Wholly A Sin
To clarify further, I think loneliness is wholly a sin no matter how you dice it up, because it dishonors God. To say you are lonely dishonors God, because God "is everywhere present and fills all things, treasury of blessings and Giver of life." He is all Good. To wallow in loneliness and despair is to not recognize God's presence and is to deny hope in Him. Loneliness is blasphemy.
Look to the hermits. A hermit is never alone truly, because he is in the presence of God. A good hermit is never lonely and never despairs. So if you despair in loneliness, know it is sin that makes you feel this way. God does not desire us to be lonely. He created the whole universe as a sign that we are not alone. Yet, if you feel lonely, this is an affect of the fall.
"And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof" (Gen 2:18-19).
I know it is hard to swallow this pill in your isolated and dark feelings, but really this should bring you hope that God is there to lift you up and love you.
To forgive is a giving action. I give you something, and that is my love and pardon from transgression. When God pardons us, He also gives us something. His love. We are to do the same.
Psalm 130
Out of the depths I have cried to You, O Lord.
Lord, hear my voice!
Let Your ears be attentive
To the voice of my supplications.
If You, Lord, should mark iniquities,
O Lord, who could stand?
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.
I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait,
And in His word do I hope.
My soul waits for the Lord
More than the watchmen for the morning;
Indeed, more than the watchmen for the morning.
O Israel, hope in the Lord;
For with the Lord there is lovingkindness,
And with Him is abundant redemption.
And He will redeem Israel
From all his iniquities.
4 comments:
hmmmm. Yes, a hard pill to swallow indeed. It's so clear when you are not experiencing the moment. Loneliness IS a lie. But I do think there are other factors. Sometimes I think you can feel lonely in a marriage (if you and your spouse disagree on something) or in your country, or in with your peers. Especially if you feel like you are standing up for something and no one else is. Exactly what Jesus and a minority of his followers did! I bet the disciples felt lonely sometimes.
But yes, God is ALWAYS with us, so there is no reason to feel complete abandonment. But since we are not in God's presence in Glory yet, in our human nature it is hard to keep Him always in our mind's eye. Even Mother Teresa felt profound loneliness. But she never did despair. I guess that's the difference between it being a sin or not? I know despair is definitely a sin, as it is exactly what the devil wants us to do.
While I admire the thought that God is always with us and therefore we should not be lonely, I have a few problems with your labeling of loneliness as a sin.
First: to label a feeling as a sin is to label most temptation as sin. Feelings can happen without our volition, it is the act of the will that we make in response to those feelings that determines the morality of our actions.
Second: I believe there are situations in which people lose control over their emotions in ways that do not necessarily imply sin. Postpartum depression might be one example. There are many situations in which we identify someone as sick, not sinful, when this loss of control occurs.
Third: I think this is in opposition to the experiences of several people we identify as saints. Think of people who have experienced a "dark night of the soul" such as St. John of the Cross or Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. These people felt loneliness, and expressed an inability to sense Gods presence. They did not break faith with or belief in God, but they experienced loneliness.
So I just wanted to put this out there because I think this post has the potential to discourage people who are struggling to live a Godly life, but still experience negative feelings such as loneliness and depression.
May God bless your family and your ministry through this blog.
I suppose this demands a response.
My point is that if humanity had not suffered the Fall, we should never have ever suffered loneliness. Is that not an indication in itself that loneliness is the affect of sin and that which causes this feeling is also sinful. Is this not all a part of the curse upon humanity.
One should question the causes of loneliness. Are any of the causes sinful? I can think of no instances in which the cause of this "feeling" is not sin. Even in a hormonal state one can make a choice between right and wrong, though it may be made more difficult to choose rightly. The one great things about humanity is that we have a will that can choose against our appetites. I may WANT to blame my feelings on others, however the truth is I am in a hormonal state which is causing me to have irrational thoughts--like that I am isolated and lonely. I have to make a choice whether to feed my loneliness or reconcile it. Which is why I may pray to God to release me from such ugly thoughts and also may seek medical attention.
I do not think that loneliness and "the dark night of the soul" are the same thing. Not feeling God's presence does not equal loneliness. These saints were still able to understand that God was present via His signs without "feeling" Him. And not being able to feel His presence is a very painful experience.
That all I have time for at the moment.
I also want to add that I do not view this blog as some sort of ministry as in I am trying to purport some expert knowledge. I view this blog as a public diary.
It's my place for friends and family to catch up with me. I do not wish to confuse anyone that I think I am running a ministry. Though, I do think of it as a witness to my OWN faith. However, I do realize this is public to anyone and I try to keep that in mind.
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