Sunday, March 06, 2005
Sin and Repentance
Today in church we were talking about, among other things, repentance. The Sunday School teacher asked us, “What are some of the things that keep us from repenting?” A standard Sunday School question that deserves the standard Sunday School answers.
But one brother raised his hand and said that when we were all little, and our parents were teaching us about repentance, and specifically how to repent, they taught us how to repent of a certain class of sins endemic to small children. We were taught what to do when we lied, or when we stole something. These are the types of sins we were taught how to repent of. After all, isn’t the classic example of the restitution phase of repentance the returning of the item you stole? But, he said, most of us as adults have moved past those kinds of sins. The sins we commit now are more subtle and more complex. Restitution, for example, is difficult for the kinds of sins most of us are prone to committing. We don’t know how to repent of the kinds of sins we frequently commit as adults.
My personal standard answer to that Sunday School question is that sometimes, it’s hard to recognize when I’ve committed a sin, when the sins I commit are so subtle and complex. When I have an unkind thought, for example, at what point do I justify it as acceptable, and at what point does it become something that I have to repent of? Do I ever think of my unkind thoughts in such a self-conscious way as to recognize just what it is that I’m doing? Theft is easily self-monitored. The kinds of sins I’m prone to now aren’t so much. I appreciated the insight that sometimes the problem is that we don’t know how to repent of certain kinds of sins, because I think the reason they’re hard to recognize is the fact that they don’t fit within the little sinful stereotypes we learned when we were small.
But one brother raised his hand and said that when we were all little, and our parents were teaching us about repentance, and specifically how to repent, they taught us how to repent of a certain class of sins endemic to small children. We were taught what to do when we lied, or when we stole something. These are the types of sins we were taught how to repent of. After all, isn’t the classic example of the restitution phase of repentance the returning of the item you stole? But, he said, most of us as adults have moved past those kinds of sins. The sins we commit now are more subtle and more complex. Restitution, for example, is difficult for the kinds of sins most of us are prone to committing. We don’t know how to repent of the kinds of sins we frequently commit as adults.
My personal standard answer to that Sunday School question is that sometimes, it’s hard to recognize when I’ve committed a sin, when the sins I commit are so subtle and complex. When I have an unkind thought, for example, at what point do I justify it as acceptable, and at what point does it become something that I have to repent of? Do I ever think of my unkind thoughts in such a self-conscious way as to recognize just what it is that I’m doing? Theft is easily self-monitored. The kinds of sins I’m prone to now aren’t so much. I appreciated the insight that sometimes the problem is that we don’t know how to repent of certain kinds of sins, because I think the reason they’re hard to recognize is the fact that they don’t fit within the little sinful stereotypes we learned when we were small.
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