Dear Bruce, What is the deal?

21. December 2007 by BruceSmith.

Dear Bruce,

What is the deal with boundaries, rules, guidelines? And what about the “sin” stuff? Why is it so important that we focus on this stuff all the time? I just kinda live my life from day to day, try not to really harm anyone, and hope for the best. Is this not good enough?

I look forward to your reply,

Sam

Sam,

Great questions, really! I understand the perspective you have, as most of us tend to want to live that way. We like the sense of comfort (emotional, psychological) that we assume a “cruise control” approach offers. The difficulty is that life is always a bit more complex and it does not take very long before we have to put our hands on the wheel and our foot on the brake. Actually, you hint at this in your own question when you refer to the desire not to “harm” anyone. I will explain.

The idea of “harming”, on its own, must recognized as a moral category. This is obvious with just a little thought. To view an action as having the potential to “harm” is to suppose, morally speaking, that some standard, measurable moral law can be violated. Otherwise, any and every action is merely an action with no ability to harm or “disharm”, if I can invent a word.

What I am getting at is the reality we rarely think about, but upon which we all operate daily, actually moment by moment. We make decisions about everything we do based on some standard of measurement. If we work retail, we give a certain amount of change back to a customer. We either give them too much change, just the right amount, or we short-change them. However we slice it, a standard of reality is in play. This is true of all activity and all actions in our lives. In grade school, high school, and in the university, we measure our standard of accuracy/reality with tests. Those tests have right and wrong answers. We receive a score based upon our ability to “get it right”. 2 + 2= 4 always. Any other answer is wrong, always.

This idea of objective truth exists spiritually speaking as well. In fact, unless there is a standard of truth beyond our physical world, why would we expect to see standards of measurable reality to any extent in this world. Would all not be total chaos? If we follow this line of thinking we are ultimately brought to the reality of an absolute being beyond ourselves. If such an absolute exists, it would seem to make sense that this being would know all, even that which is, in reality, best for us.

This is the reason for the focus upon sin, truth, boundaries, and reality. This is the foundation for Optimuslife.org because our contention is that we find the life we were meant to live only as we know this being beyond ourselves, and walk in relationship with Him, learning and doing that which He assures us is for our good. That being said, I must remind you that we never suggest that we can earn or merit, by our good or right behavior, a proper standing before God. None of us can get it all right all the time. And because God is perfect, our getting it wrong leaves us with a gap between us and God. This is where grace, as revealed in the person of Jesus, comes in. The focus always remains on God’s active pursuit of us and His ability to offer us life as it ought to be even as we get it wrong so often.

Now, some practical reality. While your idea sounds good at first, it clearly breaks down. We all know that our actions do affect others. Those who would suggest, “Hey, leave me alone, its my life. I am not hurting anyone.”, are not operating in reality. Take fibbing for an example. Even if one thinks a simple lie may not be harming anyone, reality offers a different perspective. Even if one gets away with most of the lies, others are hurt. More practically, once people begin to see that our stories are not always accurate they begin to trust us less. Less trust between people results in a breakdown in relationship. Bottom line, relationships are harmed, people are harmed.

We could plug in any type of moral issue here and the reality would be the same. If we have no basis of measurement, no standard of absolute truth, then we, as a human people, cannot hope to keep from harming one another. This is true of sex, parent/child relationships, business practices, art, entertainment, romance, friendship, nation building, … Without a sense that an absolute being created us, loves us, and actually directs us in matters of conduct, we have no hope for anything but moral and relational chaos. For if one person believes in the value of gratuitous murder and another does not, how do we determine “harm” if left without a standard of truth? If one culture enjoys cannibalism and another not so much, who is right? If one culture sees no problem with prostitution, even child prostitution, and another cannot fathom the idea of such a thing, how do we establish an absolute guideline? Who is right? Where does the line of “harm” fall in such situations? It must come from beyond ourselves, otherwise we could have over 6 billion varied ideas on what is right, harmful, or proper.

In an odd sort of way, this leads me to point you to the value of the Advent season. Advent, which celebrates the coming of Christ, God in the flesh, to our world, is all about God stepping into our human story to shout the reality that He offers us the proper lens through which we can see the world. In advent we see sin for what it is and truth for who and what it is. It would appear that God has a very sober view of sin, since He chose to intervene in such a dramatic way on our behalf.

Christmas is about the good news of absolute truth! Rather than view absolute truth as a restrictive moral straight jacket, it ought be viewed as the life giving, soul protecting, and joyous revelation of God to us, for our good. Sadly, this is the very message the masses tend to miss during this “holiday”. Amidst all the consumerism, vacations, parties, food, and drink, most tend to miss the staggering reality that what we celebrate is the unfathomable idea that the God of the universe sent a divine message to us in a tiny package over 2,000 years ago. This gift, the way to a life worth living and an eternity of unending joy, is the one we should most hunger for. The baby in the manger, ignored by the innkeepers, and ignored by so much of humanity, is the gift which ought to keep us up all night as we await our embrace of Life. He is Life. He is the definitive reality. He is the one who took our harm upon Himself, and set us free to live for Him and others.

That is the deal, embrace this Truth,
Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

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