"the real question"
I ran across a link to this article by Mark Shea on Jeffrey Overstreet's blog, and thought it was worth sharing.
Shea, an editor of CatholicExchange.com, opens with a reference to Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rant back in July. Unlike most people who've discussed the incident, though, he goes on to thoughtfully explore the underlying theological question: "whether we are truly ourselves when we are sinful." Shea suggests that most Christians would answer "yes"--and that this answer is profoundly (and dangerously) wrong:
More here.
Shea, an editor of CatholicExchange.com, opens with a reference to Mel Gibson's anti-Semitic rant back in July. Unlike most people who've discussed the incident, though, he goes on to thoughtfully explore the underlying theological question: "whether we are truly ourselves when we are sinful." Shea suggests that most Christians would answer "yes"--and that this answer is profoundly (and dangerously) wrong:
We believe that the fall is identical with nature, and therefore believe that when you see a man in sin, you see him as he “really” is. Goodness is the mask, corruption is his true nature . . .
The reality is quite contrary. Sin is the mask. It is not what names us but what makes us anonymous.
Sin, because of the fall, is normal. But sin is never natural.
It does not constitute who we are, it destroys who we are. It is only when the human person takes his place as the redeemed creature God made him that we begin to truly see his face and know his name.
More here.
posted by erendis nasard at 2:31 PM
6 Comments:
Good stuff! It's always nice to find other people to argue your point eloquently :).
What she said.
I like it--
it reminds me of this from my new book (!!!=), The Revenge of Conscience, J. Budziszewski:
"Fallenness is a paradox: We are neither simply good nor simply bad, but created good and broken. We are not a sheer ugliness, nothing so plain, but a beauty ruined."
There's a lot more good stuff too--the preface itself was enough to make me cry (well, not that that's saying much): about why he was a nihilist and how God brought him out of that. Have I ever mentioned that I like him?
*sniff* I miss you too...can you tell? Of course you understand the feeling, being a part of it. That's why I take the trouble to miss you...
Post! Post! Post!
And you know what I saw this morning?
[from Ps. 73: after the Psalmist has been discouraged because of only seeing the earthly side of things; why do the wicked prosper, and all that; and he realizes that he was wrong not to trust God]:
"I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You."
Less human when failing to trust God, like any other sin, because it's ignoring the noumenal aspect of man?
But "nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand. You will guide me with Your counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory."
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