Post 104—Admission, Confession and Total Depravity

Behind the Scene

A reviewer of one of my writings wrote that I write as I talk. Well, yes, I guess that is true. Another characteristic of my writing is that I like to converse with you, my readers, about, for example, the reason for my choosing this or that subject. Today’s topic is kind of an ugly one that I do not particularly enjoy dealing with. The subject arose in my mind in the context of my posts of last month on the World Council of Church and its suggestion that religions should “heal” themselves from their “obsession with conversion.” Just how or why today’s subject arose in that context, I do not quite remember. However, it lead me to write the main body of this post. I did not like the subject and so kept postponing publishing it. However, neither do I like to waste time writing stuff I do not publish.  Besides, ugly as it is, it is a very important truth that cannot be ignored if we wish to understand human history in general or today’s current events or even our individual selves And, oh yes, I am very aware of how politically incorrect the subject is, and how insulting to proud secularists, but, then, I am not known for political correctness. So, here, just as I am and just as we all are-- with no further soft kind of apology.

This post should have been written earlier like in post 100, right after 98 and 99.  Other issues intervened so that the flow of thought was broken. So, while I hope you found the intervening posts helpful, please refresh yourself by going back to posts 98 and 99 in order to get into the right mood for this one—if that’s even possible!

First, a confession or admission.  For a moment I was not sure which is the proper term in this context. I really want to go for the latter, since the concept of confession usually includes an element of guilt. What I’m about to admit here is partially due to ignorance, which in turn, was due to incomplete information, but does not involve any sense of guilt, at least not a heavy dose of it. Don’t worry, if there were heavy guilt involved, I would know it, sense it, recognize it, for as a Christian I am very aware of guilt in all I do, for we confess it regularly in our church services, if not in our personal spiritual life.

In fact, my particular version of Christianity subscribes to the teaching of “total depravity.”  Perhaps you recognize this version as the Calvinist or Reformed or Presbyterian, three terms referring to the same tradition. The last century the term “Kuyperian” and related terms have appeared to point to a sub-group within the Calvinist tradition. It is the “brand” to which I subscribe and which sets the tone for this entire blog as well as my website < www.SocialTheology.com >.

So, “total depravity.”  What an awful term, don’t you think? Even though I subscribe to it, I don’t like the term. Even less do I like its awful reality, but reality it is, believe me. No, don’t take my word for it. Just look around you in the world, in fact, all of world history as well as current events, and it faces you everywhere. But it does not mean what it seems to say on the surface. It does not mean that the human race only does evil, not even its most immoral or amoral members.  But it does mean that everything we do, even the very best, has a negative or sinful aspect to it.  It may not be dominant; the good in a particular action may far outshine that negative part, but it is there without exception, even in the life of the most saintly.

The most saintly missionary of the ancient church, the Apostle Paul, cried out that he, of all men, was the most miserable precisely for this reason. And I am quite sure that even Sister Theresa would have been very conscious of that negative side of her life. Saints, the best people in the world, are usually the most aware of this reality in their own lives. And I say this of Sister Theresa, even though she was a Catholic, a church that rejects “total depravity.”  Her Church may reject it; she personally would have been very conscious of it without approving or using that term to describe it. It’s just part of being a saint: To be aware of your own shortcomings, your own selfishness, etc. A saint never feels that she’s arrived, always feels short. ( Not sure I would dare say this about this lovely Saint if she still were living among us. She just might sue me! You never know what lawyers can talk us into!)

The Heidelberg Catechism, one of the most popular creeds of the Reformed churches, teaches that our wills are “so corrupt that we are wholly incapable of doing any good, and inclined to all evil.”  This needs to be taken with a grain of salt.  This creed was coined during the hefty years of the Reformation when both sides were inclined to extremes and often threw out babies with the bathwater.  Once the totally aggravated spirits of Europe simmered down a bit and they came to more moderate opinions, they turned to the more moderate opinion I already mentioned. Yes, we are totally corrupt; that is, we can do nothing perfectly; it is always tainted by sin to some degree. But to claim we “are wholly incapable of doing any good” surely goes too far. Was Gandhi, the Hindu, incapable of any good?  Come on. You can’t take that seriously. He has become a human icon and hero to almost all the world. Even Christian leaders like Martin Luther King followed his lead. Gandhi did a whale of a lot of good. Nevertheless, if one were to dissect his soul and mind, he would find that negative factor called sin in the mix, most likely more than you might have expected!

So what is the admission to which I referred in my opening sentence? The conference I discussed in Posts 98 and 99 was held way back in 2006—a decade ago!  I wrote as if it were a current event. This happened because the source as it came to me was undated and I failed to check that out on the internet, even though I gave you the website of WCC in Post 98.  I did not know and I did not practice due diligence, the very failure of which I accuse Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Now is this an admission or a confession? I chose to characterize it as the former. However, I also admit (or confess?) that this failure skirts confession. I did not know, but I could have and should have known by practicing due diligence.  My failure may not be earth shaking, but it was a failure that should not have happened. Failure of due diligence does have an element of guilt or irresponsibility.

In the meantime, I took you along a diversion to one of the most unpopular and unpleasant teachings of Calvinism—but also one of the most realistic ones. 

The wonder of it all is that it has not turned me into a sour puss or miserably negative person. In fact, I am a cheerful person because the other side of the coin is being born again, something I wrote about in an earlier post, and about being forgiven. That combination takes away all the stress of that negative reality. It is still there, but it is trumped by the reality of the other two. Halleluiah!

Note: I will be away camping at a place north of Langley, BC, on the shore of the Fraser River. I expect to come home next week Wednesday, for the weather woman tells me it will rain on that day. During this period, there will be no new posts. And upon my return, there will be so many emails and other stuff needing my attention that it may be a week before you see a new post. But you never know. If the weather changes unexpectedly, I may return home earlier. So, I invite you to keep checking every couple of days. The next post will be on the lighter side of Trump! I suspect you’ve heard of him? As strange as it may sound to some, you will see that there is a lighter side to him.