Good Morning frangiuliano! (is just “fran” okay?)
I am going to try to be as brief as possible, pare things down a bit. I hope that is okay.
I’m happy to know that your familiar with all of the above ideas. "Take the log out of your eye…
So, yes, we are blind to our own blindness. But as you grow in holiness you begin to see more and more that you cannot be a slave to sin and not forgiving someone makes you a slave to those feelings you speak of, one of which is resentment.
I usually find that the very thing I am condemning in someone else, I am myself doing. The “log” verse is insightful and a great means of understanding.
I don’t project that God doesn’t forgive that person…
And yes, God has forgiven before time because God is infinite and outside of time.
I think I may need to clarify projection. For example, I tell you that a man walks out into a stadium and the whole crowd present stands up and cheers. I ask you, “how does the man feel?”. Your first reaction will be one of “how I would feel in the same situation”. Your answer might be “elated!”. In reality, the person could feel frightened, guilty, even angry, we have no idea. We can indeed try to avoid projection, and it can be helpful to do that, but even our alternatives are based on our own past experiences. This is the same way people think about God. You must have already encountered this with other people on the CAF. It is easier to see in others than to see it in ourselves. Bottom line: God is infinitely loving and merciful, regardless of our projections.
We now have a damged nature. We are inclined to sin - this is the sin nature. The book of Romans: What I want to do, I do not do; what I do not want to do, I do. (my favorite book).
Paul was reflecting the fact that we are not in control, and we mess up. More on this below.
If the woman is doing this for her convenience, then she does not understand that children are a gift. If she understood that they are, she would accept the child and make whatever sacrifice necessary to raise and love the child.
Whether or not she accepts that the child is a gift is irrelevant to her choice to sin. If she is really a christian she understands that it’s a gift and if she goes through with it because she wants to keep her job, then it’s a sin.
So, the last question was “How does she not know the value of the child if she is Christian?”.
Well, I think I kind of see an answer in your post. Remember, the question of the thread. “Sin” can have several meanings in everyday vernacular, such as “sin is doing something hurtful, whether we meant to or not.”
There are two options, in my observation:
- She is really, truly unknowing of the value of the child. She is ignorant.
- She is blind. Desire, resentment, and fear blind us.
Search your own life, Fran. Blindness is an automatic response. Have you ever been blinded by one of these and behaved in a way that seems irrational or hurtful? Yet, we resist understanding our blindness because we feel guilty and do not want to “make excuses” for ourselves. So for our purposes, let us remain dedicated to not relieving any consequence, regardless of our understanding. We do not want the compulsion to avoid “making excuses” to be a roadblock to understanding.
And, as you astutely pointed out, we are blind to our blindness. Once the fear, desire, and resentment are gone, I realize I was blind… someone could also point out my blindness to me.
The mother with the “unwanted” child fears her future, and resents her poor choice to have sex. In the case of rape, the resentment is even greater. To clear up the blindness, we have to address the fear and the resentment. Crisis pregnancy counseling is very little about “you are wrong about the life of the child”, it is more about “this is how we can help you address your fears, and save a life.”
So, what do you think, has the woman Knowingly and Willingly rejected God? If you think she has, explain, and we can investigate.
Now I know that wrath can be a good thing, which I think I must have mentioned, but I don’t undertand how projection can be a good thing…
Okay, I will save you the trouble. Projection is a very important part of empathy.
I still maintain that it’s better to accept an incorrect version of Jesus than not to accept Him at all. It goes back again to being saved or not being saved.
A person who believes that God is cruel and unmerciful is going to have a very warped view of the “perfection” that we are called to. He will still remain a slave to his resentment. Check the comments in blue on post 42 for clarification.
We are to “be perfect, as our heavenly Father is perfect.”
I’ll get to the rest of the series in my next post.
