this... your view of gender, age, race, education, physical beauty, and social status contribute profoundly to your self-concept.

Even more significantly, your belief in whose you are will dramatically affect your understanding of your place in the world.  Do you see yourself as existentially meaningless, the product of millions of years of random mutations, a highly developed animal currently at the top of the food chain?  Or do you see yourself as one with an eternal soul, created in the image of God, and reflecting (albeit in an imperfect sense) something of His character and glory?  Its easy to see that you will come to very different conclusions about life and purpose and ultimate meaning depending on where you land on this fundamental issue.

I want to continue to process these thoughts and perhaps post a more pragmatic article in the future, but for now I just wanted to share these thoughts in the hope that they might not only stimulate your thinking but also help you engage others in discussions about truth, and how our method of processing truth is often controlled by issues such as worldview and identity, issues that often lurk below the surface.  More to come on this subject!