Following in the footsteps of my last post, I want to turn to another perspective when living a moral life. While moral therapeutic deism causes one to make ethical decisions relying on an incredibly lazy nonchalant view of God, there is an equally disastrous view that some may choose to follow; that view is callled Pelegiansm. Pelegianism comes from Pelagius, a 4th-century heretic who believed that humanity did not inherit original sin from Adam and Eve, and therefore there was no need of supernatural aid in order to get to heaven. We can simply "pull ourselves up by our bootstraps," as the old saying goes, and achieve holiness through free will alone.
All By Myself?
What does this kind of thinking mean for the struggle against sin? It means that sin is merely human failure, and if we just try hard enough we can conquer our sins without guidance from Jesus or the Bible. Now, I don't know about you, but having the outcome of my eternal life rest solely on my shoulders and by my own merit is a scary thought. If I mess up, boom! A lake of fiery torment, all because I made the wrong decision. If I'm the only one in charge of determining where I spend eternity, I don't like those odds.
A Passive Jesus
Under the flaw of Pelegianism, the point of Jesus's life becomes murky as well. Pelagius believed that when it came to the moral life, Jesus is nothing more than a really good role model; not a savior or redeemer, just a role model. Oddly enough, this same view of Jesus is held by many non-Christians. Jesus is just "a really nice guy who said a lot of nice things. We all need to imitate Jesus." While I appreciate the sentiment, and I do agree that imitating the way Jesus acted is an honorable thing to do, watering Jesus down from someone who is both fully human and fully God, to just some really nice guy who taught us to love each other is doing a great disservice to both who Jesus is as well as the entire message of Christianity as a whole. The "role model" view of Christ means that his death on the cross did nothing, and that his resurrection was just a hoax meant to be a morale boost for his original followers.
Leaning on Jesus
A fuller view of Jesus is radically different. His miracles, parables and moral commands actually have weight to them now, because he's speaking with the authority of God himself. What's even better, especially for the present-day Christian, is that he is here to help us live a moral life and pursue holiness. He's not just a passive role model, but an active participant in our spiritual journeys. He can give us comfort and encouragement through the Holy Spirit, guidance through the Bible, (and if you're Catholic like me), grace through the Eucharist, Confession, and the other sacraments. So don't feel ashamed if you sin; instead run to Jesus instead of relying on your own strength. If Jesus needed Simon of Cyrene to help him carry the cross to Golgotha, there's nothing wrong with having Jesus help us stay on the straight and narrow path. If you're like me, you're gonna need all the help you can get.
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