I think that what James is telling us here is that ‘Christianity presupposes that we don’t start out life as good, and then screw up. We start screwed up.’ In other words we are all far from perfect, but no need to beat yourself up when you realise that this is the case. And to quote James “this enables us to become more relaxed about ourselves, as we find ourselves being given elements of a story about, and including, ourselves, which is much richer, but also more realistic, than the one we held onto before”. So our defects are a natural part of our spiritual journey and James is introducing us to the vastness of God’s unconditional love. Does this make sense?
