As a minister in the Christian faith, I believe that the sin of adultery is no greater than other sins in the sight of God. A painstaking examination of the Bible’s specific teachings on adultery and grace has also led me to believe that to withhold grace and forgiveness from people guilty of adultery (or for persons guilty of adultery to withhold grace and forgiveness from themselves) constitutes a wrong equal in its severity to that of adulterer. As an active participant in interfaith work and inter-religious cooperation, however, I would not presume to suggest how leaders in other faith traditions should speak to this issue.
All too often, institutions of religion, notably local churches—ostensibly dispensaries of grace—compound the problems and intensify the trauma that plague people who have committed adultery. Ministers preach biblical grace, but practice vengeful judgment. Congregations invite “any and all” people to experience God’s forgiveness, but turn away from their fellowships individuals guilty of “morals” charges. The church tends to treat adultery as a sin so terrible that applying grace to it is unimaginable, thus demonstrating a scandalous misunderstanding of sin, adultery, and grace.
After years of counseling individuals struggling with this issue, I wrote a book about it: "Adultery and Grace: The Ultimate Scandal" (Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996). In the book, you will find one person’s attempt to call a halt to the graceless thought and behavior that so frequently attack both the subject of adultery and the persons guilty of this sin. I want to encourage people locked in a prison of guilt to exit this bondage by walking through the door to freedom that God has already opened to them. My hope is that the same material that helps individuals who wrestle with the guilt of adultery will also enable others to resign from their self-appointed positions as judges and jurors eager to mete out punishment and to take up the divinely commissioned work of grace as agents of redemption.
If you consider adultery scandalous, wait till you really understand grace!
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