Webster's Dictionary defines "SIN" with the following:
- an offense against religious or moral law
- an action that is or is felt to be highly reprehensible
- an often serious shortcoming; a fault
- transgression of the law of God
- a vitiated state of human nature in which the self is estranged (separated) from God.
So, Webster's dictionary seems to have a pretty good handle on humanity's understanding of what sin is. In fact, I would say this list of definitions is a good representation of what sin is from man's point of view.
But, what about from God's point of view? What is God's definition of "sin"?
The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah seem to best represent God's attitude toward sin. If you aren't familiar with the story, I recommend you start reading in Genesis 18:16 through to the end of chapter 19 to get the full story of Sodom and Gomorrah.
There is no denying the sin of Sodom was "very great". What most people know of Sodom is the sexual perversion that has come to define the city. In fact, it is the story of Sodom's sexual perversion that coined the term "sodomy" in our modern vernacular. This perversion is detailed for us throughout Genesis 18 and 19 and is certainly reprehensible to anyone with a functioning moral compass. It is this sexual perversion that most people fixate on when the subject of Sodom and Gomorrah comes up and the more self-righteous among us like to use this story as a proof of God's hatred for sin and sinners.
However, before we join in the chorus of condemning these ancient perverts and assigning the title "hater of sinners" to God's name, I would ask a question. When reading the exchange between Abraham and the Lord in Genesis 18, specifically the "will you kill the righteous with the wicked" line of dialogue, do you believe God would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah if He had been able to find 10 righteous people in the city?
If the answer is 'yes', and there is no reason to believe the answer would be otherwise, then the remaining question begs an answer: what was the catalyst for God's decision to destroy the cities, the presence of sin or the absence of righteous people?
For those among us that tend toward believing in God's intense hatred for morally bankrupt people (or 'sinners'), the answer to this question is clear. God destroyed Sodom because He hates sin and sinners and those wicked perverts deserved the divine judgement and subsequent death and destruction they received.
However, what if the real reason God destroyed Sodom had less to do with the perverted actions of a people who did not know Him and more to do with the actions and attitudes of those people who supposedly did? What if God's view of sin isn't as cut and dried as punishing people that we feel deserve hellfire and brimstone? What if God's perspective on sin has more to do with the actions of His people than the actions of the people outside of His camp?
Generations of Christians have been taught that God hates sin and loves the sinner; and I believe that sentiment to be accurate. If the gospel of Jesus Christ truly is for 'whosoever will', then we have to understand that God's hatred for sin does not translate into hatred for the people who commit such acts. After all, one of the most powerful and popular verses of scripture in the entire Bible starts with the phrase, "For God so loved the world..." That doesn't sound much like a God that is motived by hatred for perverted people.
So, if God truly hates the sin and loves the sinner, where does that leave the bulk of our Christian teachings about punishment for sin? How does one reconcile the love God supposedly has for humanity with the doctrine of eternal torment in Hell for those who die 'in their sin'?
Obviously this is a very deep and heavy subject that won't be adequately discussed in this simple blog post, but I will say that God's form of punishment for the sins of the world is the same as God's reasons for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. Again, I believe the divine perspective on sin has less to do with the attitudes and actions of people who don't know Him and more to do with the attitudes and actions of those who do.
To get a little deeper into this, I'd like to take you to what I call the Bible's definitive list of the sins God hates. This list is found in Proverbs 6:16-19. What should be most surprising about this list of sins God hates isn't what is on the list; it's what isn't. If you look carefully at this list, you'll find that the attitudes and actions that would be on most of Christianity's top seven list (homosexuality, sexual perversion, drunkenness, etc) do not even get an honorable mention. In fact, a closer look at the list reveals God's perspective isn't so much on the actions of people as it is on the heart. If you're a student of scripture and have a healthy understanding of the whole counsel of God's Word, this fact is hardly a revelation.
