On Sin and Love

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A note from me: I am writing this post because I see a need. It seems that once again changes coming up in our society have many of us  fearful.  Many of us are afraid of the growing social acceptance of things we’ve long thought of as sinful, specifically  homosexuality and the growing demand of the LGBT community for equal rights. I am not writing  a political statement and will not address politics. I’m writing as a Christian, I am writing as someone who fiercely  loves people  on both sides, sees how much hurt and anger is  in each, and feels for both. But most importantly, I am writing as someone devoted to  God, who is Love. So I am writing to share and explore what the Bible says about sin, what Jesus taught about how should we  treat each other, and the salvation of Love.

Sin is a little word with a big emotional impact. When you read it, you probably have an immediate  visceral response. It often brings about feelings of judgement, specifically, of being judged and being found guilty.

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The bible mentions the word sin in some form or another somewhere around 800 times. And we sure do hear it in church, how we are born sinners, and how we shouldn’t sin, and most importantly, what is considered a sin. On the internet, in the news, in magazines,and in politics, we are hearing about what folks hear the Bible say is right and what is wrong, about Christian values, and what behaviors should not be accepted.  Currently, the political struggle of the LGBT community to secure equal rights has fanned the flames of much passion, which for many comes down to whether being gay or lesbian, transgendered , and bisexual is a sin.

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But though we know it as a Christian word, it’s actually been around a long time. Though ancestors of the word meant guilt in Old Norse and Latin, it’s also  the 22nd  letter of the Hebrew alphabet , the 12th letter of the Arabic alphabet, a mathematical function, slang for artificially produced marijuana, and the Akkadian god of the moon.

But interestingly enough, I think it’s true meaning comes from one it’s it’s  Latin counterparts, sine, which means lacking or without. We look at the word sin and stop at it’s connotation with bad or wrong behavior, behavior contrary to God.We are taught that the story of Adam and Eve shows us that sin is disobedience to God.  But I think it’s more–it’s the apparent separation from God.  Eve and Adam used the God-given freedom of their minds to choose to know the world for themselves, and ushered in humanity as we know it, a race that is inherently bi-polar; that is it experiences itself in two distinct ways–from it’s environment, and from  an almost wordless part of itself that knows itself as more. The mundane and the divine.

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Sin  is that apparent separation between us and God/ the Divine. We aren’t really separate, but our experiences in the created world tells us we are. We commit sins, that is we act against our true nature of  union with the Divine, because our daily lives make it difficult to  accept ourselves as God’s children.

In  John 8:6-11, Jesus saves an adulterous woman from being stoned by asking those without sin to throw the first rock: “But Jesus bent down and started to write on the ground with his finger. When they kept on questioning him, he straightened up and said to them, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. At this, those who heard began to go away one at a time, the older ones first, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.Jesus straightened up and asked her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?”“No one, sir,” she said.“Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus declared. “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

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We can read that and hear Jesus saying not to break the commandments. But  when we read his teachings about love, like  Luke 6:27-38,  Matthew 22:34-40, John 13:34-35 ,  a bigger picture emerges, one of Jesus calling us to leave our life of separation with God, to accept his boundless, infinite love, and to give ourselves over to it,  to see that through God’s love, grace and mercy, we are truly His children.

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So therefore, since we are all born in apparent separation from God, since we all have to struggle through life to find out who we are, what purpose is there in categorizing sin and sinners? Matthew 7:1-5 speaks to this clearly;  Judge not, that ye be not judged.  For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.   Romans 3  tells us we are all sinners, and that all people who seek God and accept God’s love will have it.   We aren’t drawn closer to the  knowledge that we are God’s child by someone telling us we are evil. Neither Jesus, nor Buddha nor Mohammed spread God’s message through condemnation–they all came extolling the virtue and saving grace of love. And neither will we save ourselves or anyone else by judging evil, and counting sin.  On the contrary, we are told to fix our eyes and heart not on our troubles, but on God.( 2 Corinthians 4:16-18). We are told to think of the admirable and good things of life, ( Philippians 4:8) and to forgive unconditionally (Matthew 6:14-15).

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So when we see someone who is different,what should we do? We can remember that inside, they are the same as us, they are someone who is  lost, and who doesn’t know themselves as God’s child. We can do what God does for us; love them. Love them with all our hearts. If it’s difficult, we may have to go back a step or two and work on accepting and forgiving ourselves for our own separation from God and the things we’ve done against our Divine nature because of it. God understands and forgives us, give yourself a great gift and forgive yourself so you can truly accept that forgiveness and love.  Once we stop judging and condemning ourselves, we often find we have no need to judge and condemn others.

Love and blessings ,

Sam.