Saturday 17 December 2011

What is sin?


WHAT IS SIN?
Can't man just obey simple instructions? what kind of a people are we that when told not to we do and when told to we don't, what makes you feel if you were Adam you would have obeyed yet when told not to do you still keep on doing it and when told to do you don't yet you know the consequences of each or both. Perhaps this(sin) happens to be one of the most commonly heard word in our life though among the hard things to opt to talk about, it reminds me of my first question among my youth group in my current placement; what is life. The reality of the matter is that sin is there its real and it exist among the people and in fact its one of the things that the scripture says has a wage which is death. I do not really know what comes to your mind when you hear this name mentioned. Do you think of  racism, terrorism, tribalism,pride,covetousness,cohabiting, environmental pollution,sexual immorality, idolatry, corruption, materialism, godlessness,hatred, anger, rape, murder, theft, cheating, gossiping, or evening making a computer viruses or even human viruses, devil worshiping.. and the list is endless or do you think of sin according to levels where you think some sins are more sin than others or do you just simplify sin to right and wrong?
Lets see what the intellects are saying in Oxford Dictionary; n. Transgression, esp. conscious, against divine law or principles of morality ., deadly or mortal-, such as causes death of the soul or is fatal to salvation

I also found this in a website called; All About God;
"We live in a culture where the concept of sin has become entangled in legalistic arguments over right and wrong. When many of us consider "What is sin?" we think of violations of the Ten Commandments. Even then, we tend to think of murder and adultery as "major" sins compared with lying, cursing, or idolatry. The truth is that sin, as defined in the original translations of the Bible, means "to miss the mark." The mark, in this case, is the standard of perfection established by God and evidenced by Jesus. Viewed in that light, it is clear that we are all sinners."

Well i believe all this are good definitions or remarks about sin but they may not be satisfactory, well one thing i keep asking myself  is how did sin come about. Its originated from Satan Ezekiel 28:15 and his angels and then it came to man. Its a wide topic but we will try to see how man fell from his perfect relationship with God. I personally believe the Holy Bible which is the word of God and it says very well about the origin of man's sinfulness which is in Genesis 3. Its wise to acknowledge that God had  created a perfect world and its not his fault that sin came up. The Holy Bible clearly indicates to us that God gave man an opportunity to rule all the earth and to be fruitful and above this he was given simple instructions of what to do and what not to do. One of the options was to obey God and that is what God told him to, however the devil deceived man and man ended up taking a wrong advice and evil in exchange of the divine one from God  the sad bit was that it was based on a lie for there was no way and never will there be a time when the created will be in the same position as the Creator. I find this as the first 'sin' or the original sin, man wanting to be equal with God. Sin is not just doing bad, it is more serious than that, it is a rebellion against the Almighty God. Its about going against God's will and ways. Adam and Eve wanted to please themselves, not God. They did not want God's direction on what to do  yet he created them and gave them the mind and intellect, the Holy Bible says he made man in His own image. We who are Adam's children sin like him. In Adam's case he wanted to please his own desires and we too when we sin fulfill our evil desires instead of what God wants for us.
Ultimately sin is an act against God and it affects our whole being as N.I.V puts it; it can be seen in the outward acts that people commit though its a manifestation of a corrupted moral and spiritual nature that causes us to commit this acts.
It affects our will (John 8:34), our Mind (1Cor1:21), our emotions(Romans 1:24-27), our thoughts(Mark 7:21), Our behavior(Gal 5:19-21), Our speech(Psalms 5:9).  Sin came with the following consequences.
1. Sin made man ruin himself; he felt ashamed and feared to stand before God. (Gen 3:7)
2. Sin made men ruin each other; hatred and fights (Gen 3:12,16)
3.Sin ruined and still ruins the world (Gen 3:17-19)
4. Worst of all sin spoiled our perfect relationship with our Maker and God (Genesis 3:10,22-24)
Conclusion;
This does not mean that this all there is about sin for its only an overview. However I will conclude by saying that; Sin is the root cause of all evil and all mankind problem's, be they wars, crimes disease, poverty or death. The ultimate penalty was passed on to us by God which is death - in the present; separation from God and in the future being cast into eternal damnation in hell. Feel free to comment on this or to ask any question as we await to know how or where then is our hope.

Gatambia Newton.

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