Standing in Line at the Sinners’ Hospital
I think one of the biggest barriers between Christianity and non-believers is the perception of the latter that Christianity is for people who are virtuous, or believe that they are virtuous. The opposite is true, of course. Yes, there are Christians who are self-righteous and who regard their membership in a Christian communion as a component of their right to feel superior to the unchurched. But nobody can be the least bit acquainted with the New Testament and fail to realize that such an attitude is condemned in no uncertain terms by Christ himself.
I’ve known a number of people over the years who seemed to be pretty good by nature. Unless they were hiding dark secrets, they appeared to find it relatively easy to behave well. And I don’t think there was any particular consistency or pattern as to whether they were Christians; a lot of them were atheists or agnostics. Logically, atheism leads very clearly to the negation of moral principles as principles, but most atheists don’t follow that implication of their beliefs. Some in fact seem to take a sort of pleasure in proving that they can be good without believing that their ideas of what is good, and their reasons for keeping to it, come from anywhere but their own instincts.
But just as the person whom doctors have saved from certain death is likely to be the one who most appreciates the medical profession, it is the sinner who most appreciates the Church. One who has sinned and received forgiveness has a sense of gratitude and relief that isn’t shared by anyone, Christian or not, who doesn’t think he’s done anything much for which he needs to be forgiven.
There’s a line that divides Christians from non-Christians, obviously. But there’s another line that runs perpendicular to that one, and divides those who are conscious of their sins from those who are not, whether they are inside or outside of the Church, so that you have a square divided into four quadrants: for convenience, we could call them Christian non-sinners, Christian sinners, non-Christian non-sinners, and non-Christian sinners. (I’m of course not literally calling anyone a non-sinner, for there is no such thing among ordinary human beings, but referring to the way they see themselves and their situation.) Christian non-sinners may feel that they have more in common with non-Christian non-sinners, and likewise for Christian sinners and non-Christian sinners.
That’s certainly true for me. I’m definitely in the Christian sinners quadrant, and I feel closer to non-Christian-sinners than to Christian non-sinners. It’s as if they and I are afflicted with the same disease, but I’ve somehow managed to find the hospital where it can be treated, and eventually cured. I don’t feel superior to them; I just feel lucky. I think this is part of the reason why so much of the art that I like deals, implicitly or explicitly, with the consciousness of sin and of God’s absence.
When I speak of the consciousness of sin for a non-Christian, I’m aware that it may not be explicit in the way that it is for a Christian. I’m speaking of people who are oppressed by their own failings, even if they don’t use the word “sin,” and feel powerless to solve the problem on their own. To use the disease metaphor again: they are conscious that something is terribly wrong with them, but they have not received the diagnosis or learned that there is hope for a cure.
Yesterday I went to confession and met some friends, John and Rose and their two daughters, standing in line ahead of me. “This is the place where sinners meet,” said John, and we laughed because it was true. And it was true not only of the confessional but for our little parish church in general, and for the Catholic Church as a whole, and for all the Christian denominations. Many or most Christians have heard the observation that “The Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum for saints.” (I’ve heard it attributed to Chesterton, but in looking for the source online I find that it’s most often credited to a 19th century Methodist, L. L. Nash.) I wish I could meet more of my fellow sinners there.
And Jesus answering said unto them, They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. –Luke 5:31
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