The Doe of the Dawn: A Christian World View …

VIRTUES AND VICES

I was amused more than shocked when a brother out in Oregon said to me recently, as we waited in an anteroom of the church to conduct public worship, “This church wants to kick me out because I drink whiskey.” I would have expected him to say, if he said anything at all,” … because I drink.” To add the offensive word whiskey may have been part of the rebellion he was going through. Be that as it may, the brother, who serves as an elder in the church, is a man of disarming spiritual depth. As we sat together for the Supper he turned to me and said as he shared the loaf: “I break this bread with you in the name of Christ and to the glory of God,” or some such words. I am not used to such intimacy during the Supper. We don’t do it that way in Texas, whiskey-drinking or no.

This is as good a way as any in getting at a crucial area in any Christian world view, the nature of virtue and the meaning of vice. These have to do with the whole of life, not only in terms of the choices we make but also with the values we hold.

Is whiskey-drinking a virtue or a vice? Carrie Nations was certain that it was a vice, but W. C. Fields considered it a virtue. The right answer calls for a definition of terms. If the biblical dictum “Nothing is unclean in itself” (Ro. 14:14) applies in this case, then we might conclude that whiskey-drinking is neutral and neither a vice nor a virtue. It would depend on the use made of it. It has for generations been a treatment for various respiratory illnesses. If at that medicinal point whiskey-drinking were conceded to be a virtue, it would be difficult to find agreement as to what point along the way it becomes a vice, except that all would agree that at the point of drunkenness it is indeed a vice.

But even in the case of drunkenness is it the whiskey that is the vice? Or is the “something wrong” inside the person? If we put food-eating in the place of whiskey-drinking, we would all still agree that at a certain point we have a vice, gluttony, a sin that does not generally receive as much attention as drunkenness, except in the Bible (Pro. 23:21). In both of these examples, drunkenness as well as gluttony, the wrong appears to be within the person, while food and intoxicating spirits are in themselves neutral and neither moral nor immoral. Foods and spirits do not have to be exact parallels in being potentially beneficial for this to be true. We are again forced to look at the nature and meaning of vice and virtue.

Jesus speaks to this issue in one of the most remarkable things he ever taught: “There is nothing outside a man which by going into him call defile him; but the things which come out of a man are what defile him” (Mk. 7:15). If this blows your mind, you can appreciate what it did to those Jews who had been taught from childhood that defilement comes from what is touched, handled, eaten or drunk. So they asked Jesus what he meant. “Do you not see,” he told them, “that whatever goes into a man from outside cannot defile him, since it enters his stomach, and so passes on.” At this point Mark does some interpreting: “Thus he declared all foods clean.” But Jesus goes on: “What comes out of a man is what defiles a man. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, fornication, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a man.”

If our Lord had never taught anything but this, he would have been a revolutionary for his time, for this view of defilement ran counter to what his church had been teaching for generations. While the scribes and Pharisees insisted that the touch of an “unclean” dish or to eat with unwashed hands brought defilement, Jesus taught that “these evil things” are rooted deep inside man himself. The sins he names, some of which are close to us all —coveting, deceit, envy, slander, pride— pierce our very souls. And it is staggering to realize that these come from the heart of man, that they are inward more than outward. These are the real vices according to Jesus. And to our shame they can be called the “church sins.”

We can see how gluttony or drunkenness might be included in such a list since they too emanate from within man, being sins of the passions, but how about whiskey-drinking? Lest we forget that Jesus himself was accused of being both a drunkard and a glutton (Mt. 11:19) since he “came eating and drinking.” Jesus did drink, though it was not likely whiskey, a fact that disturbs those who, like the scribes and Pharisees, suppose that the vices are those things that go into man rather than the things that come out. And in being overly-righteous about the things that go in we are neglectful of the things (our own sins) that come out.

As for me I’ll take the winebibber (like Jesus?) who has the love of God in his heart over the teetotaler who spends more time examining others than he does himself. Being a teetotaler myself (except maybe wine at weddings!) I am tempted to plead for both abstinence and a nonjudgmental love. Even moderate drinking in our culture is dangerous since we are largely an out-of-control people, even when it is morally defensible.

