This post is building upon my previous article “Mad Men, Hemingway, and the futility of sin“. You can get to that post by clicking here.
This week, in the midst of thinking about the TV series Mad Men in general, and the main character, Don Draper specifically, I came upon Proverbs 7 in the Bible. After reading Proverbs 7 today, I was hit by the cut and dry nature of sin and it’s personally destructive consequences. Proverbs 7 really does read like a transcript for the aforementioned TV series, Mad Men.
This passage in Proverbs is a powerful overview of sin at the point of entry. After both my own personal pilgrimage in life and also in my experience of walking through life with many others of all stages and ages, this passage is amazingly insightful.
21 With much seductive speech she persuades him; with her smooth talk she compels him.22 All at once he follows her, as an ox goes to the slaughter, or as a stag is caught fast23 till an arrow pierces its liver; as a bird rushes into a snare; he does not know that it will cost him his life.
Here are my thoughts:
Allure of sin (as told in this Proverb . . . and observed in Mad Men and all of life):
- Externally attractive (Proverbs 7:10) – We never see the insidious underbelly of sin prior to entering into it. We only see the external beauty. We see the shine. We see the long, beautiful hair, but we choose to ignore
the poor character. We see the slick paint job and powerful engine, but we overlook the debt that buying the car will soon incur us. We yearn for the excitement of the moment, while choosing to be blissfully ignorant of the pain that our decision will cause loved ones (and ourselves).
- Enticing (Proverbs 7:13, 21) – Sin is almost always enticing. It has a magnetic pull. We can resist it, but not without a deep, entrenched fight. In Proverbs 7, we see the man innocently (naively) walking by the woman, but being beckoned by her voice of sin. It is alluring. It is “compelling”. Isn’t life just like this? We know what we should do. We even know that certain decisions which tempt us are terrible. Yet we often push through our conscience and make them anyway.
- Promises fulfillment (Proverbs 7:18) – Sin ALWAYS promises big payoffs for us and ALWAYS woefully under delivers. It promises excitement and brings pain. It promises self-promotion and ends in self-destruction.
- Often entered into casually (Proverbs 7:22) – As is the case in this Proverb, we often move into sin with little to no thought of the end game. We see it. We like it. We enter it. Our choices have consequences. Our head know this, yet our heart is easily pulled astray by the enticement, attractiveness, and fulfillment that sin portrays and promises.
Realities of sin (as told in this Proverb . . . and as demonstrated in Mad Men and all of life):
- Trapping (Proverbs 7:22-23) – We enter into sin casually, but are almost instantly trapped. From the outside looking in, we feel it will be free of consequence. No one will notice. No one will care. No one will be hurt. We are wrong. Sin always has consequences.
- Enslaving (Proverbs 7:22-23) – No one wants to become addicted to something. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. Pornography. Food. Yet we do and we do so often. Just look at the numbers in America of pornography sites visited each day. Just look at the number of people chemically dependent. Do you think anyone as a child dreams of being an alcoholic? A porn addict? An adulterer? Yet it happens time and time again.
- Ends in destruction (Proverbs 7:25-27) – This Proverb begins with the allure and enticement of sin. It ends with the inevitable destruction of sin. Sin entices, allures, and promises fulfillment, yet it ends with entrapment, enslavement, and destruction.
We are a people of self-induced enslavement. We choose the enticing route of temporary satisfaction, assuming that we can beat the system. We can indulge without consequence.
What was spoken of in Proverbs 3,000 years ago is as relevant today as it was back then. Sin promises fulfillment and never delivers. To the contrary, it ALWAYS delivers in the area of destruction.
Don Draper embodies this. Life attests to this. Proverbs teaches this. Let’s remind ourselves of this daily.
Well – written and thought- provoking, John. So much in life comes down to choices, but is addiction to drugs and alcohol an illness or a sin? Perhaps, just perhaps, life is not always black or white, but gray and complicated. Maybe choosing not to do what it takes to remain sober is where sin enters the picture. I don’t know. Just thinking….!
Maggie
Hey Mrs. Phillips, thanks for the feedback. I completely agree with addiction being an illness. If you have seen Mad Man, they are clearly dealing with various types of addictions on a regular basis. However, I think that Proverb 7 is more speaking about the first point of entry into a particular sin. That is more what I am talking about in this article. Sorry that I was not more clear. Addiction is a much less clear situation. Thanks for your thoughts!
I might actually go further and say that yes, chemical/physical addictions are still sins and aren’t a grey area in the least. You could maybe say that someone who is chemically addicted to heroin still has choice, but for the sake of argument I’m going to say that there is no choice in the matter and it truly is a 100% pure physical addiction (even though I know that isn’t exactly the case).
I don’t think a sin is limited to situations where humans have a choice in the matter. As human beings, every single one of us is born sinful, and it isn’t anything that we have done, but because of the fall of man. Humanity is sinful. Even when I go through an entire day not lusting, not lying, being entirely selfless, and obeying every commandment I can think of, I am still a sinful person, and that has absolutely nothing to do with the choices I made. It is who I am (though I have also been justified and been made completely righteous through Christ, but I’m trying not to complicate things too much).
I would say that for someone who is addicted, their initial sins were very much by choice and the consequences can be seen in the addiction, which is in itself a more forced continuation of the sin.
