A few pastors think we ought to be careful in describing our world and ourselves as merely “broken.” They think the words of Scripture such as “sinners” are better employed.
Kevin DeYoung in “The Power of Words and the Nature of Sin” writes,
I’d like to suggest we think more carefully about one of our new favorite words: brokenness. I’m not on a crusade to ban the word from the evangelical lexicon. You don’t have to apologize if you say the word in front of me. It’s not a bad word. It’s just not an adequate word.
What do we communicate with the word “brokenness”? It seems to me the word is a rough synonym for “messed-up-ness.” Worship leaders ask us to confess our brokenness. Pastors tell us we all have brokenness. Sinners under conviction reveal their struggles with brokenness. Often I hear the word used with reference to sexual sin. Someone with a porn addiction may admit his sexual brokenness. Or someone speaking against homosexuality may be quick to assure his audience that we all struggle our own form of sexual brokenness. The word shows up in many delicate situations.
And yet, the word is inadequate at best and misleading at worst. On the good side, “brokenness” conveys an important truth about sin. When we develop an insatiable appetite for porn, when we long for same-sex partners, when we can’t live without people’s approval, we are not functioning the way God intended. God’s Edenic design for human flourishing did not include addictions, unnatural lusts, and fear of man. Marred by sin, none of us is the way we are supposed to be. We are all broken.
But as a metaphor for sin, “brokenness” is seriously limited.
Stephen Altrogge also adds his perspective in “Are We All Just Broken People?”:
These days it’s cool to use the word “broken” when talking about human sinfulness. There is something down and dirty and real life-ish about the word. It sounds authentic, and as everyone knows, authenticity is what it’s all about these days. “We’re all just broken people,” is what I typically hear, and what I’ve said myself from time to time. And there is something true about the statement. In one sense, sin has broken everything. Our entire personhood, from our health, to our intellect, to our sexuality has been “broken” and distorted by sin. We are not how God originally made us.
I think the term is also helpful when talking about the kinds of people who come into our churches. I want messy, “broken” people to come into my church. People whose lives are so jacked up by sin that their only hope is Christ. People whose families, and friendships, and habits, are seriously broken by sin. I want alcoholics and workaholics and sexaholics and self-righteousaholics to come into our church.
But I think we need to be really careful when we use the word “broken” to describe us as Christians. Our fundamental identity is not as broken people, our fundamental identity is found in Jesus Christ.
Read the above links in their entirety so that you understand better the points these authors are making.
What do you think about speaking about brokenness to describe people in the church and in the world?
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