Grandma Fannie says, “Hate the sin and not the sinner.”
When, as a child, I heard Grandma Fannie and others say “Hate the sin and not the sinner. “I often felt it was difficult to separate the sin from the sinner. It certainly sounded to me that the often-hurled words included both the sin and the sinner. For example, this warning was frequently applied to addiction, homosexual behavior, any sexual behavior outside of marriage, so called laziness and a host of other behaviors which many religious people were convinced was going to result in the sinner being assigned to hell for eternity. Apparently, from my young perspective, God did not make a distinction between the sinner and the sin although church folks were eager to remind everyone that the sinner could repent and commit to refraining from further sin. Of course, one was also reminded that, as a human, one was constantly sinning and, thus, had to continuously repent least one be suddenly struck dead and miss the small window of opportunity to repent.
In this year 2021 in the United States and other countries, the distinction between the sin and the sinner seems to be practically non-existent. Although we may not use the words sin and sinner, we seems to find it easy to be convinced that there are simply good and bad people; people deserving to live and those deserving to die, those deserving to be incarcerated for a lifetime or be deprived even of a cell and be left out in the elements. We recently had a president who seemed to thrive on separating people into the deserving and undeserving, we now have a “liberal” president and Vice President whose political language and history continue to separate people into the deserving and undeserving although they may, to their credit, put more people into the deserving than did the former president. We have a Vice President whose political success, as a prosecutor, depended on obtaining as many convictions as possible. We have a president who seemingly finds it easy to point fingers at the enemy who is obviously on the wrong side for the same behavior we, as a country, claim, is pleasing to the God of one’s understanding.
Daily I receive many emails and text messages which ask me to contribute to defeating the enemy (the other side). Very often the opponents are described as those who are, at best, wrong, or even evil.
Euphemistic sayings translate into suggesting violent behavior towards President Biden. There are claims requiring vaccinations are denying one their freedom to drain our health care system and infects others. There is defense of those who shoot those who are desperate enough to steal money or property or even those who have the audacity to walk in certain neighborhoods. There is demonizing of those who are hopeless about continuing to work for a non-living wage while the top management people of the same company are paid millions/billions. We act as if the term capitalism justifies charging hundreds of dollars for a $15.00 EpiPen or thousands monthly for a drug to treat dementia.
Some of us may still go to place of worship and declare “We have sinned and fallen short the glory of god,” but once outside those doors we are soldiers determined to rid the world of the sinner who is his or her sin. The very term sinner seems to refer to that poor sucker who is not able to step outside of that house of worship and put on the armor of God’s soldiers and carry the non-assault assault rifle.
Socialism which is consistent with the teaching of most gods or wise spiritual teachers has become synonymous with “Unamerican, traitor, communist and the evil ones deserving of death”.
Ram Dass said, “We are all just walking each other home.”. In fact, perhaps we have decided that before we walk each other home we need to separate the wheat from the chaff. We will walk the wheat home.
Perhaps we need to fess up to the fact that we are all fearful, stubbing, bumbling humans who feel as if we are walking in the dark and merely knocking whatever impediments we encounter out of the way. Perhaps we need to open to the possibility that those impediments are our neighbors who are also attempting to find their way through the often-dark passage of this journey. Perhaps, covid notwithstanding, we need to lean across the aisle for the hand of our brother and sister. Perhaps we need to toss aside the word sin and acknowledge that we are all capable of and do hurt each other. Perhaps we can consider laying down our guns, legislative weapons and poisoning words and embrace the fact that we will all perish together or die together; embracing the reality that we need each other.
Perhaps we need not hate the sin and love the sinner but accept that some behaviors facilitates the working system of this planet and even the “universes” and some behavior does not. Perhaps even Grandma Fannie would agree that we best be careful about labeling behavior as sin and people as sinners. Perhaps even Grandma Fannie with her love of learning would suggest that we celebrate our common goal of being our best communal selves.
