The Sin of Betrayal

This post is a difficult one to write, but I feel it must be written. I don't think this idea is very much understood in the church, so here goes nothing. First, let us speak on the subject of trust. Trust is a gift you give someone you believe to be safe, someone you believe has your back. You give trust to someone so that you can get close to them. If you do not trust someone, you cannot get close to them- trust is the foundation of all meaningful relationships. Betraying trust, therefore, is to stab someone in the back and probably destroy said relationship. It's the kind of sin that hell is filled with- people who want something from someone who trusts them, so they take what they want, thrashing the relationship in the process. It is one of the worst sins you can commit... 

Betrayal should never be taken lightly. Am I suggesting there is a time and place for it? I am. There's an easy example- Dietrich Bonhoeffer was involved within a group called the Abwehr. He worked hard to undermine the Nazi government. There's no question that his betrayal of his government will not be thought twice of by our lord and king Jesus... there's no question that that situation warranted his actions. Nevertheless... in general this is at best a dangerous gray area. I'm talking about undercover agents here, who infiltrate the mafia or corrupt governments... I don't know about that, only the Holy Spirit knows. It depends on the situation. You see... when someone trusts you, in essence you are charged with protecting them. If I'm guarding the president, and I turn around and shoot him in the head... at least an honorable enemy has the sense to declare war before firing a shot! 

I remember a quote from the show Firefly: "You don't know me, son, so let me explain this to you once: If I ever kill you, you'll be awake. You'll be facing me, and you'll be armed." See what I mean? This is an honorable way to fight... and trust me when I tell you that this means a lot in the kingdom. Betrayal has little use for sons of the king. The worst kind of betrayal is for man to betray his wife or his kids. A man is charged with being a protector of his family, and in my eyes, to attack these or let someone else attack these is to betray the people he is charged to protect, and is a far worse sin than if an outsider did the damage. Let me say this- never betray your wife. There might be circumstances where something like this might be warranted, but such circumstances are so extremely rare they are hardly worth mentioning- there are no hard and fast rules in the kingdom, but some come very close... and I believe this is one of them. Love does not betray trust!!!! You don't stab someone in the back who trusts you implicitly unless you want to risk the fires of hell! 

 I would say the issue of trust and betrayal is so significant in the kingdom... the mafia, as portrayed by "The Godfather"... I'm not sure it's evil enough to warrant undercover work. As they state in the movie, they ran in the business of gambling, prostitution, and the legal system... I'm not saying these aren't serious things, I'm saying the sin of betrayal is worse. I'm not even sure being involved in drugs is enough. Child prostitution... now your talking the kind of organized crime that warrants betrayal. I'm trying to drive home how big a deal betrayal is in the kingdom. Judas, betrayed our king. I had a conversation with family about Judas. Someone thought he got a bad rap. I'm not sure. I do know, though, that Jesus took him in as a mentor, and Judas stabbed the King of Kings in the back for 30 pieces of silver. He betrayed the trust of someone who only loved him, who invested time and energy in him. That must have hurt like hell, to be betrayed like that. I can't even imagine. So it may be that Judas is in one of the nastier parts of hell. Let's hope we never get there. I'm telling you- take the quote from Firefly seriously. If you hate someone close to you... do them the favor of letting them know that you don't want to be close to them anymore before you attack them. At least they'll know you are coming for them. Seriously... remember these words... trust is a gift. Never use that gift to take advantage of someone. If you don't want it, give it back. That should keep you out of some the worst parts of hell at least. Of course, if you don't want to go there at all, you must learn how to follow the king and learn to love, but that is the subject of another post...