Sins of commission and omission

Leave it to a heathen like me to think about "sinning."

I certainly don't accept the traditional Christian view that people are by nature wicked and sinful, or that there is such a thing as "original sin." Having said that, I also know that people are certainly capable of doing things which are not nice--that would be my preferred down-to-earth post-modern reading of the gospel.

When it comes to sinning, there are sins of commission--something that you did do--and sins of omission--something that you didn't. Like anyone else, I have my sins of commission--something I overtly did that I look back on with regret. You know, the mean-spirited remark, the ill-chosen word, the hostile action. The best I can say is that I have a limited number of those types of unpleasant memories. In 21st century terms, I could put most of my life on youTube and be OK with it.

That's the good news. The bad news is that I am haunted by all of those times when I had an opportunity to do or say the right thing but did not. I deal with a vast array of sins of omission--moments when I had the chance to do something good but reacted with indifference. In those situations--way too numerous to mention--I have let others down, and let myself down as well. Sometimes it is just too tempting to retreat into one's own reality and ignore everything and everyone else. To some extent, such retreating is a way to preserve one's sanity, but it also reminds you of what could have or should have been done. Yes, my sins have been more sins of omission, but that doesn't really wash away the feeling of regret.

Some people set the bar pretty low--as long as they haven't killed anyone or robbed a liquor store, they regard themselves as virtuous. But once sins of omission are introduced, the bar gets a whole lot higher--and, sadly, virtually impossible to reach.