The more I continue to write, the more I feel the need for better examples and realize that I really don’t fully understand the issue at hand, but the bottom line is that I would highly go against the idea of saying that someone who is addicted to cocaine/alcohol/pornography is no longer sinning because it has entered the realm of addiction. Perhaps the person is no longer sinning by choice, but they are still sinning, just as all of us are sinful even when we choose to do good.
Of course, the way we deal with and communicate with a brother or sister who is actively choosing to sin versus a brother or sister who is addicted to sin should be completely different. It’s a much more delicate situation that often times needs medical treatment. I’m concerned that I’ve perhaps sounded callous towards those with addictions, and that isn’t my intention. A sin by choice and a sin not by choice like addiction, are both still sins, but practically speaking should dealt with VERY different ways.
Andrew, thanks for your thoughts. . . lots to think over and process in this.
Andrew, I struggle with the issues surrounding alcohol and drug addictions. Mostly, I consider those to be in a disease category. I watched a dearly loved sister fight the fight for so long. She was not a “bad” person–just very sick. As for sexual perversion and perverts, I clearly see those actions and people as evil.Those I can definitely put in a black and white column.
As for me being a sinful person, oh yes. I know God must be sick and tired of me asking for forgiveness every single day. He probably wonders if I will ever learn.
Maggie
I agree that those things should definitely be put in the disease category. All I’m saying is that addictions that are classified as diseases are not exempt of being sin just because they have the disease label. If I have MS, or Crohn’s Disease, or something else, it might physically cause me so much pain or discomfort that I act a certain way or do certain things differently that I wouldn’t have done were it not for the disease. Those things that I do would still be sins, and it would be mistaken of me to say that they are not sins just because it is a disease. I suppose my argument is that while alcoholism is a disease and not a sin, an alcoholic who gets completely drunk is still sinning, just as much as a non-alcoholic who gets drunk is sinning, despite the fact that one of them has a disease and another does not.
Perhaps I’m moving into the realm of semantics as opposed to focusing on the actual problems at hand. Thankfully, God is not a God that is chiefly concerned with whether someone is “good” or “bad,” or whether I sinned 10 minutes ago or didn’t. He does care, but it’s far more about His love towards us and our relationship with Him than it is whether something should be called a sin or not. I’m not the ultimate judge or the maker of rules, and God may be looking at what I’ve said about how certain sins are defined and laughing at the ridiculousness of it. Only He is the one who knows such things and can define such things. I just have the type of personality that wants everything to be clarified, and so on some level I enjoy trying to dig down deep and define these types of things.
Once again, I recognize that in defining things like this, I may be acting or sounding insensitive. That’s not my desire. In a real world situation where someone has an issue or a disease or addiction, defining things like I’m doing is likely one of the least helpful things that can be done to help a person. However, I find it helpful to myself, as if I don’t have something strongly defined, I find I can come up with completely bizarre excuses for why it is still okay that I’m sinning, and that’s one of the last things I want to do =P
Public Radio sends me The Writer’s Almanac, online, and Monday’s program featured a poem by James Cummins, “Reading Hemingway”. I won’t type it all.
Reading Hemingway makes me so hungry,
for jambon, cheeses, and a dry white wine,
Cold, of course, very cold. And very dry.
Reading Hemingway makes some folks angry;
the hip drinking, the bitter pantomime.
But reading Hemingway makes me hungry
for the good life, the sun, the fish, the sky:
blue air, white water, dinner on the line…
Had it down cold he did. And dry. Real dry.
But Papa had it all, the brio, the Brie:
clear-eyed, tight-lipped, advancing on a stein…
Reading Hemingway makes me so hungry.
~~~~~~~~
Well, we know that Papa Hemingway did not have it all. He did not have a good life, but he surely could write. John’s premise that “sin is destructive and will always have tragic ends” holds true however sin is defined.Your comments, Andrew, have created much thought and I thank you for the exchange. I’m left with more questions than answers, but one thing I do know for sure is that Jesus loves me and I love Him and I’m eternally grateful for His gift of forgiveness.
Mrs. Phillips and Andrew, thanks for the dialogue. Fun to see you guys talk via this avenue. Hemingway was SUCH a talented writer. Definitely one of the best ever, in my mind. I do hate that he lived such a wrecklessly unfullfilled life, yet not at all surprising given his philosophical outlook.
You are right, Mrs. Phillips (and Andrew), it ultimately comes down to Christ’s love and Him being the ULTIMATE answer to all sin in our lives. Thankfully His grace is above and beyond all sin, addiction, and sicknesses of all kind.
excellent read.
Thanks, Greg. . . I’m off to sleep, but look forward to catching up when you can. Dude, we have a ROUGH one today. Probably second only to the Murph. Also, they finally made us pay our dues.
Excellent breakdown of the chapter. Proverbs is often so straightforward and concise that it is easy to read it too fast. One other thing to add – the urge to remember and the danger of forgetting. The allure of sin is really quite nice, yet it is working to distract us from remembering the truer beauty of God’s promises and provision. The reality of sin in the end is very ugly, yet it is easy to forget that reality. This is probably why the first 5 verses of Proverbs 7 focuses repeatedly on remembering and inscribing the rest of the chapter.
Tommy, thanks for chiming in. Enjoyed your points here.
Great insights. Thanks.
Thanks Jim. . . I’m still hurting over the Braves.