Danny ChaiIt’s fascinating to me how a child’s mind works. So Abby now associates any large number of things with ten. If there are ever lots of things together, when you ask her how many there are, she says ten. But she also knows how to count. Today as she was climbing some steps, I noticed her counting along as she stepped. And when she got to nine, she repeated nine a few times, so that on the last step she could say “ten”. Another time, after she got to nine, she went back to a random number. She did this a few times, again so that when she got to the last step, she could say “ten”. It’s fascinating that that’s how she reconciles her counting and understanding of ten.
Another weird thing: Jieun has managed to teach her to count to ten in English, Korean, and Spanish. The odd thing is, in every one of those languages, she consistently skips six. How does that happen? We can’t explain it.
So lately I’ve been reconsidering the point of accountability. I’d say my previous view was, it’s a fallacy to believe that we can conquer sin on our own; we are intended to live out our faith in community. Accountability acknowledges that social aspect, that we can only grow through community. So we have accountability to spur each other on to holiness, as iron sharpens iron.
What I do think that’s important, what I’m reconsidering is whether that’s the point. I read this article about Pope Benedict XVI where he answers a child’s question on why the Church insists on regular confession:
It’s very helpful to confess with a certain regularity. It is true: our sins are always the same, but we clean our homes, our rooms, at least once a week, even if the dirt is always the same… Otherwise the dirt might not be seen, but it builds up. Something similar can be said about the soul, about me: if I never go to confession, my soul is neglected and in the end I’m always pleased with myself and no longer understand that I must work hard to improve…”
I’ve been chewing on that for a while. Even though Protestants believe in grace, I think a lot of times we still approach Christianity with a self-help mentality. Especially so with accountability, which can be viewed as a way to get “better”.
I’m thinking now that the greater purpose of accountability is just to keep us aware of our sin, that we might be reminded to lean on God more. In the process we become more like Jesus. But it’s more important that we be aware of our sin. That suggests that the honesty aspect of accountability is much more important than actually overcoming our sin. It might be disheartening to struggle with the same sins every single week. But that’s kind of the point. We need to be reminded of that, so that we are reminded that we need Jesus.
I’m not fully settled on that, but that’s my current theory. So I’m taking the approach now that the most important part of accountability is not overcoming my sin but being aware of it.
Speaking of the current Pope, he gets a lot of criticism; this article in Newsweek is typical. But personally, I really love him. Partly because he really loves children and gives great answers to their questions like the one above. But for other reasons as well.
For one, I really respect how he takes a stand for truth. I don’t jive with Catholic theology, but I respect that he’s been so vocal about there being just one truth and defending that. I went to a Jesuit high school, and was shocked at how liberal the theology there was. They taught relativism in religious studies, literally saying that there are many paths to truth, and that Jesus is but one way. In a Catholic religious studies class. For the life of me, I can’t understand why someone who honestly believed this would ever become a priest; I can’t even understand why they would be a Catholic. Relativism has been infecting Catholicism, and even religion in general, and it’s refreshing to see the Pope taking a stand against it.
I also respect how he’s bold in challenging radical Islam. He got a lot of flak for that speech in ’06 where he criticized some Muslims belief that it is acceptable to convert others by force. I respect it. And since that controversy, he’s gotten dialogue going with more reform-minded Muslim leaders. It’s uncouth nowadays to show “disrespect” to other groups, but to not speak out against violence is just cowardly, not respectful. There is a right and wrong, and people need to worry more about doing right than about being non-offensive.
So yeah, Pope Benedict XVI. Big fan.