The S- word sin, who says its wrong anyway?

The 's' word sin, has already come into a multitude of posts, and I am aware that many people have trouble with it.  Many think of it as an outmoded, old fashioned,  prudish, narrow minded concept, used only by judgmental, narrow minded, self righteous bigots.  It is however a word that Jesus used over and over, and He was neither a bigot, nor was he judgmental (see below).

It is of course a Biblical concept and can be thought of roughly as simply falling short of God's glory (falling short of the perfection of God). Other definitions include lawlessness,  wrong doing,  the opposite of righteousness  (purity, integrity etc.), or  selfishness (and who is not selfish) and yes there are absolutes. God is an absolute and if He exists, and He is the one who spoke and stars were flung into space, then just perhaps He might have the right to say what is right and what is wrong.

 By the way, nobody calls you judgmental when you tell your child that it is wrong to be selfish or to hit your sister, or to be mean to her, or fail to share. Even so Father God is not Judgmental. It is true that if in the end we refuse to repent, then He will need to judge us, but it is not His first thought. “Like a father has compassion,  he knows our frame and knows we are but dust.”  He does  get a lot of bad press, but it is not His desire to condemn. This is brought out well in the lovely story of the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery from John 8. They bring her to Jesus testing Him. “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, He tells them,  and they leave from the oldest to the youngest. “Where are they who would condemn you?”, He asks Her.  'There are none'. Listen carefully now “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”.  He does not condone sin, He does not say its alright, but He does not condemn her either. It is not His desire than any should perish, but that all should come to life (abundant and everlasting) in and through His name. 

Coming back to what we do with our children.  “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child”. Its true, they have not learned much yet from the school of hard knocks.  “Mummy knows best”, we tell them, and most of the time she does, but many times the child does not understand. Hopefully he or she will understand as he or she grows and becomes parent themselves. God always knows what is best. But we may not yet understand. And we may not always like what He tells us, but when we come to know Him as He is, we also come to realize that when He says "No", it is for our Protection and for our Provision.

Casual sex for example, devalues the treasure and the wonder of that gift that He provided for our enjoyment, to bind together those who will keep themselves pure for their lifetime mate, and to produce fruit of the trinitarian oneness (body soul and spirit oneness). This cannot be found  outside of Christian marriage. Please note I  am not saying it cannot be good, many non-Christian marriages are better than many of the Christian marriages I have observed. What I am saying is that the unity He intends between a man and his wife has its highest potential inside of their mutual union with Christ. Only here can there be a unity of body,  soul and spirit. After all the spirit is all but dead, outside of Christ (Ephesians 2:1). I need to keep saying this, righteousness is not only good and right and proper, it is smart!

Many would say this ideal is totally unrealistic, and possibly outside of a radical commitment to Him, and inside a culture where our pseudo, hyper sexuality is constantly being stirred, you might be right. But inside the radical commitment of which I speak I have seen it, and it brings a greater fulfillment not least because of the anticipation engendered by the waiting.   We live in an instant society where instant gratification is the norm. We are however impoverished by it.  The Bible talks about the “pleasures of sin for a season”.  Nobody should say that (some) sin is not fun. The problem is it does not last. Only He can satisfy  (provision and protection again).

The wonderful thing about God though, is that as long as we have breath, it is not too late. We can start over, and He has promised to restore the years the destructive locus have eaten.  When we turn to Him, He makes all things beautiful in His time.   Eye has not seen, nor has the ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared  for those who love and wait for Him (Isaiah 64:4/I Corinthians 2:9).