Thursday, February 02, 2012

Which is the greater sin:To tell a lie or to lose your temper?


I asked this  question on Facebook:

Which is the greater sin?

(Just pick one, and don't add options-- On Thursday, I will post an interesting article about this choice) Feel free to explain your choice in the comments..

Which is the greater sin?

To tell a lie?

To lose your temper?

 



Be sure to check out the  final vote (Lie-18,  Temper-12 ....interesting!),comments and answers ,

Yes, I know the "real" right answer is "neither" or "both".. a "fuzzy set"  and a
"Marker Trick," as Rob Bell would have it in the video below:


I also agree that it might depend on context.

But I was curious to see what answers would emerge, and which would win, among the wide spectrum of facebook friends.  And I sure got some great, and hugely helpful comments.  Thank you.

I also wanted to, after the contest was closed, feature as a follow-up, an excerpt from the book I stole the question from: Duane Elmer's  "Cross-cultural conflict: building relationships for effective ministry."  But it turns out the excerpt I wanted was not online, at least in a format I could paste in here . It is readable on Google Books, so I would recommend clicking here to read  pp. 11-17.


OR if you are really brave, you can watch/listen to me reading that same section here.  I was too lazy to type it all up.  You'll hear the question addressed from a cross-cultural perspective.


Enjoy!


Elemer's story starts like this:

It was Sunday morning in the sleepy town of Amanzimtoti in South Africa's picturesque  Indian Ocean coast.  The heat was very intense.  A light ocean breeze offered some relief, but I hardly noticed.  I was scheduled to preach at a local church and was aferaid of arriving late.  My directions to the church wrere not too clear.  I never knew quite what to expect when I visited a church for the first time.  Sometimes church services woiuld be held in a garage, sometimes under a flamboyant tree spreading under a high umbrella of shade, sometimes in a  town hall, sometimes in a tent attached to a residence.  The people of rural South Africa possessed boundless ingenuity for creating worship spaces.
It being Sunday, the stores were all closed.  And since the extreme heat was . 
...continued on  Google Books, click here  to read the rest, pp 11-17..or watch below to allow me to read it for you





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Hey, thanks for engaging the conversation!