“What
shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin
that grace may abound? By no means! How
can we who died to sin still live in
it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus
were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into
death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of
the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.
For
if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be
united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with
him in order that the body of sin might
be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that
we will also live with him. We know that
Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has
dominion over him. For the death he died
he died to sin, once for all, but the
life he lives he lives to God. So you
also must consider yourselves dead to sin
and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 6:1-11)
As
a side note, our lesson is from our new Anglican Church North America
lectionary readings. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer we formerly used leaves
out verses one and two. This means that we now admit to more sin in the ACNA
than we did before.
In
our reading, Paul uses the word sin seven times. To underscore this fact, verse
10a states “He [Christ]” died to sin once for all.” Let us also put this
alongside Paul’s statement in 1st Timothy (1:15a) “The saying is
trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save sinners (ESV). It was the will of God the Father that Christ come
into this world and die to save sinners. St. John states, “Whoever makes a
practice of sinning is of the devil, for
the devil has been sinning from the beginning. Adam and Eve were the
first human sinners but the devil was the first sinner. The reason the
Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8). And
how did Christ destroy the works of the devil? He died for our sins. Christ’s
death covers not only the sins we have and will commit. His death atones for
original sin also. His death provided a path to reconciliation with God and it
freed us from bondage to the devil.
OK, so whatever became of sin? This is not exactly a new question for us in the 21st
Century. Many psychiatrists, psychologists and sociologists have been asking this
question for quite awhile. This just happens to be the title of Dr. Karl
Menninger’s book, “Whatever Became of Sin” written in 1963. In his book the
Psychiatrist wrote this. “Much behavior that would be classed as sinful had
long since passed into the control of the law. What was considered criminal and
treated so was understandably sinful. And now, increasingly, some crime was being
viewed as symptomatic. Sins had become crimes and now crimes were becoming
illnesses: in other words, the police and judges had taken over from the
clergy, the doctors and psychologists were now taking over from the police and
judges”
This
reminds me of lyrics from the song “Officer Krupke” from the musical “West Side
Story”. “Officer Krupke, you're really a square; this boy don't need a judge,
he needs an analyst's care! It's just his neurosis that oughta be curbed. He's
psychologically disturbed!”
Following
Dr. Menninger’s book, Philip Rieff the sociologist and social critic wrote a
book called, “The Triumph of the Therapeutic: Uses Of Faith After Freud”.
(1966) As a sociologist, Rieff understood and reviewed how the culture of
Christianity provided boundaries for
human behavior. In his book he paraphrases St. Paul’s question, (1 Timothy
3:15) “Being saved, how should we conduct ourselves.” His answer, “Behave like
your Savior.” (p. 12). His point was that when the cultural restraints are
lifted, humans succumb to their uncivilized urges. The upcoming age was
becoming the age of the autonomous, isolated individual, throwing off cultural
restraints and pursuing pleasure rather than self control. Freud claimed that
the rules of society were too strict and when those rules became internalized
the individual was put in a state of war within him or herself. The individual
became neurotic because a person’s
conscience would punish them if they were to act on their urges. Sigmund Freud
had given them the green light to misbehave by saying that their conscience
like society was too strict. Keep in mind that Freud was also a cocaine addict
for years. A more permissive society with
relaxed standards of morality does not lead to less neurosis. Freud was wrong.
Philip
Reiff laid the blame at the feet of those who led the institutions who did not
attempt to hold back this new “unreligion” of Freud. In particular, he cited
the preachers and priests in the pulpits who lacked faith and were too cowardly
to advocate for renunciation. What is
renunciation? Renunciation is
self-denial, self-control and sacrifice for the sake of family and community.
Renunciation resists sinful behavior. I
think the title of the Isley Brothers song of 1969 pretty much summed up
societies morals formed in the 1960s. "It's Your Thing, Do What You Wanna
Do".
If
one takes the ten commandments of Moses or the great commandment of Christ as a
summation of all of the rules, what is it that enforces compliance? Why do we
usually do the right thing? Most would say it is our conscience that is our
personal policeman and judge. The conscience is the internal judge that uses
guilt to punish individuals that do not live according to their own internal
rules. Jesus would compare someone who does not live according to his own rules
to a house divided against itself and a house divided against itself cannot
stand. In reality, guilt is a painful blessing if it causes us to repent; if it
causes us to say, “I am sorry for what I said, for what I’ve done. Please
forgive me.”
