Sin, a word that seems less and less relevant in the world today. It is a concept viewed as primitive, unnecessary, and or too harsh. Outside of the religious world, and even sometimes within it, sin is re-named or not directly talked about. Yet sin seems to be such a key component for us in understanding God through the Bible; sin is a big deal in the Old Testament, with Jesus, and with the rest of the New Testament. Even grace preacher Paul took a very hard stance when it came to sin. So what do we do with it? We certainly don't want to throw it out just because we don't like the context sin has been delivered in.
There are two ways of looking at sin that really stem from two different ways of looking at God. The first, is to see sin as merely wrong because God said it was. This perspective assumes a few things. First, it assumes that God is controlling, that He is set apart from the natural world, and that He demands our obedience. It therefore also assumes that we need to do something in order to placate this god, to position ourselves in a certain way in order to get his blessing or avoid his punishment. It perceives a God that is primarily about legal justice, a distant score keeper in the sky that only involves himself with us once we score high enough; or when he decides to pull out the whip to punish us. This perspective is pervasive both outside and inside 'Christianity'. I put that in quotes, because I think that Christianity is truly about the breakdown of that entire perspective, but we will get to that later.
The first way of looking at sin is right in the fact that God has told us that certain things are good and bad, right and wrong; but it falls short when interpreting why those are labeled as such. We find the reason behind sin in the second perspective, which I would like to say is the Christian perspective. In this understanding god isn't an egotistical solitary deity demanding our obedience, but a relational God that is completely other centered. A God who is whole, lacking in nothing, and who's very essence desires all goodness, truth, and fulfillment.
Depending on which God we start with, we come up with a different understanding of sin. The solitary disapproving god makes sin to be a ladder we must climb in order to get into His good graces. The God of love, truth, and wholeness however, reveals sin to us because He wants us to know how to avoid hurt, suffering, relational disconnect, shame, and all sorts of other negative consequences in our lives. This loving God starts as 'for us', the distant god starts as 'against us'. The distant god hates sin because his own ego is injured, the God of love hates sin because of what sin does to His children.
In our world today 'sin' is an ugly word, but talking about healthy and unhealthy behavior is very acceptable. There is a large movement, in even secular society, that pursues wholeness, well-being, healthy living, and intentional loving relationships. Just scroll through your Facebook news feed and you'll probably find 50 articles about healthy living in one area or another. Never has a culture been so focused on learning how to make the best of their lives. Surrounded by options, our society is desperately trying to figure out how to live balanced, whole, and happy lives; and that is what the conversation about sin is really about, which makes it very applicable in this day and age.
People don't want to enter into a conversation about sin, because they believe in the distant god that demands their 'proper' behavior in order to gain his approval. Unfortunately much of the 'Christian' world has played a role in reinforcing this idea of a solitary deity in the sky. We need to regain a more holistic and relational understanding of God so that we can properly understand why sin is such a big deal as the bible makes it out to be.
There are two ways of looking at sin that really stem from two different ways of looking at God. The first, is to see sin as merely wrong because God said it was. This perspective assumes a few things. First, it assumes that God is controlling, that He is set apart from the natural world, and that He demands our obedience. It therefore also assumes that we need to do something in order to placate this god, to position ourselves in a certain way in order to get his blessing or avoid his punishment. It perceives a God that is primarily about legal justice, a distant score keeper in the sky that only involves himself with us once we score high enough; or when he decides to pull out the whip to punish us. This perspective is pervasive both outside and inside 'Christianity'. I put that in quotes, because I think that Christianity is truly about the breakdown of that entire perspective, but we will get to that later.
The first way of looking at sin is right in the fact that God has told us that certain things are good and bad, right and wrong; but it falls short when interpreting why those are labeled as such. We find the reason behind sin in the second perspective, which I would like to say is the Christian perspective. In this understanding god isn't an egotistical solitary deity demanding our obedience, but a relational God that is completely other centered. A God who is whole, lacking in nothing, and who's very essence desires all goodness, truth, and fulfillment.
Depending on which God we start with, we come up with a different understanding of sin. The solitary disapproving god makes sin to be a ladder we must climb in order to get into His good graces. The God of love, truth, and wholeness however, reveals sin to us because He wants us to know how to avoid hurt, suffering, relational disconnect, shame, and all sorts of other negative consequences in our lives. This loving God starts as 'for us', the distant god starts as 'against us'. The distant god hates sin because his own ego is injured, the God of love hates sin because of what sin does to His children.
In our world today 'sin' is an ugly word, but talking about healthy and unhealthy behavior is very acceptable. There is a large movement, in even secular society, that pursues wholeness, well-being, healthy living, and intentional loving relationships. Just scroll through your Facebook news feed and you'll probably find 50 articles about healthy living in one area or another. Never has a culture been so focused on learning how to make the best of their lives. Surrounded by options, our society is desperately trying to figure out how to live balanced, whole, and happy lives; and that is what the conversation about sin is really about, which makes it very applicable in this day and age.
People don't want to enter into a conversation about sin, because they believe in the distant god that demands their 'proper' behavior in order to gain his approval. Unfortunately much of the 'Christian' world has played a role in reinforcing this idea of a solitary deity in the sky. We need to regain a more holistic and relational understanding of God so that we can properly understand why sin is such a big deal as the bible makes it out to be.
Comments
Post a Comment