The Benefits of Sin

[Amolibri]

In other words: what can we learn? For me, humility is #1.

The Benefits of Sin
It is not that sin is not sin. It is simply that sin is not the end of the world-and, in fact, may actually be the beginning of a number of things that can be gained hardly any other way in life and without which life is a pitiful place. A bout with greed may be precisely what teaches us the freedom of poverty. A struggle with lust may well be what, in the end, teaches us about the real nature of love. A strong dose of anger may be what it takes to teach us the beauty of gentleness.

There are, in other words, things to be learned from sin. One is compassion. Another is understanding. A third is humility. A fourth is perception. Without the ability to own our own sins, these qualities are all hard to come by indeed.

Sin gears us to suffer with those who suffer from the folly of their own weaknesses because we have smarted from the folly of our own. Once we can admit our own sins, once we face those things in ourselves that if ever brought to light would be our social downfall, we can companion those for whom the darkness of night has not been so kind. Sin enables us to understand the murderer, to deal justly with the criminal, to control the passion for blood that masks the sins of the righteous with a patina of virtue.

In the end, however, it may be humility and perception that are the best consequences-the intended consequences-of the surfeit of sin. Humility not only identifies us with the human race and confirms the earthiness of the human condition, but it erodes the very basis for hierarchy as well. Humility knows that there are no lords-of-the-manor at all; no one of us at all entitled to subject the rest of us; nobody at all good enough or pure enough to evaluate the rest of us. We are all in struggle. We are all attempting to kill within ourselves the very toxins that poison the human race in general. We are all at the mercy of the God of mercy. We can all learn something from one another.

Among the Hasidic tales one stands out for its compassion. “Once upon a time,” the tale tells, “the Jews of a very pious congregation criticized their rabbi for giving money to the town ne’er-do-well, whose use of the coins, the people knew, would not be for good. ‘What?’ the rabbi said, ‘Shall I be more finicky in the giving of this coin than was God who gave it to me?’”

What we really need to kill in life may not be sin at all. What we may really need to avoid like the plague may be the temptation to a bare and brutal sinlessness that threatens us with heartlessness, the greatest sin of all.
– from There Is A Season by Joan Chittister (Orbis)

 

[revelations]

I was actually thinking about this the other day. I hate my sins, especially my old habits that i now know are really really bad (mortal sins). Each occasion of sin is a test of your faith, and it is a good gauge of how you are doing. I feel like I am improving, and frankly, sin has put me in my place. As soon as you get super confident with yourself and very prideful, whammo before you know it you don’t even know what you’re doing and then it’s done.

I love Jesus and I hate myself when I sin, but it makes me come to him more and more. I’ll give you a story

At the time of my conversion (9 weeks ago) it was exam time at school. Without the grace our Lord and his Mother showered on me i would not have been able to pass all my exams and study my new spirituality as much as i did. I didn’t have temptation anymore, no more porn, no more “dirty deeds”, and guess what, when exams were all done i thought it was all me. And guess what happened? Jesus gives, and he can take back as well, and that’s what he did. And for 3 weeks i was in the biggest rut of my life, terrified to go to church because of all the sins i committed. But, if i had never sinned, i wouldn’t have made it into the confessional. Because of my sins, I came to know the Lord through confession.

Also, praying, alms giving, and fasting are ways to do your own penance, and put your heart in the right place. Without sin, i would not have learned these things. Jesus knows what we need. It is important to fight sin as much as you can, don’t seek it out, but it does serve a purpose.

Marines don’t just grab a gun and go to war…they practice the same thing over and over and over and over and over again…just like going to confession over and over and over and over again…

When it comes to generosity, no one can go one to one with God, his mercy is unfathomable, and that is what i learn every time i sin.

And that’s my :twocents:

-revelations

 

[rwoehmke]

The major benefit of realizing our own sinful nature, how it teaches how much we need Jesus as our constant companion. Nobody makes it into heaven on their own perfection. The realization that we need a saviour is the beginning of wisdom.

 

[timotheos]

The Benefits of Sin

Very interesting quote, potentially compelling. I am usually pretty wary of reading material written by controversial authors such as this (an understatement?), but the intention of the quote is well-taken.

-Tim

 

[vppoole]

I think at the heart of the matter of any “benefits” to sin lies the importance of contemplation and prayer in our lives. To me, the reason that there is pride before fall is that prideful people do not reflect on what they are doing. They are closed off from thinking that they could be wrong and they accordingly show a blind eye toward their mistakes. Thus, it is just a matter of time before a dose of humility comes in and stares them in the face.

Unfortunately, it seems that it normally takes the more obvious sins to prompt us to reflect and pray, which is to listen to God’s voice of Wisdom. So I think that any “benefits” of sin come actually from the hidden beginning to the process of Reconciliation, which is a true reflection, an examination of conscience. The idea is not to stop at the beginning of it, but rather to follow through with the rest of coming back to God.

Additionally, the goal is not to be the one who turns to God only when things have obviously gone wrong (a fair-weather friend to Christ), but instead to be the one who turns to God in all times and circumstances: good, bad, and mediocre (a true friend to Christ).

I do not believe that God wants us to sin, but that He allows us to sin because He can redeem us and because He wants to be truly loved by us. Because He loves the world, His Love has a growing effect with us and with our actions: our deeds, good and bad, grow too. Because our sins grow bigger if unexamined, I think that we just finally decide to open up to Him after we have seen what our sins have grown into.

But how are we to get to Heaven if we wait until we are weighed down by sin to pray?? Let’s continuously resolve to give ourselves to God at all times and for all time!
Pax!