Shifted Perspective: Sin and Virtue
Rabbit Hole
There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.
Hamlet (Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Hamlet)
Generally, we know some actions are generally righteous whereas others are pretty clearly bad. However, nothing in vacuum is good or evil: circumstances make it so.
This is a rabbit hole because we’re great at rationalizing actions – so we can rationalize our way to oblivion. But the crux of the issue isn’t the act itself but rather how that action impacts us – which is a direct result of why we did it. For example, killing is bad, yet the Bible covers several circumstances where God put his stamp of approval on killing: Exodus, the drowning of Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea; Judges, Gideon felling the Midianites; Samuel, David slaying Goliath; and the death which opened our route to salvation, Jesus dying on the cross to show us He defeated death in his resurrection. These deaths were sanctioned by God.
Sin is anything that draws us away from God.
This is so weird to me: I always think of sin as “something wrong” or acting against God’s will. But why is it against God’s will? Some of the “rules” seem arbitrary, even unreasonable. As my obnoxious inner child would whine, whyyyyyyyyyyy?
It doesn’t always make sense because we don’t have all of the information. What happens when we do this, that, or the other thing? What happens to us not only in a physical sense, but in a mental sense? How about psychological? Spiritual?
The reality is that some things look super enticing, but they’ll actually drag us down and disorient us. Of course there are ways to right our course after taking a detour, but the more detours we take, the more difficult it is for us to get back on track. So, a question we need to ask ourselves: do we want to be on track?
When we sin, we are intentionally detouring from God. It’s not necessarily that something is inherently wrong, but instead that it will shift our focus away from God. The more we choose something else over God, the less we know God, and the less likely we are to turn to Him – even if we never turned away, per se, just altered the course here and there. It goes back to storge love – affection for what we know: we have a “warm comfortableness” with the way we’ve always done things, meaning the more we do things our own way, the more likely we are to continue doing so and inso choose ourselves – and the more we do things God’s way, the more likely we are to choose God.
Virtue draws us nearer to God.
Virtues help us to see clearly the long game, the end goal, and enable us to more easily go directly toward it. They guide us by letting us know what’s at stake – the end goal – if we venture off the road. They won’t necessarily let us know what will happen if we go off-roading, just let us know that there is something we’re fighting for and that going off road stacks a card against us.
Just like with sin, the more we choose virtue, the easier it is to choose virtue.
Avaritia and Caritas
Avaritia – avarice, greed
Caritas – altruistic love, charity
Avaritia and caritas aren’t two heroes battling it out to determine the outcome of the universe. These options are on either end of each choice we make, often with a spectrum in the middle. Instead of “deciding” to be greedy or charitable, we often debate with ourselves about which choice is best given a number of factors. If the decision is between paying rent or dropping it in a church collection basket, any decent pastor would want you to pay rent; if you get a bonus, maybe sending some to your favorite charity is in order.
Also noteworthy: cash isn’t the only way to be charitable. Maybe last year you were able to donate money toward cancer research but that isn’t viable now; maybe last year writing a check was the only thing you could do, but now you’ve got the time to volunteer to run at that event, or work the telethon, or research an idea they haven’t had the time to look into. Maybe you can run point on an event to brighten the day of everyone in the ward – patients and attendants alike.
What are your talents? How are you using them?
Affectionate love is typically the winner of the contest between avaritia and caritas. I don’t mean that in a “love conquers all” kind of way, but rather a “habits conquer all” way. Specifically, we are given choices every day; the choices we make today will impact our choices tomorrow. The more we choose one path, the more familiar with it we will be, and the more likely we are to choose a similar path tomorrow. Decide your destiny – with “warm comfortableness.”
Love is itself the fulfillment of all our works. There is the goal; that is why we run: we run toward it, and once we reach it, in it we shall find rest.
Saint Augustine
Happy Friday. :-}