The
wish to express what Freud considered to be natural human desires was met with
a scolding conscience. People hid these wishes from their conscience by pushing
them down into their unconscious mind. These wishes came out in their dreams.
Later, because of this constant inner war, the person developed mental and
physical problems. It was the goal of psychoanalysis to get people to remember
what they had intentionally forgotten. Intentional forgetting is called denial
or repression. Neurotics were encouraged by their therapists to release the
undesirable thoughts from the captivity of the unconscious mind much as Moses
led the Israelites out of captivity in Egypt.
Like Adam and Eve attempting to hide from God, denial and repression are
examples of a person hiding from his own conscience. The analyst or counselor is
there to say to the individual, “It’s OK to have those thoughts. You are a good
person. You are just being too hard on yourself. You are suffering from false guilt. You are
punishing yourself unnecessarily.” The reality is that boundaries/rules provide
freedom. The most freeing thing God did for the Jews in the Old Testament was
not providing for their escape from Egypt but providing them with the Law. The
Law gave them rules to live by and a life with meaning and purpose. Make no
mistake, the devil hates the Law and has hated the Law from the beginning
because he is a sinner from the beginning. St. Paul talked about the end times
in 2 Thessalonians 2:3, “Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will
not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness
is revealed, the son of destruction.” This is probably a reference to the
antichrist but to me, it is the devil himself who empowers and controls the
antichrist. For most of our society not only is Christ no longer relevant, the
Law God gave the Israelites and by extension, the Law God gave us also, us is
gone.
Here
is where the priest should be taking a different path than other counselors.
When it comes to the reality of sin, the Priest must not be “referring out”.
The psychologist, psychiatrist or social worker as secular priests may claim
that the individual suffers from false guilt but what about real guilt? They
are enabling the individual to deny the reality of their guilt. They are
providing a fig leaf and it doesn’t work any better for those they counsel than
it did for Adam and Eve. Unfortunately
un-confessed sin and denied guilt eventually can give rise to physical problems
and even “accidents”. In many cases self-destructive behavior is a form of self-punishment.
Here is the reality of what I am saying. As Christians we have the Law placed
inside us. If the Spirit leads us, we will not be in bondage to the Law but
will love and honor the Law. The carnal Christian St. Paul describes in Romans
7 is not led by the Spirit and struggles in vain to honor the Law. Romans 7
could be summed by the 1977 hit song by Bobby Fuller, “I Fought The Law And The
Law Won” Please see Romans Chapter 8.
It
is not the job of a Priest to lower the conscience threshold in order to get
rid of the conflict. We are here to diagnose the problem, which is sin, and prescribe the treatment, which
is repentance and confession, and
offer the prognosis, which is absolution
and forgiveness. What is needed is
restoration to fellowship with God, our brothers and sisters through repentance
confession and absolution. Unfortunately many clergy today have bought into the
idea that people are basically good. If we are not in Christ, we are not “OK”. Brothers and sisters, we are not born
basically good. In Anglican and Orthodox Churches Baptism has included
Exorcism; whether infant or adult. In the Roman Church we have the following:
“During the Sacrament of Baptism, the Priest says two prayers of Exorcism”.
On
those occasions where we experience real guilt there is only one healthy
response. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us
our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). Guilt is a
symptom of sin, with sin as the underlying illness. For us, there is the weekly
confession of sin and there is the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We hear the
following from the BCP, “When the penitent has confessed all serious sins
troubling the conscience and has given evidence of true contrition, the priest
gives such counsel and encouragement as are needed and pronounces absolution.”
(p.446)
It
has frequently been said that the couch of the psychoanalyst has replaced the
confessional of the priest. The psychoanalyst has not replaced the priest
because the psychoanalyst will not acknowledge the sin and guilt and cannot
offer forgiveness on behalf of God. I know this from both personal and
professional experience. I have more comfort, consolation and healing to offer
as a priest who is a representative of Christ than as a psychologist.
If you are troubled with guilt and anxiety
because of unacknowledged sin, there is a course of action that is the only
remedy. This remedy is not found on the couch of the psychoanalyst. It is found
in the church. “Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one
another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great
power as it is working.” (James 5:16). Amen.
