Sin...What Is It?

 

Growing up in a religious denominational environment, I learned at an young age what sin was...or so I thought. What I accepted as sin was what I was told was sin by the denomination I was in. I found this denominational sin defining to be somewhat confusing in that different denomination's opinions as to what sin was varied. What some denominations said was sin was accepted by other denominations as not being sin. 

The denomination I found my self in was the "no preparing food for the Sunday meal, that was a Saturday task so as to avoid working on the "Sabbath" because it was a sin to work on the Sabbath...yet, Sunday was not and never will be the Sabbath. Then there was the no going to the restaurant on Sunday...no riding of the bike...no playing hopscotch...no smoking...no drinking...no dancing...no going to the movies...no going our with "bad" girls, avoid the baccy chew and no running around with those who do.

Yet other people who claimed to be "Christians" could do these things without condemnation. 

Because of my NOT doing the "bad stuff" it provided a breeding ground of false egotistic pride in thinking I was morally superior in that I did not partake in such activities or run around with the crowd that did.

Well, to my amazement I now see how spiritual egotistic, judgmental, un-understanding, condemning and unlike God it was. When Jesus was on earth He spent His time with whom the religious elite of the day deemed sinners, while having little to do with the religious crowd of His day, except make known they were making people more a child of the "devil" than they were themselves. 

What religion regards as sin has to do more with men's opinions, religious standards and the breaking of such than it does with God. It is more about not doing the things they deem sin to maintain a upright relationship with the denomination of choice in order to be a card caring member. Whereas spiritual reality has to do with a experiential and intimate relationship with God where He is personally involved and working through your living life to accomplish His purpose in the community of humanity. 

Evil as viewed by the religious establishment is different than how God's view of evil.

Lying is evil by religious standards...but the coverup of lies is the religious camp seems to be accepted until the lies is found out...as is a lot of other things they consider bad.

Telling the truth is not evil...or so they believe.

Yet in God's eyes telling the truth could be evil!

I guess by now you are demanding Bible evidence.

Remember your reading of the twelve men who were sent to spy out the promise land. Two came back with a good report and ten cam back with a evil report. The ten brought back a honest report of what they saw...why was their report considered evil? Because it did not agree with what God said.

Gluttony, greed. covetousness, segregation, shunning, disunity, calling building's "Churches", manipulation, control and deceitfulness are things which God calls sin but the religious world practices with no awareness that they are committing sin.   

Why does  the Bible say that the harlots and sinners were more a part of His Kingdom than the religious self righteous. Because the harlots and sinners agree with God, while the self-righteous go against God and His plan for the community of the humanity and the community of His redeemed. Religion has taken away Jesus as Head of His community and His leading of His community. They have replaced the plan of God with man-made leaders and man-made agendas...that my friend is EVIL!

When we sin God's Grace does much more abound because at the cross that sin was forgiven and all we have to do is repent, not by saying a bible-less sinner's prayer" but by forsaking that sin and get back to following Jesus.

When we sin by breaking the rules of religion we come under their judgement and condemnation. Paul then tells us in Romans 3:20 that the purpose of the Law was to make men recognize their sin (and thus recognize their need for God). To disobey a direct command of God was sin. On the other hand, the Jews then added their own rules to what God had given them and the result was a man-made religion called Judaism. And, Religion is nothing more than and religion is nothing more than a cary over of Judaism philosophy with a sprinkle of Grace thrown in.

In both Judaism and Religion, men took it upon themselves to define what constituted sin; then came up with their own way to deal with it. Again, there is in man that deep-seated desire to handle the God, sin, and judgment thing in his own way. And so, sin came to be defined by what men thought, instead of what God says.

There are two words translated "sin" in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament the word is chataah, from the root word chata, meaning, "to miss the right point". In the New Testament the word is hamartia, meaning, "to miss the goal". Now, if we know whose point and whose goal is being missed, we might know what sin is. the meaning of chataah and hamartia have to do with God’s point and His goal therefore sin is missing God's goal for us, not missing religion's goal.

So, what should we conclude from this? The things we do that violate God’s point of view, His purpose, and His goal for us must define sin. Our religious training has taught us to identify what we have decided is sin in others and resort to judgment and condemnation by condemning them to Hell's torcher chamber. And, instead of leaving it up to God to conform us to the image of His Son, we have taken that responsibility upon ourselves and have decided to change one another by identifying what we don’t like in them, calling it sin, then pressuring them into conforming to our preferences and standards. It’s religious arrogance, against God, and it is wrong.

There is a difference between God’s viewpoint of sin and man’s. There was a seeming discrepancy between what I knew about David from my religious point of view and what God said about him. David’s seeming personal faults are well recorded in Scripture. My religious, moral perspective told me he was a miserable failure as a leader, husband and father. Yet, in the midst of all this moral failing, God was very gracious and complimentary of Him (I Samuel 13:14, Psalms 89:19-37, Acts 13:22).

Why God didn’t condemn David for the things I knew were wrong in his life and for what my religious morality told me was sin. It wasn’t up to me to decide what was right or wrong with David. He wasn’t accountable to me. I wasn’t his judge. Only God knew how to deal with David and what needed to be dealt with to accomplish his deliverance. It was the unchanging character of God and His eternal purpose that determined what was sin in David’s life and it was none of my business. Who am I to question what God does or doesn’t do in someone else’s life?

When we screw up...and we all do...there is no sense in trying to deny who or what we are. We can’t run; there’s no place to hide. And when we experience times like this, David is our hero and an example to follow. For me, my old judgmental, moralistic self is near dead and my new self is being resurrected in the image of Christ allowing me to see David in a different way. And, I appreciate his determination to allow God to examine his heart and test him (Psalms 26:2, 139:23-24). Faults and weaknesses aside (both his and mine), the way I see it, having a heart like David’s is foundational in my own personal relationship with God.

What about Peter and His denial of Christ? Peter did not run to a "Church" to repent and get right with Christ again...In Christ's eyes Peter was already right with Him..."Go and tell my disciples and especially Peter". Christ did not withdraw His Love for or forsake Him because of His denial and cursing.

It’s not up to us to decide what is right or wrong for others. Let's keep our nose out of other people's business. The vicious cycle of interfering in each other’s life is leading to hurt, disappointment, confusion and broken relationships, this is not what God is about therefore neither should we be about it. 

Religious people think they have a real talent for spotting other people’s wrongs. But the question is, how good are they at spotting their own wrongs? We are not to try to ‘help’ others by identifying their sin, while we ignore our own. That kind of super-spiritual elitism is useless, both for the community of the redeemed and the community of humanity. True righteousness comes when people learn to face their own faults and weaknesses with God in acknowledgement and repentance. And only then can they understand how to help others by encouraging them to do the same.

What we may decide is right or wrong in the lives of others will not help us; it will not change us. It will, in fact, only hurt us, and others. Religion has trained us to judge people (with the facade of being concerned about their eternal destiny so we can get the credit for ministering "in love" and another notch in our witnessing belt. But, for every child of God, there must come a time when we determine to make a concerted effort to learn how to mind our own business and understand that sin is not what we think it is in the lives of others, but what God says it is in our own.

Being sin conscious is the reason we judge people for what we think is sin in their lives...being God conscious will lead us to deal with sin in our own lives and realize that He has already forgiven that sin and desires a loving relationship with us. 

Please don't be so naive as to think that I am condoning living a loose lifestyle that harms people and godliness. But don't judge others because they may sin differently that what you as a Christian do or judge them on what you have deemed to be sin.