June 26, 2010
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The Forbidden Word: SIN
The book of Leviticus, with its message about the severity of sin, is not politically correct in today's culture. We may see ourselves as making mistakes, committing errors or having a lapse of judgment, but few people envision themselves as sinners. Journalist Bryan Appleyard says, "Sin doesn't really exist as a serious idea in modern life."
In fact, we live in a blame-shifting culture; we tend to evade responsibility for our actions and point the finger at everyone else--especially society or early childhood trauma -- for our behavior. As one scholar notes, therapists "make it a point of professional honor never to express moral judgments, so the word 'fault' -- let alone the word 'sin' -- will never pass their lips." British theological consultant Alan Mann says that the phrase "It's not your fault" has become a major theme in the way we tell the contemporary story of human responsibility.
One of the problems with this kind of relativism (a theory that conceptions of truth and moral values are not absolute but are relative to the persons or groups holding them) is that it denies there's any moral standard to shoot for. Consequently, there's no failure in meeting that standard -- so then why would we need Jesus? Why would we need a savior? Why do we need rescuing? Why do we need redemption?
Despite many of our therapeutic attempts to deal with human nature, the problem of evil in the human heart is something that keeps making realists of us. G. K. Chesterton described sin as being a fact as practical as potatoes. He said the doctrine of original sin is the only Christian doctrine that can be empirically verified -- just look at the evening news on any given day. The Christian faith talks about human sinfulness and rebellion against God, which we readily see demonstrated throughout the world.
If you take the therapeutic approach, then you're going to treat the killings at Columbine or the 9/11 terrorist attacks as being perpetrated by those who are aberrations (a disorder or abnormal alteration in one's mental state). The killers failed to reach their full potential, which is why they were prompted to commit these atrocities. Some Eastern philosophies might say the problem is ignorance.
Yet those are hollow explanations for the depths of evil that exist around us. To simply gloss over these evil acts by using psychological categories is utterly inadequate to account for them. Sin is a better explanation: we are preoccupied with ourselves and do things the way we want rather than as God wants, which produces destructive results.
Until we bring sin back into our vocabulary, we're not going to take the depths of evil or our moral responsibilities -- or God -- seriously. We don't simply need more therapy to resolve our issues in this fallen world. We need to acknowldge our own guilt and humble ourselves in asking for forgiveness. Otherwise, the therapeutic mindset relives us from making any sort of moral judgments about others or ourselves. It relieves us of taking responsibility for our actions.
There is a moral gap -- an ideal we have fallen short of -- and we need outside assistance to bridge it. We need someone to break into our human situation, someone who can bring forgiveness, who can bring healing, and who can assist us in living the lives we ought to but can't on our own.
from: The Case for Christ Study Bible/the case for Faith
"When anyone is guilty in any of these ways, he must confess in what way he has sinned." Leviticus 5:5
A person cannot truly love others until he/she develops intense love for God. Until he/she truly knows God's heart and sees the world the way He sees it. Then a person would start seeing why God said that 'no one is good, everyone falls short in His glory.' Then a person will see that humans are all in the same SINKING boat, no exception, until Jesus Christ pull a person out of that sinking boat. Hard to fathom?
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