It’s tempting to think of shame as a bad thing. To understand how to deal with it, let’s look at our First Pair, Adam and Eve, the prototype of human action, inaction and reaction. In Genesis 3 right after the eating of the forbidden fruit, both Adam and Eve hid themselves. Hiding is a symbol of shame as well as fear.
God says to them, “Where are you?” Not because He didn’t know where they were. But did they know where they were now? Shame tells us where we are. We are the ones who need the information. All revelation, all change, all improvement starts with knowing who and where we are. The Bible specifically says they were hiding from God.
People can do the “hiding thing” very well- beards and makeup are inner symbols of shame, piles of workload, behind other people (and blaming them), behind bad leaders in government or in business, and the best hiding people do is behind piles of money. The Bible says money is a defense. (Ecclesiastes 7:12)
That helps to explain the hiding phenomenon of atheism/agnosticism which has become so prevalent in today’s society. If you have the option of saying that God does not exist, you also have no reason to hide. But Romans 12:3 says God has already given to each person a measure of faith, a large enough measure to know at the very least that He exists. So it takes a deliberate act of the will to say God does not exist. (2 Peter 3:5) The results is a “defiled conscience” )Titus 1:15.)
Eternal Change
But our First Pair respond by saying they are naked. The very fact that Adam and Eve knew they were naked and hid indicates that their conscience is active. Interestingly enough, they reacted on the basis of the outside, being naked, but what had happened was that they had changed on the inside. They now were no longer covered with the glory of God, sin had taken over and their eternal condition and future was in jeopardy.
The very opposite are the actions of Gay Pride Days and public displays of sexual deviance, of street prostitutes whose clothing if nothing else gives away their profession, and of criminals who flaunt their hatred of authority and kill police and other officials at will. This applies also to the Islamist extremists who rape, murder, steal and vandalize mostly in foreign countries like Germany, England, Italy, Greece, France especially, Finland and Sweden. They have in addition promised to bring it to America. The Bible says to have nothing to do with evil like this (2 Timothy 3:5) so the smart nations are closing their borders. The Bible tells us to turn them away.
Shamelessness is visual proof that these people have rejected God in their lives. Muslims are right in calling Islam a religion; it is an anti-God religion by its very beliefs and actions. The Bible warned that we would see the fruit of men’s evil minds in their persons and now it is coming to public pass on TV and every other medium.
A living Conscience
But what if you feel shame? Rejoice, it means your conscience is still alive and in tact. Don’t do what Adam and Eve did; they both blamed something else. Adam blamed God and Eve; Eve blamed the snake. The snake didn’t blame anyone because he (it) was pretty pleased with what he had done. Evil always rejoices when it wins a point.
Fortunately evil does not win the war. God has made it clear that He will win this fight against evil both inside man and inside societies. For you personally He does it through forgiveness. Forgive everyone you know who has harmed you. Then ask God to forgive you, and go the extra mile and forgive yourself. No, no excuses. Just say I did it. Then ask God to show you in your heart that you are forgiven.
Other people may not forgive you, but never mind, you are on the right side of heaven.
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2 Responses
I always find some good reminders and new thoughts to consider in your blogs, and often find some points th..at would be really good for dialogue — and I look forward to that. I really miss the lengthy and deeper conversations (as in college days) that are more dialogue than debate, that are really good for enlightening all involved rather than driving people apart. And I love it when a good discussion can change my mind and help me to see and to grow (or shrink) in good ways even when we disagree on some points or the words we are using have different meanings. I figure we are all “works in progress” as long as we live on this planet. I appreciate your tenacious work.
Thank you for your always relevant comments. You and I could probably go on at length on any topic although I have a didactic streak sometimes. We could have a ball discussing all the ways people hide. I bet there are dozens of them.