Sin

I had a good conversation with a co-worker yesterday that had to do with sin. Her concern was the number of young unwed girls getting pregnant and having children. The conversation continued on regarding repentance and acknowledgement of sin and how the church responds to that situation (sin). It seems that people are not willing to condemn anything any more. While we still love the sinner, the sin seems to be overlooked as if everything is OK. We show support for the girl and her child and make it look like everything is right again now that they have admitted they are pregnant (OK, it's kind of hard to hide that one).

The result of sin is still with us. Children apologize and expect the problem to be gone because they said "sorry". The item is still broken, the person is still hurt, the friend is still angry... the relationship is still damaged.

Effort to regain trust and trustworthiness is often nonexistent but the expectation is that confession has been made so it is the duty of the body to forgive and forget. Many would rather move away from or hope people forget about the problem rather than put in the effort into change or repentance.

It sometimes feels like I am being asked to move forward as if nothing has happened.

Sin is not something we readily admit to seeing and when it is seen, it is often treated with the relationship of "if you don't bother me I won't bother you".

How do we confront sin?

It reminded me of a situation that became public a couple of years ago that is still a part of our new congregation that we are currently attending. A person of leadership admitted to having an affair with a married women who also attended here. This caused his separation and ultimately led to a divorce. He did admit to the affair but it seems that many felt that the confession was the end of the problem. Many made decisions (opinions) on the right and wrong of the situation and hurt many more than those involved as people seemed to take sides. Blame flew and speculation increased. Two families go through the shredder.

Now I see him in attendance here and his former wife is attending elsewhere. I have heard that he recently had a child with another women. How is this repentance? How is this a benefit to the body?

"I have sinned" makes everything else OK?

I have talked to some about this and the most amazing comment that came back to me was that they didn't want him to loose him. While I agree regarding his salvation but are we to accept him under his terms?

This situation and the way this body appears to be handling it is making me question a lot of things. Transitions...what have I gotten myself into...