In Defense of Jesus’ War on Shame

I get tired of how most religions – mine included, or the cultural expression of it – focus so much on bad behavior. There’s a tendency in Evangelicalism, for example, to talk ad-nauseum about “sin,” where we reference a list of things that God doesn’t want us to do, then ruminate on all the ways that our list gets ignored, disrespected, trodden upon, but not by us, mind you.

Then we move into the topic God’s forgiveness, which is available to everyone, so long as they first admit that they’re hopeless sinners, full of sin, can’t stop sinning, etc.

Sin, sin, sin…

As a Christian who derived his faith from the Old and New Testaments, I’ll admit that I hold a very Evangelical anthropology, i.e., that no human can stop sinning. Our holy writ is not shy or sparing in its references to this. St. Paul went so far as to call us enemies of God. I understand why we so frequently include sin in our pantheon of things to talk about when we talk about God.

But I wonder if we focus on it too much.

To be fair, religious people aren’t the only ones who focus too much on bad behavior. The idea of “sinning” wasn’t invented by religion; morality and her many codes make frequent appearances through human history. In the same vein, judging others for their lack of allegiance to whatever moral code also wasn’t invented by religion. Judging others is just something we do.

Regardless of religious affiliation, adherence, or general posture, everyone has their own personal “10 Commandments” – diverse as they may be – and feels a deep sense of shame when they fail to adhere to them.

Nobody should be surprised that humanity’s obsession with bad behavior has found its way into religion.

The Bible, especially the Old Testament, doesn’t help. God’s alleged list of sins goes far beyond the actual 10 Commandments, deep into the realm of absurdity for many. The way that the OT talks about sinners drives many contemporary Christians to follow suit.

But then something odd happens.

The New Testament shows up and puts a spin on the Old one – and religion in general – that nobody prior had thought of before. It doesn’t nullify the Old Testament, but integrates it into a story of unconditional forgiveness that is so extreme, many Christians can’t handle it, this Christian included.

The first order of business, it seems, is to get sin out of the way, not just for “Christians,” but for the entire world. The New Testament doesn’t say that sin doesn’t exist, or that we should all ignore it. It simply claims that the barriers that exist between humanity and God – and by proxy, humanity and humanity – have been removed. It then begs us to live as close to God and each other as we can manage.

In short, the bad behavior so frequently referenced in the Old Testament is removed from center stage in the New Testament. It is no longer the hub around which everything revolves.

Don’t get me wrong, the Old Testament is fundamental to our understanding of the New. Any religion that doesn’t acknowledge humanity’s fraility with regard to bad behavior is a waste of time in my opinion. But the New Testament does something with that frailty that no other religious document does. Having acknowledged and condemned our sins, it puts them to death, or to put it in the ancient Greek of Paul’s teaching: it buries them, never to be resurrected.

I realize that I’ve just opened a million cans of theological worms, and that there’s a lot to unpack, but imagine for just a moment that God exists and that he no longer holds your sins against you. Your slate is wiped clean regardless of what you believe about God, religion, bible, or whatever 10 commandments you personally hold.

If you could accept that, it would do great violence to both your shame and your compulsion to judge others. If we could all accept that, it would change the world.

But that’s a tall order. Most Christians who confess such a belief struggle mightily to accept it, especially to the degree that we extend it to others. Most of us are so anemic here that we seldom talk about it outside the walls of the church.

When we do manage to talk about it, we end up talking about sin more than anything else.

Sin, sin, sin.

In order to get your slate wiped clean, the argument goes, you first have to accept the fact that you’re sinning all the time. If you can’t admit that, the argument continues, there’s no point in me talking to you about how your sins have been wiped clean.

It’s like going to a homeless person and telling them that a rich guy has built a house for them, but they can’t have the house until they admit that they’re homeless and confess all of the sins a homeless person is guilty of, like homeless people need to be reminded.

If they refuse, they can’t have the house.

If I was the person who built the house, that would make me angry. The house is a gift, unconditionally given, no strings attached, keys under the mat. All you have to do is walk in the door. You already know that you’re homeless, why beat you over the head with it?

But, the argument goes, if you don’t make the homeless person acknowlege, admit, and condemn their sin, won’t they continue in it?

Of course they will.

Nobody stops sinning, even after they’ve acknowledged, admitted, and condemned their sin. On top of that, we sin in ways that we’re not even aware of. How does one repent of sin they can’t/won’t acknowledge?

The bible condemns us all, claiming that we’re all sinning on the same level, regardless of how much we might try to stop. It then peddles the idea that we’re all forgiven, without condition.

“Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord” ~ Romans 7:24-25

The 10 Commandments that you live under, the list that reminds you over and over again how much of a failure you are, has been put to death, regardless of what you believe about God. Sure, there are consequences for breaking whatever rules, but your sin no longer defines you, nor does it place any barriers between you and God, or anyone else.

If the world could rid itself of shame, it would change in a way that the religious world’s “ministry of condemnation” simply hasn’t managed to accomplish.

According to the teachings of Jesus, there is no longer a need for you to ruminate on the things in your past that you’re ashamed of. Sure, they happened, and you might still be suffering consequences for them. But God doesn’t see them. He doesn’t keep them stored in some heavenly vault that he occasionaly visits when he’s got nothing else to do.

Far as the almighty creator of the universe is concerned – the very king of the cosmos according to us Christians – you have been judged and found not guilty.

And so, continuing to feel guilty – keeping your personal sins always close at hand to remind yourself of how much you suck – is one of the most un-Christian things you can do. I’ll assure you that the higher things of love, compassion, mercy, forgiveness, generosity, patience, etc., are much more difficult when we fail to (un)see our sin the way God does.

We’ve all been invited into a new space, one where shame, and the unforgiveness that comes with it, is the actual sin. Imagine for a minute what such a life would look like. Best of all, it’s free, a gift, unconditionally given, no strings attached.

Keys under the mat.

That’s the good news, the “Gospel,” τό εὐαγγέλιον, core to the message of Jesus, and the reason for his death and resurrection. It’s not free, and it comes with its conditions, but those were met, paid for – however you want to look at it – by God himself.

“It has been accomplished.” ~ Jesus

All you have to do is walk in the door.