It’s a Southern Thing!

by Lisa Coleman

There’s a southern saying we like to explain to our many new neighbors moving in from out of state. Here in the south, we refer to others as y’all. You all. What is the plural to ‘you’ in our local vernacular one might inquire? All y’all.

As I was reading Romans chapter 3, especially the verses 9-12, I enjoyed imagining Paul as a fellow Tennessean. He tells us that all are under sin. No one is righteous. Not even one. All have turned away, become useless. No one does what is good. Not even one.  That, my friends, in our southern lingo is ‘all y’all’ are guilty.

We tend to measure our righteousness in comparison to those around us. One that struck me as particularly noteworthy was a survey conducted in a prison in Southeast England. Most prisoners described themselves as superior in their morality, self-control, compassion, generosity, dependability, trustworthiness, and honesty compared to ‘an average prisoner’. Even more remarkable, they rated themselves higher on the same categories than the average member of the community. This time the only category they downgraded themselves on was ‘law-abiding’. Here, they rated themselves as equivalent to an average community member as opposed their other higher than average attributes!

Joshua B. Grubbs, a clinical psychologist, writes, “think twice before shouting your virtues online – moral grandstanding is toxic.” He was referring to a recently published study of 6,000 Americans about their most important moral and political beliefs, and how they communicate them to others. Almost all admitted they were occasionally guilty of grandstanding – sharing their beliefs selfishly for respect or status. But interestingly, habitual grandstanders experienced conflicts in their personal relationships. They had more experiences of arguing with loved ones and severing ties with friends or family members over political or moral disagreements. People who indicated using their deepest held beliefs to boost their own status in real life also reported more toxic social media behaviors. Grubb’s advice was for everyone to check their motivations. “Are you genuinely interested in communicating and connecting with your fellow human or just trying to score points? Are you trying to one-up the good deeds of someone else to make yourself look good to people whose respect you crave?” So, a question to Christians would be – are we admitting we are just as broken as our fellow sojourners, or do we put on a show to feel superior? It would seem things aren’t so different in our culture than in the culture Paul was counseling.

From prisons to churches, there is no one righteous, not even one. We are all in the need of a Savior. The saving grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All y’all indeed.

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You can download the Bible study materials for this session for your personal use and watch the Zoom video of the in-class session by following the links below:

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Follow this link to find other studies in this series: TRANSFORMED: Knowing & Doing God’s Will.