Thread by @howertonjosh

“We often get sins and wounds confused.

Sins are rebellious places in our heart that need repentance.
Wounds are tender places in our heart that need healing.

You can’t repent of wounds.
And you can’t get therapy for sins.”

–– Darrin Patrick

Christian fundamentalism pushes everything into the sin category.

Modern secularism pushes everything into the wounds category.

Both far too simplistic to address what's going on.

And this doesn't even factor in the reality of spiritual warfare.

You can't "cast out" the flesh.
You can't disciple a demon.

The Bible is the worldview that addresses the full complexity of human personhood.

PRESBYTERIANS: "You need discipleship"
CHARISMATICS: "You need deliverance"

THE BIBLE: "Yep"

I think I accidentally just wrote a sermon.

One further thought, re: sins & wounds

When someone blows up their life in "moral failure" (hate that term), both sins and wounds are at work. Think in terms of WANT and WILLING...

Wounds are prolly what made them WANT to do what they did. The pain of a life wound was so great they WANTED to have the affair, give themselves to the addiction, etc to escape the pain.

Sin is the part of them that made them WILLING to do what they did –– cross a God-given boundary.

Loving discipleship requires us to address both. Confronting what made them WILLING to cross the boundary without helping them heal what made them WANT to is accidental cruelty.