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Conviction or condemnation
People who are depressed are often filled with guilt, so when the Bible says we will be 'convicted' of sin this can be seen as unhelpful. Leaving aside the fact that some people [and churches are not immune from them] thrive on making people feel guilty, is this really what God intended - or have we got our words mixed up?We associate the word conviction with the Criminal Justice System and people being sent to prison for punishment. This may be the order in which things happen, but I think our society was after something deeper than this. It may be true that many people in prison do not learn anything and go on to re-offend but, in faith, I hope that the greater aim of the System is to help people 'get it' at a deep level and walk away from their old life to start a new life. Sounds like the Gospel, doesn't it. Maybe this is what conviction really means - a deep raising of awareness of the need to change direction and the potential that can follow.
Condemnation on the other hand is something that IS meant to make you feel bad and is meant to be a sentence and punishment and a final disposal. It IS linked in the Bible with judgement, and SHOULD make you feel guilty. We are told that for those who are Christians there is NO condemnation (Romans 8v1), and for those who go against God that condemnation is deserved and coming.
So, have we got our conviction mixed up with our condemnation? Do we need to learn again to appreciate conviction as a good thing. My personal convictions are what make me who I am - can I add God's convictions to that helpful list? |
Rob Waller, 25/02/2009 |
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| | | John Jenkins (Guest) | 07/02/2010 21:23 | Wow... this is such a thorny issue! The Apostle Paul talked about people who have a tender conscience, and compared them to those who's conscience is like thick raw hide. You could liken that to the difference between a gardener pruning roses in bare hands, and one wearing gardening gloves.
I love gardening but I always wear gloves because my hands are sensitive and easily cut and bruised. It's the same as far as my conscience is concerned. I fall into the 'tender conscience' category which means that my natural inclination is to feel guilty about the smallest things. If I don't have anything to feel guilty about, then I'll feel guilty about that!
All of that makes for problems when I read, or listen to, the Bible. So much of it seems to be about God's wrath against sin, and since I am the worst of all sinners (Paul was wrong when he said he was) I often find that I can hardly stand to read for more then a short while. Reading the Bible - or reading the wrong parts - can actually make me more depressed than I was before I started! I end up wanting the throw the whole thing away, and don't feel inclined to want to pick it up again for a good while.
The problem, of course, is that large parts of the Bible were not written with people like me in mind. They were written to bring conviction to the 'raw hide conscience' folk... people who wouldn't recognise a sin if it came up and slapped them in the face. I guess there are a lot more of them than there are of my particular species.
That means I need to be careful about what I read. I need to be sensitive to how I'm feeling and only read what I know I can handle. When I'm feeling 'tough' I'll read the 'tough' parts, but when I'm not I'll be gentle with my sensitive spirit and read those parts that speak to me about God's love and grace.
One important factor in this debate is that the Bible was not written to be read like a novel. Yes, there is a historical thread running through it from beginning to end, but within that thread there is a wide diversity of types and styles of writing. Different styles are aimed at different folks, and what is beneficial to one may not be so beneficial to another.
My nature is naturally artistic and 'melancholic' - using that word in the Greek sense - and so I find that the poetic Psalms speak to me a lot more effectively than, say, the long historical OT passages. A historian on the other hand would probably appreciate the historical passages a lot more than I would.
That's not to say that I've always shirked the 'dryer' parts of the Bible. I've been reading the Good Book now for nearly 40 years and during that time I've read the whole thing through from Alpha to Omega several times. I especially did that as a teenager and it gave me a good grounding for my faith. But as I've grown older and, hopefully, wiser I find there's much to be gained from concentrating on those parts which speak about the grace of God and the wonderful freedom we have in Christ from a rules based religion.
A third very important factor is that God clearly intended the Bible to be expounded by people with a divinely inspired teaching ministry. Why? Because much of the wisdom of the Bible is shrouded in mystery, and furthermore it's ensconced within the specific cultural norms of the day in which it was written. An unusual phrase which would instantly have been understood by a 1st century Christian is likely to be meaningless to us 2,000 years later. It's only through extensive study of the languages and cultures of the day that the inspired teacher can tease out what that passage is saying to us in 2009.
Unfortunately many preachers today can't be bothered with all that. The result is that what we get from pulpits is simplistic exhortation rather than meaty teaching. Paul said we need move on to the meat of God's Word, but instead we are fed on a sickly diet of 'vegetable water', like that given to the Japanese prisoners of war. No wonder so many Christians are thin and wasted, spiritually speaking.
In contrast, the effect of a daily diet of good teaching is to keep the Christian spiritually strong and sleek, able to weather storms and detect false teaching when it comes his/her way. Without that we become prey to the devil's many attacks from all angles. Examples of the kind of teachers I'm thinking of are Charles Stanley and Chuck Swindol who both have websites with podcasts one can listen to every day.
Humm.... as I write I feel the Holy Spirit asking me why I haven't been listening to them myself! OK, physician heal thyself... I'm going to Google them both right now and bookmark their websites. I might even listen to a message as I get ready for bed. Who knows... this could be the start of a whole new lease of spiritual life for yours truly. Good night!
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