IMAGING SIN

My old English professor reminded us that whenever we desire to use an analogy, that “an analogy always limps”. In other words, analogies only go so far but they never ever really hit the nail on the head, analogously speaking, of course. Thus, two analogies: one alluded to several blogs back and this one. The former one first.

To liken a community to a jigsaw puzzle is an analogy but one that pretty much holds true, at least in my humble opinion. (You may disagree, of course). For any community to be a community, it must be held together, like a jigsaw puzzle; and when anyone, any piece of that community is not present, it is less of a community. And when each one is tied to others who are tied to others, the stronger that community. In any community to which we belong, therefore, we are all parts of the puzzle, analogously speaking, but, nevertheless, true.

Just as we can image community as a jigsaw puzzle, so, I believe, we can image sin as a brick wall. Image it this way: the world is one solid brick wall and each one of us is a brick in the wall; and, contrary to what Pink Floyd thinks and sings, we are more than “just another brick in the wall.” We are a very important and vital brick in the wall no matter where in that wall/world we find ourselves at any moment in time.

The problem, of course, both when it comes to life itself and, in this instance, sin, we hardly ever understand just how important and vital a brick in the wall each one of us is. That’s the first image: each one of us as a brick in the wall we call the world. Now imagine removing any brick from that wall, any brick anywhere. What happens to that wall? It becomes weaker. It becomes weakest at the point from where the brick was removed. But the whole wall becomes weaker, even at the furthest ends of the wall. It’s sort of a domino effect, to use another analogy.

That’s what sin is like. Sin is selfishness. It is doing what we know will hurt others and even hurt ourselves even if we do not perceive or believe that to be the truth. But it is indeed the truth. The reason why community is weakened is that when we sin, we pull ourselves out of the community and go it and do it our way, a way that is contrary to the health and life of that community.

Whenever we commit a crime, for instance, we hurt the community. We weaken the wall. It happens automatically whether we intended it or not. Not all sins are crimes, of course. But all sins are hurtful. They break down relationships with those around us. They weaken community and they weaken the wall – even to the furthest ends of the wall. For instance, whenever we individually waste resources, or whenever we as small parts of the wall waste resources, others at other parts of the wall (in other words, our world) are affected and affected adversely. We can feed the world on the food we waste.

The world has always been a village: another analogy.  It is even more so today.  None of us, individually or collectively, must ever forget or take for granted how vital we are to the life of the rest of the wall.  We do so, are doing so, at our own and the wall’s peril.