The other point I'd like to bring out is just how prevalent the final sin on God's list is in most of our churches. The damage that has been done to the Body of Christ over centuries of His people ignoring God's hatred of 'sowing discord among the brethren' is impossible to understate. Just in my short lifetime, I have seen more destruction within a church setting accomplished by those who completely ignore Proverbs 6:19 than had a parade of homosexuals, prostitutes, and drunks through the average church auditorium. I have witnessed the permanent closing of several churches in my lifetime. None of those church doors closed because of sexual perversion or drug abuse. All of them closed because of the selfishness, self-governance, and pride-filled actions of people who were supposed to be on the same team as the rest of God's people.
And that is the point to this blog post. Despite Webster's definition, the true definition sin is not moral failings or offense against religious laws. God's definition of sin can actually be found in the spelling of the word "sin" itself. When you spell out the word "SIN", it's fairly easy to see the word is centered on the personal pronoun "I". That is the source of sin. When "I" am the center of my world, the result of that attitude is separation from God, or "sin".
The most deadly sins aren't the observable actions of morally bankrupt people. The sins that has God's full attention and that make His top seven list of things He hates can be summed up in the single word "PRIDE" (In fact, this spelling example works for the word "PRIDE" too.). When we choose to ignore our Creator's Word, Will, and Ways in favor of our own, we place ourselves in the position that belongs to God. HE is the King of Kings but when we choose to rebel against His instructions, His perfect kingdom is replaced with our own warped version that is dysfunctional and flawed to its core.
Many people like to blame God for all of the horrors that occur in the world. From national crises to personal issues, God is a very easy target to blame for everything bad that happens in the world. For the self-righteous among us, it is popular to place the blame for all evil onto the shoulders of "sinners"; from politicians to prostitutes and everything in between. In either case, the sin of pride colors the perspective of the one who loudly lays blame for society's ills onto everyone else.
But I repeat the question I posed earlier, are the sins of our society more a product of the immoral attitudes and actions of people who do not know God or the product of the attitudes and actions of the people who do?
Put another way, what difference would there be in our world if ALL of God's people operated as a united front instead of as a splintered, fragmented collection of churches? What change would happen in our nation if God's people were more interested in focusing on what binds us together instead of fixating on the differences that separate us? How would a unified army of God-led, Holy Spirit-filled saints affect our communities, our schools, our city halls, and police stations?
What difference would 10 righteous people have made in Sodom and Gomorrah?
MORE TO COME...
There is no denying the sin of Sodom was "very great". What most people know of Sodom is the sexual perversion that has come to define the city. In fact, it is the story of Sodom's sexual perversion that coined the term "sodomy" in our modern vernacular. This perversion is detailed for us throughout Genesis 18 and 19 and is certainly reprehensible to anyone with a functioning moral compass. It is this sexual perversion that most people fixate on when the subject of Sodom and Gomorrah comes up and the more self-righteous among us like to use this story as a proof of God's hatred for sin and sinners.
However, before we join in the chorus of condemning these ancient perverts and assigning the title "hater of sinners" to God's name, I would ask a question. When reading the exchange between Abraham and the Lord in Genesis 18, specifically the "will you kill the righteous with the wicked" line of dialogue, do you believe God would have spared Sodom and Gomorrah if He had been able to find 10 righteous people in the city?
If the answer is 'yes', and there is no reason to believe the answer would be otherwise, then the remaining question begs an answer: what was the catalyst for God's decision to destroy the cities, the presence of sin or the absence of righteous people?
For those among us that tend toward believing in God's intense hatred for morally bankrupt people (or 'sinners'), the answer to this question is clear. God destroyed Sodom because He hates sin and sinners and those wicked perverts deserved the divine judgement and subsequent death and destruction they received.
However, what if the real reason God destroyed Sodom had less to do with the perverted actions of a people who did not know Him and more to do with the actions and attitudes of those people who supposedly did? What if God's view of sin isn't as cut and dried as punishing people that we feel deserve hellfire and brimstone? What if God's perspective on sin has more to do with the actions of His people than the actions of the people outside of His camp?
