Journal 4

The readings for this week, if to be summarized under one theme, deal with the realities of sin. I suppose that in most of any readings this would be the case, since sin is so pervasive. However, we often try to mask over this reality and/or choose not to believe that the evil in this world is the product of our sinful hearts.

Mangano, in talking about the results of sin, quotes Isaiah 59:2: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God”. The desperateness of our natural state is seen clearly in the life of Peggy, Yalom’s counselee. I felt sorry for Peggy who was so ensnared by the doctrines of reincarnation and unable to grieve for her daughter in a healthy way. She grieved as those who grieve without hope (1 Thess. 4:13)- no hope for her daughter, and no hope for herself. In fact, she was caught up in her own selfish preoccupation. Unfortunately, it was the rest of her family that suffered most. I felt so terrible for her boys, who were neglected by an obsessed mother. What Yalom helps her to discover, though, is that she has decisions to make regarding how she will live in the future. However, in the end she is still separated from God.

Because of the total depravity of our sinful nature, although we can exercise some choice, we cannot choose to do good over evil. We need to first undergo the spiritual heart transplant surgery promised in Ezekiel 36. Murray’s chapter on free agency helped me to better understand the issues of choice in man, as well as clarified a lot of questions about the fall of Adam and Eve in Eden. Of course, as Murray also postulates, there still remains questions to which we do not have answers, and must be content to accept them by faith. Murray also deals with man as made in the image of God, and how that image was marred by the fall.

I asked my wife this week how often during a given day or week she thinks of herself as bearing the image of God. We have been dealing with this reality to a large extent in class, and it is part of our identity, but I have found for myself I rarely live as though this reality of my existence informs my conduct in practical ways- another disconnect between my formal and practical theology. My wife responded in a similar way. We discussed the implications that this would have on our lives, and how our lives would be more God-focused if we were more conscious of this. However, we really only spoke in generalities. I would like to put this more into practice as I live out the rest of this week. I asked her to challenge me specifically in times of difficulty to remember that I am an image bearer.