Do you sin? In our modern enlightened
world, we don’t take such things seriously any more. In history, sin has been a concept abused by churches,
parents and governments used to control and manipulate. Our enlightened institutions of higher
learning, reflecting our society, have seen through the manipulation, control
aspects of “sin” and rightfully refer to it now as an old superstition. But, we
went a step to far and threw the baby out with the bath water, throwing it all out in contradiction to self
proclaimed intellectual honesty and “open” mindedness. The way our society has dealt with sin is
similar to a person who believes all dogs bad because they were bitten by
one. It is true the dog that bit them
un-provoked is a “bad” dog, but it does not follow that all dogs are bad.
The aspect of sin that led us to throw
it out without much persuasion when we were once bitten was the aspect of
accountability. Sin brings with it an
aspect of not being able to do as we please, and since we were truly bit by the
dog once, it was easy to do away with all dogs
Though this was not honest, it was convenient. Consider the outcome of jumping off a ten
story building, the building, the asphalt nor the speed at which you hit the
ground desire to control you. When you
choose to jump, the laws of nature take over and your jumping will take its
effect when you land, nothing personal.
Sin, like choosing to jump has its
effect, nothing personal. Sin as taught in the Bible is characterized as a
mimic, a decomposition or distortion of something true or straight. Something that does not meet up to the
original, does not hit the mark. The
English word came from an archery referring to an arrow that did not hit its
intended target.
Consider sun light as seen through a dirty
magnifying glass. The glass distorts the
light and has a natural effect on it as governed by the natural laws of
physics. Given the right circumstance the distortion in the glass can cause the
light to burn. Sin is represented by
this glass, where man is the glass that is distorting God, not perfectly
reflecting or conveying Him. This distortion
or contamination, caused by our choices contrary to God choice has figuratively
now and in the future actually set the world on fire. This fire will, not only destroy an object,
but can also destroy the glass.
The distortion in “our glass” that is
not rightly witnessing God is caused by the phenomenon of love and free
will. Love, as it was created means to
look out for another’s best interest without violation of the receiver’s choice
or free will. To be love, this must also
be done by the “lover” freely, giving and doing, not by constraint but of
choice. God calls himself love, and in so doing bound himself by his choice to
look out for our interest without violation of our free will.
God also defined himself as
true. The light coming from Him is
straight, testifying to what he is without distortion. By our free will choices
to be contrary to what is in his best interests, by being and acting contrary
to his words, we have distorted him in a universe that is true. We are the glass, he is the light distorted
through it. The net effect of our distortion is the equivalent of an atomic
blast. If an atom is split, it must
release its energy. So, if something is
not true, it will be affected in an adverse way what it passing through
it. [i]Created
in his image, our choices will destroy us for the natural effect of not being
able to correctly pass his light, radiation or “glory” as the bible calls
it. This “heat” makes it so no man can
stand before God and live. The good news
is that God’s love, in looking to our best interest, to live, has placed
himself in our place. Like a box over an
atomic blast that is strong enough to contain the blast, so he has absorbed the
“blast” of sin. The effects of sin or the
distortion we have caused by our choice he has by choice, chosen to not only
absorb but found a way to repair.
On this earth, and possibly in this universe
a story is playing out. It’s a story of
free will, cause and effect, the violation of the law of love. Man, by not looking out for God’s best
interest, not loving him[ii], has
violated this law and set in motion a painful story. On this stage is playing
out a real life story that affects the very life of the actors. In this story, where the all powerful has
made himself vulnerable to the not so powerful.
In this story scenes love requires real life acts that cost the actors
up to their very lives. Romeo and Juliet
have no thing on this love story.
[i] This is why our planet has
a reasonably even temperature to it. The gasses in our atmosphere absorb the
suns radiation, or light passing through it. The winds caused by this
absorption further twist and churn the gases thought-out the surface of whole
plant, with the net effect of evening out the temperature.
[ii] John 14:15"If
you love me, you will obey what I command.
