Neighbor 1: (listing website for finding Registered Sex Offenders) – make sure you check this and be careful where you let your children play.

 

Neighbor 2: I never know what to do with those lists… seeing as I’m all out of pitchforks.

Self Portrait - 008 - 2010As a parent, I want to be alert and diligent… do I need a registry to help me? Does the registry actually help? I believe in accountability and think it’s an important element missing in a society where the “right to privacy” is taken to extremes. Everyone should be able to live without looking over their shoulder in constant fear of being mislabeled and misjudged; but there has to be a balance. There needs to be some level of reasonable transparency because we all desperately need accountability. The balance is tricky and we certainly haven’t solved it (nor do I have any easy answers), but it’s an important dialog that isn’t happening. Privacy advocates scream at every thing that even smacks of potential intrusion and security advocates scream every time they think civil liberties should take a back seat to “security.”

So… it’s either everybody wears a mask where you control who sees your face (and in what context) or we start handing out pitchforks? Of course not… but how do we manage the balance?

This is especially problematic in the American Christian Church. We’ve been raised in a privacy culture (for good reasons), but do we go too far? Our faith challenges us to eliminate sin and utilize the aid of our fellow brethren in this ever-present battle. Truth be told, I don’t trust most of the believers I’ve encountered over the years to know the intimate details of my own personal horrors because many of them have proven that they’re quick to use the information against me or use it to justify their own sin rather than use it as a help for us both to battle our personal sin together and to draw us closer to Christ.

So, how do we balance this in life if we, the Church, are apparently just as incapable of creating the balance? Sin cannot be tolerated, but we all commit it. We must not be judgmental, but we all stand condemned but for Christ’s sacrifice. We must fight sin, but it will be with us to the end.

There is but one answer: the Spirit of God at work in our hearts. We have to begin, each of us, personally, to seek the aid of our brothers and sisters in our battle against sin through confession and repentance and, yes, some transparency in our daily lives. We must also, each of us, commit to recognize that sin exists in each of us and our goal should be to help fight it – not judge the one who has committed it. Truth be told, for most of us, what people don’t know about what goes on in our heads is far, far worse than that “thing” we’re afraid to talk about.

Note: I missed yesterday. I was not feeling well… and, well, I didn’t have anything planned. I now realize step 2 of this daily writing commitment is to actually make a plan. Yeah. That would be a good idea.