To Err is Human

The incarnation of God in the man Jesus convinces me that God really likes humans and wants us to be truly human (which includes the glory and the limitations implicit in being human).

As a college professor in an evangelical missionary school situated in the holiness movement, I enjoyed telling my stressed, fearful-of-failure students, "Take a deep breath; relax...most of what you will decide and do in life will be mistaken, and God is just fine with that!" 

This message was badly needed. Although we said that God is love and that it's "by grace alone you are saved", the stronger subliminal message received by most of us was that if you behaved perfectly, did enough, sacrificed enough, denied yourself enough, etc., then God would approve and like you.

Many decades and much unlearning/relearning later, I now approach all of this from a different posture, aware that my God-given humanity and the God-given humanity of those around me is fraught with limitations and error. And that is not a bad thing!

In an age of being bombarded with endless close-ended opinions about what is "right" and "wrong", it's easy to feel the pressure to try to make sure I'm "right".  But there is a comfort in realizing that I can never get it right, because 'to err is human'; or as the apostle Paul put it: "we see through a glass indirectly...we see in part..." Consequently we are making choices constantly without really having enough information or wisdom to be sure it's a 'correct' choice. Since this limitation is one of the beauties of being human, why not accept and enjoy it and come out from under the impossible burden of trying to be gods?? (I believe Jesus was happy to be fully human with all its limitations and invited us to be under that easy yoke with him.)

So what about the daily decisions we have to make about all kinds of issues?? Do they not matter at all? Should we not make any attempt at living well in our world?

I propose that if we accept that there are limitations to our knowledge, then we must accept that we take actions daily on high risk that we will be mistaken; we cannot escape ignorance and mistakes, hard as we try. However, we can make a choice about how we will err.

For example: giving to those in need...I've been questioned about freely handing cash to someone on the street asking for help. I don't know that person's situation or if they will use it in a wise way; but knowing that whatever I do is a risk in error (either the error of giving to questionable use, or the error of withholding from genuine need), I have decided that I will err on the side of giving. I have also decided to err on the side of inclusion of those who are labeled 'sinners' by religious systems rather than on the side of exclusion, and to err on the side of compassion/mercy rather than on the side of judgment. 

Why? Because Jesus, who I claim to follow, was fully human with the ignorance and limitations of being human and he lived in this way (from what I can gather by reading his story).

There are few cases in our lifetime that we are close enough to and have enough intimate knowledge and understanding about that we can approach in a more nuanced way, but for the bulk of decisions I have to make over a lifetime, the default position of an open heart and open mind is a place of peace and joy and even carefreeness about the myriad life decisions we make.

"Faith is risk with a direction, and the direction I want to give myself to existentially is this: the (Creator) of the universe knows each of our names and cares and desires the flourishing of the whole, despite the fact that what God has to work with is people who don't know what they are doing. (Lk.23:34)"  -Tripp Fuller