Sorrow

I read someone who asked why Christians are afraid to call one another sinners; are they too polite to do something they need to do?

I think the reason Christians should not spend a lot of time making accusations about one another's holiness has a lot to do with the three virtues - faith, hope, and charity, as well as the injunction to "judge not lest ye be judged." We're all broken down in some way.

But why would that disqualify us from judging?

Well there is the whole "log in your eye" aspect of things. It is not so much that you need to avoid hurting the feelings of others, as being cognizant of the fact that in Christianity, we are always the pot criticizing the kettle! (Or as a friend puts it, a hospital where even the doctors and nurses are sick.)

Christ is therapy - the words "come to me all of you who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" are meant to have meaning, and we are called to have faith in them. The wages of sin may be death, but Jesus has paid those wages already. "for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them" (as some render Luke 9:56)

In my church, we have sacramental confession to recognize that there is both a "there there" aspect to God's mercy, and at the same time our own necessary participation in seeking God's mercy - we must not play a passive role, but an active role, and ask. Whether you confess with a priest or simply confess in the silence of your heart to God, you're not doing any good casting yourself out for self-flagellation; feeling bad is not the point - feeling better and doing better is. And you find "better" in two ways - one by receiving from God the assurance that he can and will forgive you for anything, and secondly, by, for the Love of God, sincerely wanting to do better.

He asks nothing more.