Right to Privacy

Americans have touted for awhile this unalienable right to privacy, which by the way is not in the Constitution. At its worst this right has been used as the justification for abortion. It is so skewed in some states that girl under 18 must get parent’s permission to get an ear piercing, but can prevent parents from knowing that she is getting an abortion. It is her right to privacy.

But there is a deeper evil subtlety in this right to privacy; what it does to our relationships. It can be seen from a cultural perspective. How many of you know your neighbors? How many of you have fences around your property? Robert Frost is often quoted for saying, “Good fences make good neighbors,” but in the context of the poem Mending Wall, it is his neighbor talking, and he goes on to ask, “Before I built a wall I'd ask to know/What I was walling in or walling out,/And to whom I was like to give offence.” Robert is lamenting the need for fences between people.

The average American house in the 1940s was 1200 square feet, but now it is over 2000. In the same time, the average family has grown smaller, and the divorce rate has skyrocketed. Why do we need all this space? In our own families, we want our privacy, where we can watch what we want to watch, listen to what we want to listen to, and play what we want to play without disturbance. Even in our vehicles, there will be a movie playing, or each person is listening to their own I-Pod, or on the cell texting. Youth group van trips used to be a great bonding experience. I hear many youth ministers lamenting how this has changed, and I have noticed it too. I was at a ministers meeting yesterday, and someone made the observation about video games that “kids used to play with each other, now they play beside each other.” We live increasingly private lives, and while it is what we want, it is killing our souls. Nowhere in Scripture are we promised privacy.

We were made to be in relationship and in community. That is one important aspect in God’s wisdom to give us the church. It is a place where we can come together with people from all walks of life who share the most important part of their life: faith in Jesus Christ. The cross destroys all worldly manner of judging and evaluating what is important. It is in this community where we are to confess to one another. We are asked to choose righteousness, healing, vulnerability, and community over privacy. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9) It is in confession, and not just repentance, that healing can happen. Confession is a community event.

When we choose to stay in privacy, and shut ourselves off from each other in order to entertain ourselves, we kill our very souls. We ignore the deep need for intimacy that God placed in us, the deep desire that we all have to be fully known and fully loved. We ignore the deep needs of our heart that can only be met in God’s community. Then we wonder why we struggle with depression and loneliness, and we feel like strangers in our own houses.

I have had my own experience in this lately. We just upgraded to digital cable and high speed internet. I got a DVR, which I love, because I can watch all those shows I like and miss. Except I have watched more TV in the past 3 months than I probably did the entire first part of the year. Sure, I haven't missed an episode of House or Austin City Limits, and Mythbusters is interesting, but it can do nothing for my soul. I have watched TV instead of played games with my family, or visited or called a friend, or prayed and studied. My habits must change, or I must get rid of my DVR. My heart is too precious to let me entertainment myself into apathy.

Privacy lives in darkness and breeds sin. Fellowship is the single greatest way to avoid temptation. As one teacher put it, when talking about lustful thoughts, "Fellowship equals freedom from lust." Why do we need privacy anyway? If we are honest, the majority of time it is so we can live out our sinful desires without fear of discovery. Privacy is so we can hide our pain, sin, hurts, and live in darkness afraid.

It is up to you to take the step and reach out. You must cultivate relationships. You can’t wait for someone else to do it. Trust the Lord and take some risks. Choose your right to be known over your right to privacy. You will likely find that you are not alone in your struggles, and that when you bring your deeds into the light, God’s grace will shine through them and His glory will show, not your own brokenness.

Lonely Nation by Switchfoot
She turns like the ocean
She tells no emotion
She's been gunning down the fight

She's just reminiscing
Blood, sweat, and one thing's missing
She's been breaking up inside, inside

Singing without tongues
Screaming without lungs
I want more than my lonely nation
I want more than my lonely nation
Desperate we are young
Seperate we are one
I want more than my desperation
I Want more than my lonely nation

We are the target market
We set the corporate target
We are slaves of what we want
We're just not amused
And we're just used to bad news
We are slaves of what we want

Singing without tongues
Screaming without lungs
I want more than my lonely nation
I want more than my lonely nation
Desperate we are young
Seperate we are one
I want more than my desperation
I Want more than my lonely nation

Lonely, lonely

Don't leave me hollow
I'm tired
Don't leave me hollow
I'm tired of feeling low
Of feeling hollow
I'm tired of feeling low
Of feeling hollow

Singing without tongues
Screaming without lungs
Want more than my desperation
I want more than my lonely nation
Desperate we are young
Separate we are one
I want more than my lonely nation