The other day, I read a blog post (link) that a believing friend posted on facebook. I read just about anything religious I can get my hands on.
I was surprised by this one. There was something I liked about it. And I read part of it to Tina. To which she replied, “Huh.”
The bit was written by a pastor named William Graham Tullian Tchividjian (pronounced cha-vi-jin). The gist of the piece is about a woman fretting to tell her boyfriend/fiancé that she got an abortion some years ago.
She goes for pastoral counsel (the best kind, it’s free … with the cost of 10% of your gross annual income).
She says (I’m paraphrasing), “I feel that I need to tell my boyfriend about my abortion, but I keep chickening out. The closer we get, the harder it is to open up. I feel I have to tell him.”
The pastor talks to her. They pray. They go through an absolution process.
After all of that, the woman says, “Okay, I’m ready to tell my boyfriend about the abortion.”
“What abortion?” says the pastor.
Huh. That sounds really cool! Right? That message sounds really fantastic!
“What abortion? I forgot. You forgot. We all forget! It’s gone!” says the pastor.
“Your sins are forgiven … go and sin no more,” says Jesus to the so-called whore.
I mean, wow! Bang! Zoom!
Super forgiveness! Weeee!
First let me say, I appreciate and applaud this message. On the surface, it sounds great. The story represents forgiveness and moving forward.
But I’ve got a big “but” to add.
Anyone who has studied a little psychology has a little understanding about the way the mind works. We’ve already discussed abortion, and you can review the discussion if you want.
I’m a secularist and pro-choice, and I don’t agree that abortion should be taken lightly. There are situations that make abortion a more positive choice than negative. But it can be a heavy burden, and no woman, couple, teen, man should think of abortion as a drivethru dumpbox for unwanted pregnancies.
What I want to talk about is the forgiveness part. There’s this underlying psychological madness that the religious promote. They won’t EVER admit it, but it’s a very common complaint among us recovering Christians. Despite saying, “Your sins are absolved. Your affair, your abortion, your lies, your mistakes are forgiven,” there is this nagging guilt that is exclusive to certain brands of Christianity.
And perhaps Christianity raises its dirty hands and says, “Hey, if you can’t forgive yourself despite being forgiven, that’s your fault.”
But is it?
Is it the sinner’s fault?
There seems to be a delicate piercing into the minds of certain people who confuses the ability to let go.
Or is there a need for people to constantly return to the sinful feeling to get him or her back to the their knees in subservient pleading for the deity’s forgiveness?
That’s what I think it is.
Maybe that’s why I choose secularism. It’s because humanists are much better at forgiveness than church culture. I mean, I know Christians who wear their baggage on their sleeves. I know it’s a mixed metaphor, but it’s like, “Come on. Get over your ‘sin’ already. It’s done!”
Secularists know how to forgive much better and move on even more better.
I love screwing with grammar.
You know what I mean.
Or do you?
Posted by Jeremy 
