Sin City

Today I was on USA Today.com and found an article called "Has the 'notion of sin' been lost?". It's an interesting article and the first sentence poses the question "Is sin dead?" My first thought-Sin's dead? How could this happen? I also wondered how old sin was when he died and if maybe he wasn't dead, but just missing and if his family was ok.

Essentially, the article was about how people in the post-modern world thought of sin and what was considered sin and pastor concern regarding said sin. There were a few things in the article I found funny or interesting.

A new survey by Ellison Research in Phoenix finds 87% of U.S. adults believe in the existence of sin, which is defined as, "something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective." - Apparently sin is now living next to the Easter Bunny and is dating the Tooth Fairy.

The article then gives the results of the survey by ranking specific sins in order from worst to not so bad according to the percentage of Americans who view the specific sins as actually being sins.

Topping the list are adultery (81%) and racism (74%), but other sins no longer draw the majority of condemnation. Premarital sex? Only 45% call it sin. Gambling? Just 30% say it's sinful. - Premarital sex really needs to get with it...come on gambling 30% you're just embarrassing yourself!

Also on the list were swearing (46%), smoking pot (41%) and not attending church regularly (18%).

Referenced in the article is Michael Horton, a Westminster Seminary professor, who discusses the notion that most people know what sin is despite not believing in it anymore. He says that people are trading happiness for holiness without the reference point of God.

In short, sin isn't trendy. It makes people feel bad and nobody wants that. I guess I'm wondering how sin became a noun? Is sin dead?, 87% of people believe in the existence of sin. Is sin really something I can believe in and change the definition of?

I've got a wacky idea, what if sin is a verb?

Instead of being something I can make a list of and check off what makes me feel bad or what things I don't do, what if sin were something else.

What if sin was the action of doing something that damaged my relationship with God or other people?

Hear me out kids...what if gambling (30% on the list) wasn't defined as sin that I either did or didn't do based on how bad I thought it was. What if gambling became sinful when it damaged my relationship with someone? For example, I became addicted to gambling, stole money to pay off debts, lost my girlfriend and wound up in jail...

Or what about sex before marriage (45% on the list). What if virginity wasn't something I checked off at night so I could rack up more Jesus Points. What if sex before marriage is discouraged because it could simply make make someone get emotionally attached to me and then it not work out?

Don't confuse me for a saint...because a saint I am not, but sin has never seemed like a check list and doesn't seem like it should be based on my definition of right or wrong. Jesus once answered a question, once, by saying that the two greatest commandments were to love God more than anything and to love others more than yourself. It seems doing anything adverse to this would be sin. This would make being grouchy a sin. On my own I can't fix this problem because I'm grouchy a lot...and if God hates things that hurt relationships with others and won't let these things (lumped together to be called sin) into Heaven...then I'm out...I'm not going...

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I may be able to apologize to someone for saying something hurtful, but there will always be a little damage left over...and for God to allow any of that hurt relationship in..the left over distrust or unspoken resentment...it would dirty up His house...He'd be less than Holy. The only way for me to repair my relationship with God...the only way to be where He is would be to have a Savior...someone who could take this sin from me and make me holy instead of me trying to be just good...someone who could restore and heal the damage I'd done...someone like Jesus.