{"id":1094,"date":"2013-07-25T00:00:54","date_gmt":"2013-07-25T05:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=1094"},"modified":"2013-07-24T22:35:20","modified_gmt":"2013-07-25T03:35:20","slug":"anthony-weiner-and-the-disappearance-of-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/?p=1094","title":{"rendered":"ANTHONY WEINER AND THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SIN"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This was originally posted on May 30, 2013, but there sadly is a need to get some things clear in our collective conscious!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Since Anthony Weiner is back (again!) in the news, I thought it good to reflect some on his undoing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s get things clear from the get go.\u00a0 I find Weiner\u2019s behavior inexcusable and to employ a word I have not yet heard: sinful. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is a good thing Weiner resigned from the Congress.\u00a0 The spectacle that preceded it was unfortunate.\u00a0 It only seemed to underscore the very problem that got Weiner into trouble to begin with, namely his narcissistic tendency toward self-promotion.\u00a0 As some preachers I\u2019ve heard proclaim, \u201cSometimes we have got to repent of our repentance.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It is interesting to hear the commentary by the media and members of Congress, but not so much for what has been said.\u00a0 Rather, it is what was left unsaid that has been striking.<\/strong><\/p>\n

For example, why are so many up in arms over what Weiner did?\u00a0 If there is no God, as Dostoyevsky famously declared, then all things are permissible.\u00a0 I imagine there are several in the media and in Congress who find the \u201cfear of the Lord\u201d a quaint maxim of a bygone era.\u00a0 Nevertheless they are quick to pronounce absolute judgment on Weiner.\u00a0 No one seems troubled by this inconsistency. <\/strong><\/p>\n

For those of us who do believe in the \u201cfear of the Lord\u201d it is crucial to do some honest soul-searching.\u00a0 Sure, our sins may not be public.\u00a0 They may also occur in more socially respectable areas of life: food instead of sex, gossip instead of hubris, and lying instead of lying.\u00a0 Wait a second.\u00a0 We are more like Weiner than we care to admit!<\/strong><\/p>\n

As a Christian, I believe God can redeem anyone. \u00a0The death and resurrection of Jesus takes the hideousness of sin and the hope-filled reality of a changed life seriously.\u00a0 The Bible is loaded with unsavory characters who found redemption.\u00a0 King David was a murderer and adulterer.\u00a0 And yes, King David also lied. \u00a0 He outdid Weiner on many fronts. <\/strong><\/p>\n

One\u2019s understanding of redemption in the Christian sense starts by recognizing our real problem: sin.\u00a0 Failure to appreciate our own sin results in simply casting stones at fellow human beings.\u00a0 Instead of seeing redemption as a real possibility we gladly cast the pariah to the margins of society.\u00a0 With the offending party gone from our midst we are freed from having to ponder our own compulsions, dysfunctions, hubris, self-satisfaction, arrogance, and what can be the umbrella term for all: sin.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

When a society loses the language to depict the realities of sin, it has lost more than it can possibly know.\u00a0 When sin is gone from the scene, so is redemption.\u00a0 And when redemption is gone, where does that leave us?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This was originally posted on May 30, 2013, but there sadly is a need to get some things clear in our collective conscious! Since Anthony Weiner is back (again!) in the news, I thought it good to reflect some on his undoing. Let\u2019s get things clear from the get go.\u00a0 I find Weiner\u2019s behavior inexcusable […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ambition","category-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1094"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1096,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1094\/revisions\/1096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.twocities.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}