Written November 24, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
When, as a child, I heard Grandma Fannie and others say “Hate the sin and not the sinner. “I often felt it was difficult to separate the sin from the sinner. It certainly sounded to me that the often-hurled words included both the sin and the sinner. For example, this warning was frequently applied to addiction, homosexual behavior, any sexual behavior outside of marriage, so called laziness and a host of other behaviors which many religious people were convinced was going to result in the sinner being assigned to hell for eternity. Apparently, from my young perspective, God did not make a distinction between the sinner and the sin although church folks were eager to remind everyone that the sinner could repent and commit to refraining from further sin. Of course, one was also reminded that, as a human, one was constantly sinning and, thus, had to continuously repent least one be suddenly struck dead and miss the small window of opportunity to repent.
In this year 2021 in the United States and other countries, the distinction between the sin and the sinner seems to be practically non-existent. Although we may not use the words sin and sinner, we seems to find it easy to be convinced that there are simply good and bad people; people deserving to live and those deserving to die, those deserving to be incarcerated for a lifetime or be deprived even of a cell and be left out in the elements. We recently had a president who seemed to thrive on separating people into the deserving and undeserving, we now have a “liberal” president and Vice President whose political language and history continue to separate people into the deserving and undeserving although they may, to their credit, put more people into the deserving than did the former president. We have a Vice President whose political success, as a prosecutor, depended on obtaining as many convictions as possible. We have a president who seemingly finds it easy to point fingers at the enemy who is obviously on the wrong side for the same behavior we, as a country, claim, is pleasing to the God of one’s understanding.
Daily I receive many emails and text messages which ask me to contribute to defeating the enemy (the other side). Very often the opponents are described as those who are, at best, wrong, or even evil.
Euphemistic sayings translate into suggesting violent behavior towards President Biden. There are claims requiring vaccinations are denying one their freedom to drain our health care system and infects others. There is defense of those who shoot those who are desperate enough to steal money or property or even those who have the audacity to walk in certain neighborhoods. There is demonizing of those who are hopeless about continuing to work for a non-living wage while the top management people of the same company are paid millions/billions. We act as if the term capitalism justifies charging hundreds of dollars for a $15.00 EpiPen or thousands monthly for a drug to treat dementia.
Some of us may still go to place of worship and declare “We have sinned and fallen short the glory of god,” but once outside those doors we are soldiers determined to rid the world of the sinner who is his or her sin. The very term sinner seems to refer to that poor sucker who is not able to step outside of that house of worship and put on the armor of God’s soldiers and carry the non-assault assault rifle.
Socialism which is consistent with the teaching of most gods or wise spiritual teachers has become synonymous with “Unamerican, traitor, communist and the evil ones deserving of death”.
Ram Dass said, “We are all just walking each other home.”. In fact, perhaps we have decided that before we walk each other home we need to separate the wheat from the chaff. We will walk the wheat home.
Perhaps we need to fess up to the fact that we are all fearful, stubbing, bumbling humans who feel as if we are walking in the dark and merely knocking whatever impediments we encounter out of the way. Perhaps we need to open to the possibility that those impediments are our neighbors who are also attempting to find their way through the often-dark passage of this journey. Perhaps, covid notwithstanding, we need to lean across the aisle for the hand of our brother and sister. Perhaps we need to toss aside the word sin and acknowledge that we are all capable of and do hurt each other. Perhaps we can consider laying down our guns, legislative weapons and poisoning words and embrace the fact that we will all perish together or die together; embracing the reality that we need each other.
Perhaps we need not hate the sin and love the sinner but accept that some behaviors facilitates the working system of this planet and even the “universes” and some behavior does not. Perhaps even Grandma Fannie would agree that we best be careful about labeling behavior as sin and people as sinners. Perhaps even Grandma Fannie with her love of learning would suggest that we celebrate our common goal of being our best communal selves.
Written November 24, 2021
Jimmy F Pickett
coachpickett.org
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