And I Will Always Love You -or- Temporal and Absolute Consequences of Sin

On Friday, February 24th, 2012 the Rockford Register Star published an opinion column from Monsignor Thomas Dzielak of Rock Falls.  He was responding to comments made by Tom Zuba.  Zuba, in the wake of Whitney Houston’s death, spoke of God’s love and judgement.  Obviously, he was concerned about our judging Houston’s lifestyle, decisions and cause of death.  He said that God’s love is one that “does not judge...does not punish or insist or demand or turn away.  Ever.”  The Psalms might seem to agree: “God’s steadfast love endures forever.”

Dzielak disagrees.  To Zuba’s assertion about God’s love, the Monsignor responds, “well, yes...and no.”  He writes that God does not judge our worth or dignity by our behavior, but God does judge and punish our behavior--at least the “freely chosen evil that we do without repenting.”  We are judged and punished here in this world, or failing that, “in the afterlife.”  There is some biblical basis for the Monsignor’s stance, too.

What we have here is a conundrum.

The column does not provide an rational argument for Zuba’s claim about God’s love.

There may not be one.

But Monsignor argues well: “If God never judges evil behavior (and by implication we are not to do so), then we should logically empty out the jails and prisons, as well as eliminate fines or jail time for breaking civil laws.”  The logic is sound...IF you agree with the presupposition that God’s law and human law are the same, operate the same way. 

But the two are worlds apart.

The Monsignor seems to be saying, that if God judges and punishes, then humans can and must also.  For him, our judicial and corrections systems have divine backing: God authorizes us to judge and punish our neighbors.

Is the Monsignor right?  Well, yes...and no.

YES.  All of Christ’s disciples are given the “office of the keys,” that is, we are given the authority and responsibility to bind and loose sin.  What we bind on earth will be bound in heaven, Jesus promises.  We can and should judge.

And NO.  In Christian hands the Law has a use and a purpose, well two of them:  

1. We are to strive for the peace and safety of all people.

So, we can and must honestly look at Whitney Houston’s life, so that we might learn (so that we might teach our children) that the wages of sin is death.  We can and should learn and teach that life choices have dire consequences. 

2. We are to use the Law in order to build up the community of God’s people.  We do this by helping people understand their crimes and their sin, so that they might ask for forgiveness and turn from their ways--for the good of self and of all.  We are first Ambassadors of Reconciliation (Paul)...and if we judge it is as ambassadors, not chief justices.

God’s law is a transforming law.  The use of the Law is to change us, inside and out.

Human law tries to rehabilitate criminals.  Many jail systems are called: Department of Corrections.  But in this regard it is, I am afraid to say, a failed system that does not produce the results that it euphemistically claims to offer.

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If you pay close attention to scripture, whenever Jesus talks about judgement, he reminds us that God alone has the right and privilege to judge.  And the only condition that is placed on God’s forgiveness is this, and you know these words by heart:

“Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.”

If we do not forgive, then we will not be forgiven.  Binding and loosing sin is an infinite responsibility placed on the one judging.  Our judgements are not binding...but we are bound by our judgements.  This is the Gospels’ only comment on the matter.

I can forgive someone who murders my loved one, even if they remain in prison.

Here we go deep, so stay with me.

There is a distinction between temporal consequences and absolute or eternal consequences.

Temporal Consequences:

The wage of sin is death.

Our choices in the land of the living have consequences in this life.  If I do hard drugs, I destroy my body and may die from it.  If I murder someone, then I will be put in prison for a long time.  If I covet my neighbor’s property, then I am fixated and trapped by my own desires, and I am distracted from my life and from seeking the Kingdom of God.  If I lie, then others will not trust my word.

These are the consequences that I must face.  And even if I am forgiven by all people and by God, I still have to deal with these consequences--the wage of sin is death.

But death is the limit and boundary of these consequences.  Once I have died, I have paid these prices.

Eternal or Absolute Consequences:

Forgiveness does not necessarily bypass temporal consequences, but Scriptures say that forgiveness does have an effect on eternal consequences.

If I forgive, no matter what happens on earth, I will be forgiven by God in eternity.

If I do not forgive others, I will not be forgiven in eternity.

With the office of the keys, our judgements are not binding...but we are bound by our judgements.

Please remember, that in the confines of this blog, I speak without authority.

But as a pastor, I do speak with authority.  For this reason, I always declare to all people the forgiveness of sins, by the authority of Jesus Christ.

In Christ, we are all given the same authority...and it is authority to do one thing:
To “love one another as God loves us,” to “forgive others, as we ourselves are forgiven.”

Our task is to forgive--Whitney Houston, the criminals on death row, our neighbors and enemies.  Our forgiveness will not bring the dead back to life, or stay the execution or keep those who have sinned against us from the consequences of their actions.

But if I forgive, then I will be loosed from my sin.  If I forgive, then God will forgive me.

Beyond that, I am without any authority.  The rest I leave in the hands of God.

In sum, every time I judge, I am judging myself.  And so, I have but one choice: 

Do I forgive myself or not?

Many of us are far too hard on ourselves.

And if one cannot forgive oneself, forgiving others is out of the question.

A life without forgiveness is the real hell.

Jonah 3:10--4:11

Ryan Howard