ASK THE CLERGY
Posted on Saturday, April 8, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/adg/Religion/151230/
A READER ASKS: In John 9: 2, the disciples asked Jesus if a man was born blind because of his parents’ or his own sin, insinuating that he had sinned before his birth. In what state of being do we exist before birth ? THE REV. EDIE BIRD is the vicar of St. James’
Episcopal Church in Eureka Springs.
The question about
our state before birth
is a fascinating one. Prior to developing a sense of identity, which comes with the development of our egos, we don’t really sin. Prior to birth, we are unfolding and developing in the womb. We have experiences in the womb, but we don’t sin. As soon as we begin to act in the world, we make mistakes, we sin. We also are able to learn from these mistakes. Jesus does not make a big deal of sin, but he does make a really big deal of forgiveness. We all need it.
Prior to conception, the religious and philosophical speculation gets even more mysterious. Most religious people believe in the soul. From ancient times people have believed that the soul, which is the true essence of who we are, exists beyond birth and death. Christians further believe that this soul is in the image and likeness of God. Perhaps it was the soul that Jesus spoke of when he said, “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17: 21 ). The kingdom of God is not born and it does not die, it is eternal, so what is this mysterious life that is within us ?
When we come to birth, we have to contend with the limitations of this physical life. There are the endless appetites of the body. There is the primal struggle for survival, and there are instincts that lead us to selfishness. And there is the ego, which justifies our selfishness with all sorts of clever thinking.
It is interesting to me that Jesus tells his disciples that the man born blind was born as he is so that God’s work might be displayed in his life (John 9: 3 ). The same could be said of all of us: We were born with our limitations so that God’s work might be displayed in our lives.
How do we recognize our own blindness, our hardness of heart, our selfishness and ignorance ? And then, how do we return to the love of God which is reflected in the pure life of the soul within each and every one of us ? According to Jesus, it is the way of repentance and forgiveness.
When we find that we are spiritually blind and acting out of ignorance, we don’t need to waste a lot of time finding someone else to blame, nor do we need to wallow in self-blame. We do need to recognize the blindness and seek healing for our condition, so that God’s work might be displayed in our lives. And we need to do this over and over again, day after day, throughout our lives. The REV. RANDY HYDE is the senior pastor of
Pulaski Heights Baptist Church in Little Rock.
Afew weeks ago, three
of my colleagues in
this space tackled the question of whether those who died are able to observe what happens to the rest of us who remain on earth. I’m glad that query wasn’t assigned to me, for my answer would have been quite short: Who knows ? I’m tempted to do the same with this question. But I will offer a couple of responses and hope the questioner will find a smidgen of satisfaction in them. As far as I know, there is nothing in the Bible that speaks of our pre-conceived existence... except, the prophet Jeremiah is told that before he was in his mother’s womb, God had a plan for his life. That leads me to the cautious conclusion that before we are conceived in the womb we exist only in the thoughts of God. That may sound simplistic to some, but when it comes to the mind of God I leave any possibility open.
God also says his thoughts are not our thoughts, nor are his ways our ways. I’m willing to leave it at that.
The example you use from John’s gospel has to do with the common theological understanding of Jesus’ day that one’s sin was rarely one’s own. If someone was born blind, either that person had sinned in the womb or the parents had caused this tragedy by means of their prior indiscretion. Jesus threw his shoulder into such thinking and said that is not the case. We own our own sin and are held accountable for such.
FATHER JOHN ATCHISON is the priest at St. Nicholas Orthodox Church in Springdale.
The disciples, along
with many in the
ancient world, believed that troubles came because of personal sin. Jesus rejected this notion when he replied to the disciples that neither this man nor his parents were responsible for his blindness. It is true that suffering and death entered the world as a result of sin (Romans 5: 12 ), and some sinful acts bring about sickness and death (I Corinthians 11: 30 ). There would be no sickness in the world if there was no sin, but this does not mean that all sickness is the result of a specific person’s sin. The Book of Job discusses this issue and clearly shows that every disaster does not point to a special sin.
As for the preexistence of souls, we do not know everything we might want to. Deuteronomy 29: 29 says “the secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.”
A pre-existence of the soul is not taught in Christian Scripture. The ancient Church frowned on this teaching because it is a mingling of philosophy with theology. It encourages useless speculation about pride of origins or proof of inferiority. It is no help to our spiritual progress to speculate about the unspeculatable, solve the unsolvable and dogmatize about mysteries. The Church’s teaching is that one is created at conception, and the soul is immortal but not pre-existent. In John, Chapter Nine, Jesus uses a blind man’s tragedy to do good and did not sit down and philosophize.