Orignial Sin or Original Blessing

I am so excited these days as my book "God is Plural: Sermons for an Emerging Church" arrived in my hands two days ago. The experience of holding my book in my hands for the first time, was as thrilling as holding my first child in my hands seventeen years ago. I had promised to myself that I will not write a book, until I had something unique to say, because I refused to add to the destruction of trees. Those who listened to my sermons urged me to put them in writing and after having have done that,I feel really good.

Today was my first outing with the book in hand to attend a palliative care seminar at Broward General Medical Center. I sat next to a registered nurse by the name of "Donna". I had a book in my folder which was transparent. She saw the cover - God is Plural - and was curious."I have never heard that expression before," she said. I urged her to peruse the book and in minutes, she wanted to buy a copy. I was thrilled.

Donna told me that she was especially touched by one line inside the book that said: "No child is born a sinner." She thought that was a "liberating message." All through her life, she had heard from preachers and teachers that we are born in sin.

How could any one look at an innocent baby and call him or her sinner? Original sin is a Christian dogma concocted by St.Augustine based on the fact that children are the products of sexual acts which he considered 'dirty and sinful.' Augustine who led a life of sexual promiscuity and fathered an illegitimate child prior to his conversion,must have been expressing his guilt in formulating the theory of original sin. I don't think that we have to be bound by Augustine's thought as a paradigm to determine our lives today. I belive that, we come into this world, with an original blessing. The fact that he enters a sinful world, does not make the child a sinner.

Attaching the sinner label to an innocent child on the day of her entrance into the world is an insult and injustice to that child. Let us say that we come into this world as a blessing and the purpose and goal of our life is to be a blessing for others.

What Happened to Character?

Last week 20/20 aired a one hour program interviewing Andrew Young, a trusted Aide to former North Carolina Senator and presidential candidate, John Edwards.It was a sad example of betrayal of trust I have seen on TV recently. The fact that it was not fantasy but reality TV, frightens me.

John Edwards is a flawed man, no question about it. He had an affair with a woman on his staff, Rielle Hunter and fathered her child. He was hormone driven and stupid when he did that, but he was a coward when he tried to hide it from his ailing wife, Elizabeth and the public. He went out of his way to orchestrate an elaborate hoax to hide the affair and the pregnancy from the public.

Enter Andrew Young and his wife. Andrew Young was star-struck by the young Senator that he went to work for him and became his most trusted aide. He was Edwards' alter ego for many years. He knew everything about John Edwards. That information was gathered in the context of a trusted relationship. To turn around and share that information with the public, both in print and on TV is just disgusting. If Andrew Young had any sliver of character left in him, he would not have dished dirty secrets about his boss to the public.

Andrew Young and his wife co-operated with John Edwards and his minions to perpetuate a lie on the public. He took money from them for that favor. Mr. Young and his wife lived in style in exotic locations carrying the 'baggage' of Edwards' sin for nine months. And when things did not work out for him the way he expected, he turned on his boss.

I am not excusing John Edwards for his lying and his cowardice, but I am chastising Andrew Young for his betrayal and hypocrisy.

Character is defined as "behaving in accordance with one's values, regardless of the circumstances." Andrew Young showed no character when he wrote the book about John Edwards and dished the dirt in public.

I don't see any redeeming value in sharing this information with the public at this time, except financial gain for Andrew Young. There is a Zen principle that before we speak, we should ask three questions: Is it true, is it necessary and is it kind?

What Andrew Young is saying may be true, but it is neither necessary nor kind.