Sin Isn’t Your Main Problem—Art of Unseen Warfare | Justin Marler

About this episode

In this episode, Justin Marler discusses the true nature of sin and the importance of understanding passions in spiritual warfare.

Sin is a problem. But, one of the great psychological tragedies of the West is a misunderstanding of sin. We turned it into a legal category — a list of infractions — and lost what the word actually means: missing the mark. The ancient Church didn't start with sin. It started with the passions — the disordered desires that pull us off target before we ever act. When we misunderstand the reality of sin, it makes it much harder to overcome the passions—which are the real problem. But, make no mistake, we are at war. The Church Fathers knew this. They trained for it. They built entire traditions around it. As St. John Chrysostom put it, “Our warfare does not make the living dead, but rather makes the dead live.” Powerful. And then we forgot. Or worse, we’re ignoring the battle we’re in. Like any good father, Justin Marler—former punk guitarist turned Orthodox monk turned author—wants the best for his children. Leaning on the legacy left by the Church Fathers, Justin has provided his children—and us—with a survival guide for life with his book The Art of Unseen Warfare: Ancient Teachers for the Modern Fighter. In this episode of A Commitment to Reality , Justin and Dave cover such…

People in this episode

Host: Christian Research Institute

Guest: Justin Marler

Topics covered

• sin
• passions
• spiritual warfare
• Church Fathers
• virtues
• suffering
• progress

Keywords

• sin
• passions
• spiritual warfare
• Church Fathers
• virtues
• suffering
• progress
• Christianity
• Orthodox monk
• The Art of Unseen Warfare

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