Missing God’s perfect mark
OR
A willful violation of a known law of God?
I think these two common definitions connect to views on preservation of saints
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In Sunday School, they gave me the definition “Anything we think, say, or do that breaks God’s law.” I do agree with that, but I also agree with my pastor who said, “We aren’t sinners because we sin, we sin because we’re sinners.” I think that both are valid views. I think the definition does matter, because I’m not sure how a person would get saved otherwise. I admit, there is a strong possibility that I’m wrong. But until I’m proved wrong, that’s my stance on this issue.
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He’s over the target. We sin, because we are human. It’s a human condition, and it’s so interesting that scripture equates sin, with flesh-- like you don’t have one without the other.
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That’s what my pastor was saying. I like to think of it like this: A lion is not a lion because it hunts, it hunts because it’s a lion.
I agree that it’s simply a description of the human condition. Verses such as “all have sinned” and “our best deed are filthy rags,” etc., express this. It’s why Jesus equates looking at a woman with lust to actual adultery. To be human is to be sinful and estranged from God’s perfect holiness. Certainly some thoughts and conduct are not sinful at all, some are passively or trivially sinful, and some are extremely sinful, but “being sinful” is simply the human condition. The notion of original sin likewise expresses this.
Bingo. I think you nailed it. I think Jesus understood perfectly what sin is and he puts it in perfect perspective. Few are able to accept what he actually said, and what scripture references with respect to what he said. But it’s a tender topic that Christians freak out over, not understanding the flesh, much-less the spirit.
That’s why I think he spoke in impossibilities - love your enemies, lustful thoughts are equivalent to adultery, etc., etc. It’s a way of saying, “You’re human, you’re not holy, accept this reality, be thankful for God’s grace and try to live by the two great commandments.” But the typical believer beats his or her head against the wall trying to love enemies and stifling lustful thoughts and feeling guilty when it never seems to work,
It begs the uncomfortable question-- Was Jesus human? Fully human? “Like us in every way,” or not?
*It begs the uncomfortable question-- Was Jesus human? Fully human? “Like us in every way,” or not?
Since Jesus’ time, every branch of Christianity, including the heresies, has been a not-entirely-convincing effort to deal with the two great mysteries: (1) Who did Jesus think he was and what was he trying to accomplish, and (2) who was he, actually?
Do you have a perspective on those two questions?
A perspective, perhaps, but one to which I’d apply my own phrase of “not entirely convincing.” I think we have to do the best we can to make our peace with those two mysteries and live accordingly.
Sin is a force within each person that motivates them to act contrary to God’s will.