While in Northern Ireland, I talked with my host, Jon Howe, about sin around the world. Jon has spent time living in Europe and the Middle East. And he said that he saw two distinct attitudes toward sin. He described sin in the west as overt, something we do without apology. We market sin. We call good evil and evil good. We champion consumption, materialism and money. From pornography and sexual sin to drugs and drinking, the western world is full of opportunities to do the wrong thing. Sometimes, we hide behind a cloak of religiosity. But for the most part, sin tends to be rampant even in Christian circles.
In contrast, Jon found the Middle East, especially the Muslim culture, to be very religious. There was a tremendous focus on public piety. Many of the ads that adorn public places in the United States would never be allowed in the Middle East. In many areas of the world, Muslim women cover themselves in public. Yet behind closed doors, the society in the east is just as sinful as the west. Sexual sin, drugs and drinking can be found all throughout the Muslim world. It’s just usually done in private and not something that is talked about in public.
The differences between eastern and western cultures led us to discuss which one is better. And we did not come to any definite conclusions. Having decent public standards is of course a good thing. But is sin done in secret any less offensive to God than public sin? Is getting drunk at your home any more acceptable than getting drunk in a public bar? Is Internet porn any less sinful than going to a “gentlemen’s club”?
If a society thinks that its public religious acts are enough to atone for sin, it may never come to the point of repentance. It may never recognize sin as sin. At least for those in western society, they are not hypocrites. They do not publicly say one thing and privately do another. Or do they???
I have come to the conclusion that God doesn’t really think either way of life is best. God calls us to be the same in public and private. God wants us to discover the joy of living a holy life. And the only way to live as God intended is to let Him work in us. I am starting to see that sin covers a lot more than what I had originally thought. Even some things that may first appear to be good can be sin if God desires us to do something else. Sin is just as much about what we don’t do as what we do. Ultimately, God desires to be the driving force behind everything in our lives. God calls for us to live a life of love, grace and mercy. And both the eastern and western cultures seem to have missed the point when it comes to what life is really all about.
