Fountain of Thoughts: Scandalous Sin

The depravity of man. Sin, in other words.

My brother was home this last week. That is my excuse for not posting. It was great! He's gone now. Sadness. However, in the words of the great authors, "that is neither here nor there."

Speaking of great authors, I was reading recently a contemporary of my favorite author, Charles Dickens. I've read a couple of Wilkie Collins's books before, so last week I read a couple more.

Wilkie Collins by the way, was English. He was the first person to write a highly acclaimed/classic mystery, but he wrote for other genres as well. His most famous book is The Moonstone. His brother, Charles Collins, was also an author and the brother-in-law of Charles Dickens. Dickens is most notable for his books: Oliver Twist and A Christmas Carol.

Before last week, I had only read The Moonstone, and one other. Reading those, I wasn't really able to see much past the book. However, as I read more of his books, I was fascinated to see some of the author's personal viewpoints and character as portrayed in his writings. I was struck by several threads I saw among each of his books.

1st: Wilkie Collins was a realist. This was interesting because I am a realist. I hate it when characters in books are perfect and never do anything wrong, which brings me to point number two.

2nd: Wilkie Collins portrayed the depravity of man better than any other author that I've ever read. (Please see footnote at the bottom of this post) In The Legacy of Cain in particular, Collins showed distinctly how through Adam all men sinned. Collins concluded that yes, there are generational sins, but that those sins are not necessarily the sins of the immediately preceding generations, but ultimately are the sins of the first generation, Adam and Eve. This was a fascinating concept. I had never really thought about it either way, so I found it very interesting.

However, all that is not my real point, but merely a precursor, or rather the context of my real point. While thinking through one of the books later in the evening, the phrase 'scandalous sin' came to mind. I don't remember my train of thought leading up to the phrase. But that phrase stopped me.

A scandal, by definition, is a sin. A scandal, by more precise definition, is a secret sin made public. And that is what stopped me. A scandal is something everybody hears about. That is the definition of public in this case. The opposite of public is private. The definition of private is 'confined and intended only for those immediately concerned. Usually one or two people. Something personal.' We normally think of scandals as something at which to be horrified.

Have you ever realized, as I did that evening, that all sins are scandalous? Think about it. There is no such thing as a private, personal, sin involving no one but yourself. All sins, including those we think involve only ourselves, really include at least two persons. A sin involves you, the sinner, and the one or ones you have sinned against. Thus, the sin is no longer private, but public. In a situation where you think you have not effected anyone, you have sinned against God. And in a situation where you think you have only effected one person, you've actually hurt two. God, and the other person. All sins are scandalous. All scandals are things at which to be horrified. Therefore, all sins should be viewed with horror. Do you view all your sins with horror? or to lighten up a hefty subject with a play on words, are you scandalized by your sin?

As Christians, we've probably heard all our lives that God is watching us and He sees our sins and that we'll be held accountable by Him for them. Deep down, we believe all that. But do we live like it?

This is a topic that I've been thinking about a lot lately. It's been brought to my attention through more than one thing. My post is too long already. Next up is part 2: Degrees of Sin?

Here's a little preview:

We say there is no such thing as a little white lie, but do we live it? Do we think of that little lie we told as something about which to be horrified? I'm certainly not anywhere close to perfect in this area. Are you? we say getting a little mad sometimes is good to clear the system. If we say this, though, that means we're only murdering our brother an equally small amount, which must be equally good for clearing the system, right? To quote my brother, "Really, people? Really?"(See Matthew 5: 21-25)

Footnote: I do not recommend all of Wilkie Collins's writings. In most cases the sins central to his story are not described explicitly and are adequately punished before the end of the story. In each book, sin was never upheld as good. However, Collins was not a Christian and, in one of the books I read, I felt that the sins were more explicit than was edifying and that the consequence/punishment of the sin did not adequately convey that the sin was as bad as it was. Since standards are different in every household, I strongly recommend that parents preview books by Wilkie Collins.

(This has been, Fountain of Thoughts: Scandalous Sin. Look in next time to read: A Day in the Life of:__)