I grew up having the doctrine of original sin hammered into me. People are sinful – rotten to the core from conception. As a result, I always assumed the worst of people. Sin was a person’s defining character trait. And above all else they needed redemption – at whatever cost. So in interacting with people one focused on their depravity – seeing how they were sinful and even making sure they knew that as well.
The problem with that stance is that it makes it really hard to love one’s neighbor. And I mean really love them – not some silly “tough love” line about loving them too much to allow them to continue in sin. But loving them even amidst the mess. So in this mindset, when it was brought up that we should care for the poor who lost their homes in Katrina we were told that some of them are poor because of their sin. Or when its suggested that illegal immigrants should be treated with dignity and respect, some horrendous anecdote about a criminal act committed by an immigrant is mentioned. Or when its suggested that the homeless get fed, they are written off as undeserving addicts and alcoholics. The idea seems to be that if some sort of sin can be pinned on a person that gets us off the hook for having to love them.
But it can be dangerous to fall out of the habit to love. When we chose not to “in humility consider others better than ourselves” but instead dwell wholly on their faults we end up resorting to doing most things out of “selfish ambition and vain conceit.” Our needs reign supreme when we readily find excuses not to love others. Loving our neighbor then becomes a foreign concept.
Perhaps I’ve been too long in the emerging church world where loving others is just a given. Or perhaps spending the holidays with my family who thinks I’m an idealistic freak was a wake-up call. But it still shocks me when I encounter people who are genuinely confused as to why caring for the needs of others would be a motivating factor for doing anything. I want to believe love wins, but then I encounter so many people who can’t even fathom the concept. It’s just difficult when even the basic aspects of the faith can’t even be agreed upon.