Whatever became of sin?

Whatever Became of Sin?

          Karl Menninger

“The Seven Social Sins are:

Wealth without work.

Pleasure without conscience.

Knowledge without character.

Commerce without morality.

Science without humanity.

Worship without sacrifice.

Politics without principle.

                     From a sermon given by Frederick Lewis Donaldson

                     in Westminster Abbey, London, on March 20, 1925.”

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SIN

It is funny how so often those shouting about

what they consider the evils of the world

capitalize the word

its not

sin, or

Sin, its

SIN!!!!!!!

I can almost see them foaming at the mouth

I am certainly not going to suggest

that things are not “right with this world”

and I am not going to suggest that the image of God

is not “blurred” in most of us

blurred almost beyond recognition.

sin is certainly a powerful topic

it is so powerful in fact, that many people actually act,

in practical terms, as if the Bible begins in Genesis 3 (the fall)

rather than in Genesis 1 (the creation)

For some everything hinges around the choice made by

Adam and Eve to eat that damn apple

in their search to “be like God”

(which reflects, if nothing else, a lust for power)

People seem to forget that in the first two chapters

God creates

And IT IS GOOD

and men and women are created

“in the image of God”

Yeah!

We may be a mess folk

Be we carry divine DNA
We are created as Sacred Children

How can we forget that before there was

what many call “original sin”

there was “original blessing”

But let’s get back to sin

The Bible certainly talks about

And gets pretty specific about it (in some cases)

There are sins of commission, where people do

things they perhaps ought not do.

There are sins of omission, where people don’t do

what they really ought to do.

Sins come in all kinds of shapes and sizes

From getting a tattoo

To mixing fabric

To lying,

To murder

Some prohibitions are clearly meant

Simply to keep people safe

(don’t eat shellfish)

And some are clearly more profound

getting to the heart of what it means to be

in the image

ad imaginem

Its complicated

So let me make just a couple of observations

1.  We tend to focus on sins of commission not omission.  We get all excited about someone lying (for example), but don’t have the same passion over a lack of compassion.

2.  We define the sins of commission differently, depending.  What does it mean to steal?  To take someone’s wallet or purse?  Sometimes we see little thefts as huge, while ignoring corporate corruption, tax evasions by the very rich, which is where the big thefts are likely to be found. 

3.   Often we just choose to close our eyes to sins, failing to call out sin, and thus enabling it.  This is rank denial.  We choose to believe lies that are convenient, and sometimes not only excuse but idolize evil. 

3.  We are very subjective about sin.  The sins we yell about are the sins we don’t think we have.  They involve things we don’t understand or fear (often the same thing).  And we are subjective about the weight of sin.  There are some very profound sins, a greed for example, which we simply excuse.

4.  The people who are most adamant about the idea that “the Bible tells us what is a sin, and a sin is a sin” are often the most likely to have a small stable of sins they focus on, and a huge number of so called “sins” they totally ignore.

5.  We use sin not as a diagnostic but as a weapon

6.  We claim that “all are sinners”, even ourselves, but at some level we don’t really believe that.  Our own awareness of sin pales in comparison to our awareness of the sins of those we disagree with or fear.

This of course, could go on, and on, and on, and on.

But it is interesting to me that when asked about the Law, and the Commandments,

Jesus kept it pretty simply

Love God

And Love your neighbor as your self.

In the two passages where he talks about what we call “hell”,

the only thing he talks about is how we treat the vulnerable

Did we at least share crumbs of our wealth

Did we feed the hungry, clothe the poor, fight for justice?

So I guess it comes down to this

We have Divine DNA

We are designed to be people who loves as God loves

How God loves was revealed in Jesus

God loves all

God welcomes all

So sin is a failure to live the image

Which is a failure to love

Whatever that looks like

Whatever that means

“love one another

 for love comes from God”  (I John 4)

So quit screaming about SIN!

So quit counting the rules

So quit pointing fingers

And love

(OK, this is profoundly incomplete, but at least it starts the conversation)