Moreover, those who lead the church are to be exemplary. To those who want our Oregon brother to quit his whiskey I urge that they love him out of the habit and not try to condemn him out of it. The best way to change others is by changing ourselves. Our love for each other must be unconditional. When we love him whether he drinks whiskey or not, and I mean really love him with no strings attached, then he will give up his whiskey. One thing is sure, if love won’t do it nothing will do it. Just remember that most of us in our churches are crying out, “Please love me just as you find me!,” and they are saying this in different ways. Sometimes by drinking, by drinking whiskey! And the more brazen they are and the more intimidating they are, the more pitiful is that cry, Please love me unconditionally. And they are right, for a love that issues demands is not really love. We change others only by changing ourselves. The rule is absolute.

But I have not yet defined virtue and vice, even though that great lesson from Jesus brought us to it. Motives and intentions have more to do with virtue and vice than actions. Disposition is the key. When one is kindly and generously disposed, when his intention is to be a blessing, he is virtuous, even if his actions do not reveal such disposition. Misunderstanding or misrepresentation may obscure the magnanimity of his heart. If he has the right inner disposition he is virtuous. He is disposed to be patient, generous, kind, and thoughtful, and his actions are in this direction, even if he is sometimes awkward and stumbling in his efforts.

A vice is the opposite: a disposition toward greed and selfishness, along with all those sins named by Jesus. And again the actions may sometimes be deceiving, for a person may appear to be virtuous even when these vices lurk in his heart. A spy appears to be the very essence of virtue, but deceit is his business.

Virtue goes beyond “what is right,” whether legal or moral. If I drive within the speed limit even if I knew I would not be caught for speeding, I am virtuous. It is the motive or the disposition of the heart that makes for virtue. Just as it would be a vice for me to drive within the limit so as to annoy the driver behind me. My speedometer might be right but my heart would not be!

The chief vice of all is probably deceit, including self-deceit. It is sin enough when we deceive others, but the harm done is compounded when we deceive ourselves. And yet we all seem adept at deluding ourselves. We profess to trust in God’s providence, but worry is a favorite pastime. We say we believe in “turning the other cheek,” however we interpret it, and yet we are often as bent on “getting even” as unbelievers. We talk about the brotherhood of man, but we usually associate only with those in our own income group and with those as “good” as we. Because of self-deceit we are seldom bothered by such inconsistencies. And Jesus warned that deceit comes from within us and corrupts us. It is only when we are badly deceived that there can be that great gulf between what we profess to believe and what we practice.

This gets at the nature of vice. All vices emanate from a heart that does not really want the truth, whether it be the truth about God or about self. It is a rare person that really wants to know the truth about himself. Man doesn’t want righteousness; he only wants to profess it, sometimes. When our Lord offered a blessing to those who hunger and thirst after goodness, he defined virtue. To really want magnanimity of heart is the beginning of virtue. Such vices as envy and pride stem from a heart that has the most devastating sickness of all, the malady of not wanting virtue.

When Jesus assures us that the real sins come from the heart of man, he is doing more than listing vices. He is telling us that man is corrupt and that he stands in need of the redemptive grace of God. The only answer for the world and its vices is the lovingkindness of God. GRACE! When we see the abundant outpouring of heaven’s grace we will see the degradation of our vices. When one theologian was asked to name the surest sign of the regenerated person, he named self-loathing. It is only when one loathes the selfish pride that rules his heart that he can cry out, God, be merciful to me a sinner! That is virtue.

He can then feel good about himself, not that he is all that “good,” but that he stands right with God. He has been washed in the bath of regeneration and made clean by God’s mercy. He will resolve all such questions as whiskey-drinking, sooner or later, and to the glory of God, now that his heart is right. Vices gradually give way to the fruit of the Holy Spirit. That is what it means to be born from above. And that is the meaning of virtue. —the Editor