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OBJECTIONS AGAINST THE CONCEPT OF SIN

I tweeted from @gospelapplied (shameless plug to follow) earlier today the following <140 character thought:

Someone, then, decided to tweet back saying:

“Sin is a  psychological control and conversion mechanism used by Christian clergy”

At his response, I found the inspiration for this blog post. I wasn’t going to ensue on a heated and pointless twitter discussion with someone I don’t know, so I figured this was a better outlet for further discussion about potential objections non-Christians might raise against the Christian’s (Bible’s) concept of sin.

A couple thoughts flooded to the front of my mind when I first read his response, thoughts that happily exceeded the 140 character limit. Of course, my thoughts are certainly not exhaustive nor completely comprehensive nor completely adequate responses toward the objected subject. So with a quick disclaimer, I am just writing down primary personal thoughts:

Here are several:

1. Well, if this guy is defining ‘sin’ as merely a label for “psychological control and conversion mechanism”, then what do you call rape, murder, thief, lying, pride, greed? Surely, you cannot weasel around the notion that they don’t exist or that they aren’t bad. Of course they exist, and of course they are bad. Certainly all people agree that these acts are ‘not good’. So…what to call them? Furthermore, what do you call the forces and attitudes and motivations that are operating behind such behaviors?

2. This notion that things “aren’t right” or “aren’t as they should be” presupposes upon the idea that we all have an innate sense of what is right, good, and true. CS Lewis profoundly speaks in his book Mere Christianity upon this very issue, saying “a man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line” (p. 54). Similarly, if we agree that things are not right, we must accept that we know the difference between right and wrong. They are not arbitrary or fluid ideas. They exist, and they exist in a way that all people can agree upon, which is a pretty strong proof for something called ‘sin’ anyways (call it whatever you like… it exists, it is not good, it proves the existence of goodness, thus it revealing a standard of what good and bad ought to be).

3. Christianity describes the concept of sin as not just an action, but as a state of the heart that one’s actions flow from. Kind of like nerve signals from the brain–the inner brain signals for the external body to do, and then, they do. Similarly, our behavior flows from what is in our hearts. Idolatry stimulates acts of greed. Insecurity stimulates acts of jealousy. Pride stimulates acts of selfishness.

But that’s not all. Sin, as a whole, does not just manifest in the problem of the human heart. It is also cosmic. It has affected all of creation. Many people try to argue that God is not good by saying that while rape, murder, pride, thievery, etc can be humanity’s blame, we certainly didn’t cause the tornadoes that ripped through Oklahoma or the hurricanes that devastated New Orleans, and the like.

Sin–though as first a human act–reversed the natural order. But hear me out: The natural order was the environmental context and ecology that hosted humanity’s relationship with God in the beginning. But when Adam rebelled against God, he not only sinned against God, but also against creation: he rebelled against God by not following his orders about how to keep it. Of course, pride and unbelief were at the bottom of Adam’s sin, but neglect of and exploitation of creation to fulfill those areas of pride and unbelief was certainly involved. Hence, creation suffered in the act of and as a result of our cosmic sin against the Creator.

“And the LORD God commanded the man, saying ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17)

And as a result:

“For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Rom. 8:20-21)

Sin, then, is a Christian concept that describes at both the micro and macro level, and at both the spiritual and physical level, the “not-rightness” that currently plagues every part of reality as we know it.

But the gospel redeems and restores both–the human heart and the absolute cosmic-ness of all of creation. It is working all things back to their original order when all things created lived in harmony with the Creator. And in the love for all things, the Creator bore the justice for our sin into his own body, “abolishing the wall of hostility” (Eph 2:16) between God and man and in creation, and now offers us His righteousness in exchange. And to all who believe on him have the right to become children of God, secured to the new heaven and new earth when all things will be right and good forever, under its rightful, good Ruler. (Jn. 1:12)