The three chief sins : Karl Barth

[christianyouth]

I know Barth is not really accepted by fundamentalists or liberals(for good reason), but I remember stumbling across a quote by him that was phenomenal. He proposed that all of our various sins stem from specific three sins.

I remember one of the sins was slothfullness, and I think another one was the desire of acceptance from man or fear of man. If someone knows the other sin, I would be grateful.

So far, from my own life, I can agree with his thesis. Sloth has done more dammage to my spiritual walk then anything else. Acceptance of peers has caused me to not evangelize in a bold, God honoring way. I'm anxious to find what the third sin was.

 

[Steven2006]

I don't know the third one he had mentioned, but I have one, pride. I think pride is the slippery slope to many other sins. A person could have so much pride where they think that they are able to put themselves in a situation they shouldn't, but be convinced that they can handle it. Even the one you mention wanting acceptance from others in my opinion starts with pride. Someone can be to proud to be humble when they should maybe seek counsel or help from an elder. Pride can make someone not admit their faults. It can make them not be honest with a spouse. Pride can make someone believe they understand everything, and not listen to correction or advise. Pride can lead to feeling superior. Feeling to superior can lead to slothfulness as you mentioned, because you might feel you have already paid your dues, and achieved or accomplished enough. Pride can lead to covertness because you deserve something others have. Pride can lead to someone thinking they won't fall into sin. Pride can lead to someone thinking they are so spiritual that they no longer need to be on their knees in pray everyday, or in the word everyday. Really we can go on and on, I think pride is a real danger that everyone should be on constant guard about, and what is so dangerous is that is so subtle that it is usually hard to recognize especially at first. It is like a slow cancer of a sin, rather than the in your face type of so many other sins.

 

[Aaron]

The Big Three according to the Bible is, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, 1 John 2:16. Sloth seems to fall under the lust of the flesh, and the fear of what folks think falls under the pride of life.

 

[christianyouth]

I don't know the third one he had mentioned, but I have one, pride. I think pride is the slippery slope to many other sins. A person could have so much pride where they think that they are able to put themselves in a situation they shouldn't, but be convinced that they can handle it. Even the one you mention wanting acceptance from others in my opinion starts with pride. Someone can be to proud to be humble when they should maybe seek counsel or help from an elder. Pride can make someone not admit their faults. It can make them not be honest with a spouse. Pride can make someone believe they understand everything, and not listen to correction or advise. Pride can lead to feeling superior. Feeling to superior can lead to slothfulness as you mentioned, because you might feel you have already paid your dues, and achieved or accomplished enough. Pride can lead to covertness because you deserve something others have. Pride can lead to someone thinking they won't fall into sin. Pride can lead to someone thinking they are so spiritual that they no longer need to be on their knees in pray everyday, or in the word everyday. Really we can go on and on, I think pride is a real danger that everyone should be on constant guard about, and what is so dangerous is that is so subtle that it is usually hard to recognize especially at first. It is like a slow cancer of a sin, rather than the in your face type of so many other sins.

Wow, how true. This is not just an observation that you made. Believe it or not, CS Lewis found the same to be true!


Here is a quote from Richard Baxter that has always helped me.
"Communion with God will keep a man humble"

So if pride is taking root, which it does constantly, I know I am not communing with God in prayer and meditation. "Praying will cease a man from sinning, and sinning will cease a man from praying" - John bunyan

 

[Brandon C. Jones]

Hello Christian Youth,

It's nice to see someone talking about Karl Barth on here. Barth talked about sin and sloth a lot in his Church Dogmatics. My guess is the passage you have in mind is from IV.1 p. 145-146 where Barth discusses sin and its response in reconciliation. There, Barth mentions sin as the act of human pride, the sloth of man (here Barth is using sloth along the lines of evil being a privation and sinful man not living up to being a man), and sin as the falsehood of man.

For a general introduction to Barth I don't recommend the Church Dogmatics because of the sheer size and content of the books. However, Barth's two little books Dogmatics in Outline and Evangelical Theology: An Introduction are superb introductions to his thought.

Unfortunately Van Til and Schaeffer did a hatchet job on Barth and convinced many people that his theology is horrible and to be discarded. I recommend deciding for yourself by reading his two books above as a sort of introduction to his theology.

PS it's nice to see a fellow Michigander on here.

BJ

 

[Baptist Believer]

I know Barth is not really accepted by fundamentalists or liberals(for good reason)...

I generally like Barth... What "good reasons" are you thinking of?