So I have been thinking about my encounter with my dad. He has done horrible horrible things to me. The man has never been there for me when I needed him, and has no real way of showing love to anyone that I am aware of, and yet I did as he asked. I drove him to YMCA, no questions asked. But why? Why not just say "no"? Why not tell him off and say "You've never been a father to me and therefore I cannot be a daughter to you!" Well, I imagined what it would have been like to say that to him after dropping him off yesterday, and I felt guilt just thinking about it. I thought, that might just crush him. What if he stopped trying after that? What if he gave up living because my words made him realize he had no one. I couldn't do that to him. I couldn't be the destroyer of his hope.
So then I thought about it on a bigger scale. I have a hard time being mean to anyone. I don't have a hard time thinking mean thoughts or thinking negatively of people I do not get along with, but I have a bugger of a time letting that person catch on to my real feelings. As I thought about it, I realized there are probably a lot of people out there who do the same thing. They don't like people and wish to say so to them or do mean things, but their humanity stops them. Humanity or their faith or their fear. Something stops them. Does it really make us better people to think it and not do it? Jesus said the thought is sin. I mean, I am not saying we should all do what we think, but I am just asking, as christians or believers of some faith, "if the thought is as bad as the action, why do we take comfort in the fact that we only think it and not do it?"
4 comments:
I think Aquinas would say that it is because to engage in the act includes the extra step that is missing in thinking the thought -- a movement of the will. Often times when we think mean things, that is a result of the passions, which he says are animalistic and amoral. It is only when we choose to act or not to act, to end or to perpetuate the mean thoughts, that we are engaging our will/intellects, and in his opinion, it is only that for which we can be held accountable.
I read this, giggled and smiled. I love you, Jennifer Atwood.
Now, on to the point.
Yes, Aquinas would say this, and I better understood that when working with you on that script thing, but that isn't what Jesus said. So I am asking the question in context of that.
I don't think what Aquinas is saying contradicts what Jesus was saying. I think insomuch as Jesus doesn't want us to ever be mean to anybody, it makes him sad when we are, whether it is in thought or deed, and that's what he was saying about thinking the sin is the same as sinning, but I still think he would acknowledge the difference between the two. It's like the difference between types of sin. Yes, they are all equal insomuch as they are all sins, but they are not equal insomuch as they differ by degree (venial vs. mortal, etc.). Same type of thing here. I'm not saying that we should feel happy when we think mean things about people, because we should be striving not to perpetuate those sorts of thoughts (which is an act/movement of the will), but I do think that it is better still not to act on those thoughts.
I by no means think we should act on the thoughts. I wish I could eliminate them from my mind.
I understand what you are saying, but sometimes I wonder... sometimes I wonder if we come up with that explanation because it is easier for us to handle than the thought of having to try and eliminating that type of thought from our minds. Because as far as I know, Jesus never went on to explain it in that way. I'm not saying I am right or wrong, I am saying that I wonder and think about it. I'm saying I just don't know.
Jesus was sinless. Jesus didn't think those thoughts about anyone--even the men that went on to betray and kill him. If we are to be like him, we need to eliminate those thoughts. So, we shouldn't take comfort in the idea that "well there only just thoughts". We need to treat the thoughts as a negative that also needs eliminating. Do you see what I am saying?
Post a Comment