Generations of Christians have been taught that God hates sin and loves the sinner; and I believe that sentiment to be accurate. If the gospel of Jesus Christ truly is for 'whosoever will', then we have to understand that God's hatred for sin does not translate into hatred for the people who commit such acts. After all, one of the most powerful and popular verses of scripture in the entire Bible starts with the phrase, "For God so loved the world..." That doesn't sound much like a God that is motived by hatred for perverted people.
So, if God truly hates the sin and loves the sinner, where does that leave the bulk of our Christian teachings about punishment for sin? How does one reconcile the love God supposedly has for humanity with the doctrine of eternal torment in Hell for those who die 'in their sin'?
Obviously this is a very deep and heavy subject that won't be adequately discussed in this simple blog post, but I will say that God's form of punishment for the sins of the world is the same as God's reasons for destroying Sodom and Gomorrah. Again, I believe the divine perspective on sin has less to do with the attitudes and actions of people who don't know Him and more to do with the attitudes and actions of those who do.
To get a little deeper into this, I'd like to take you to what I call the Bible's definitive list of the sins God hates. This list is found in Proverbs 6:16-19. What should be most surprising about this list of sins God hates isn't what is on the list; it's what isn't. If you look carefully at this list, you'll find that the attitudes and actions that would be on most of Christianity's top seven list (homosexuality, sexual perversion, drunkenness, etc) do not even get an honorable mention. In fact, a closer look at the list reveals God's perspective isn't so much on the actions of people as it is on the heart. If you're a student of scripture and have a healthy understanding of the whole counsel of God's Word, this fact is hardly a revelation.
The other point I'd like to bring out is just how prevalent the final sin on God's list is in most of our churches. The damage that has been done to the Body of Christ over centuries of His people ignoring God's hatred of 'sowing discord among the brethren' is impossible to understate. Just in my short lifetime, I have seen more destruction within a church setting accomplished by those who completely ignore Proverbs 6:19 than had a parade of homosexuals, prostitutes, and drunks through the average church auditorium. I have witnessed the permanent closing of several churches in my lifetime. None of those church doors closed because of sexual perversion or drug abuse. All of them closed because of the selfishness, self-governance, and pride-filled actions of people who were supposed to be on the same team as the rest of God's people.
And that is the point to this blog post. Despite Webster's definition, the true definition sin is not moral failings or offense against religious laws. God's definition of sin can actually be found in the spelling of the word "sin" itself. When you spell out the word "SIN", it's fairly easy to see the word is centered on the personal pronoun "I". That is the source of sin. When "I" am the center of my world, the result of that attitude is separation from God, or "sin".
The most deadly sins aren't the observable actions of morally bankrupt people. The sins that has God's full attention and that make His top seven list of things He hates can be summed up in the single word "PRIDE" (In fact, this spelling example works for the word "PRIDE" too.). When we choose to ignore our Creator's Word, Will, and Ways in favor of our own, we place ourselves in the position that belongs to God. HE is the King of Kings but when we choose to rebel against His instructions, His perfect kingdom is replaced with our own warped version that is dysfunctional and flawed to its core.
Many people like to blame God for all of the horrors that occur in the world. From national crises to personal issues, God is a very easy target to blame for everything bad that happens in the world. For the self-righteous among us, it is popular to place the blame for all evil onto the shoulders of "sinners"; from politicians to prostitutes and everything in between. In either case, the sin of pride colors the perspective of the one who loudly lays blame for society's ills onto everyone else.
But I repeat the question I posed earlier, are the sins of our society more a product of the immoral attitudes and actions of people who do not know God or the product of the attitudes and actions of the people who do?
Put another way, what difference would there be in our world if ALL of God's people operated as a united front instead of as a splintered, fragmented collection of churches? What change would happen in our nation if God's people were more interested in focusing on what binds us together instead of fixating on the differences that separate us? How would a unified army of God-led, Holy Spirit-filled saints affect our communities, our schools, our city halls, and police stations?
What difference would 10 righteous people have made in Sodom and Gomorrah?
MORE TO COME...
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