Membership has its privileges.

Jesus is a friend of sinners only.

Convents and monasteries are men’s inventions. It was a good intention but a bad idea to separate one’s own self from sinners when the master was known as a friend of sinners.

Let us take a look at the life of Abraham, Moses and Paul, three of the most prominent men of God, in order to give hope to sinners in a world full of accusing saints.

Somehow the invention to canonize people as saints in the religious sense of the word has created in the mind of believers the concept that some are saints and others are SAINTS in capital letters.

The aspiration of saints in lower case letters is to become SAINTS in capital letters. “I remember two priests talking longingly about family when the younger priest asks the older priest: “Father Damian, the church is changing so much that I was wondering if we will ever be able to get married and have a family.” To that the older priest answered, “Not in our lifetime, but our children will.” (Humor)

Abraham was known as the Friend of God, David the king was known as the “Man after the heart of God,” while Paul is known as the greatest theologian second only to Jesus.

If we admire a saint for his Godliness, it is not good to forget that Godliness comes from the word God and that means that without the word of God there is no Godliness but worldliness. Confession of Sin does not mean confession of generalities that in reciprocity we mention in a public prayer as the “Thing to do because it has been done and just in case it came into the open.”

To make some distance between the “SINNER” and the “sinner” will create the same distance between the “SAINT” and the “saint” to the point that it will create the Idea that Godliness is unattainable for the common people and that only the sinless elite can have the chance to be Godly.

Just because Abraham, David and Paul became the friends of God does not mean that the only sins mentioned as their sins are the only sins they had committed in their lifetime.

It is hard for me to imagine that a man from Ur of the Chaldean would not have committed more sins than those mentioned in Genesis. Abraham was from the pagan country of the Chaldeans. I do not believe the basis of God choosing Abraham was Godliness but the sovereign choice of a Pagan man to show love and grace and sovereignty.

Neither do I believe that David’s only sin in a moment of passion and loneliness was adultery and then to cover up his sins he murdered Uriah. God exposed David using Nathan the Prophet but he did not expose him exhaustively. His children took care of that. “The Acorn doesn't fall far from the Oak tree.” Look at the permissive king Solomon where even his books are nothing less than the confession of a dirty old man.

I will not speak about Paul because he truly confessed many times over to be a sinful man, a blasphemer, a persecutor and a violent man. Paul was that and much more but by his own admission he recognizes God’s sovereignty in choosing him not on the basis of his Godliness but because he was the worst of sinner. He was Chosen as an example that if God could be gracious with a man like him then he could be gracious with others. In a nutshell, God is a friend of Sinners only.

For those who are looking for sinners the one place where you can find them for sure is in the Church because the Church is for sinners only.

More important than confessing with your mouth that you are a sinner is believing in your heart that indeed you are a big-time sinner.

Only sinners appreciate forgiveness based on repentance. He who does not repent thinks too highly of himself.

The knowledge of repentance is mastery of the Gospel. Beware of self-righteousness. The righteous is the one who by faith believes in Jesus.

Gerry Gutierrez.

PS. Aristotle. Osman, Keila, Dito, Esther and Debora Gutierrez.