The Cross - Part Three

What is sin?

The word sin comes from, of all places, archery competitions. It was a word used to mean that an arrow had fallen short of the bull’s-eye. The same holds true here. God is holy. And let me say this about holiness. If I were to say to you I am a holy person, you would think that there are certain activities I don’t engage in, there are certain shows I don’t watch, there are certain words I don’t use, there are certain places I don’t go. The holiness of humanity is the absence of something, the holiness of God is the presence of something. God is holy. God is all-good (omnibenevolent). God is just.

We, my dear readers, are not. Malcolm Muggeridge once said that the depravity of man is at once the most denied reality and the most empirically verifiable fact. I have already talked at some length about the nature of humanity in many posts, so I’ll try not to belabor this point. But sin is not just the horrendous evils we see; rape, war, murder, gross pollution, etc. It is also in our daily lives; lying, not caring, being selfish, etc. It is in our research when we believe things not because of the evidence, but rather as Thomas Nagel put it, because we don’t want things to be any other way due to what the entailments of the truth would mean in our lives. Sin is looking away from the beggar, helping yourself to your friend’s food if he is poor, always asking for more, using sicknesses as an excuse, hypocrisy, abuse, being self-righteous, being too strict, being too lenient. In essence, not being perfect – missing the mark of perfection that God is. That is sin, and it is also bondage, and what Jesus came to save us from.

Sin is, ultimately, an attitude towards God; either of passive indifference or active rebellion.

The T-800 says this concerning the destiny of humanity in the shoot-‘em-up film Terminator 2, “It is in your nature to destroy yourselves.” If you will forgive the arguable crassness of the film, it is a worthwhile statement to consider.

And although justice may be all well and good when it is time to even the score with a lover who jilted us, a friend who betrayed us, we don’t think its alright when someone wants to even the score with us. But God is just with everyone. C.S. Lewis said this concerning judgment day, that it will not be necessary for God to point out how we failed to live up to His will for us, rather he will just have to point out where we failed to live up to even our own expectations for ourselves.” Why is that? Because apart from God, it is impossible to live in a meaningfully consistent way.