I have been pondering on your question about sin. The process has caused me to organize my thoughts on the subject, and for that I thank you.
Here’s what I think, emphasis on what I think. This is my opinion, and it may or may not reflect accepted dogma. It may not even be right. But it seems to fit the evidence as I have experienced it.
We learned from Kimberly Zink and John Edwards, or earlier, that “every moment is a choice, and every choice has costs and benefits.” I believe that statement to be true, as far as it goes. What we often do not take into account is the fact that all our choices are interrelated. We tend to look at our choices as affecting ourselves and do not look at the effects they have on others. Some of the more empathetic of us can view our choices in light of the effects they have on our close family members or close co-workers, but I think very few ever consider that all of our choices are connected to all the choices available to everybody else in the world. Thus, a choice I make today in Scottsdale, Arizona affects Dean in Idaho Falls, Idaho but it also affects a pregnant mother in Nice, France and a ten year old boy in Taipei, Taiwan, and everyone else in the world. Conversely, a choice made by a factory worker in Turkey affects the choice set available to me and to you and the French lady, and so on.
This set of choices, available moment by moment to billions of people in the world, is so huge that we humans cannot even begin to comprehend it. But God can. Not only can He comprehend it, He can synthesize it and integrate it and see, moment by moment, the best possible outcome for all the choices. In His love for us, He then advises us, counsels us, on what the best selection for us will be. He does not compel us or order us to choose a certain way; He has given us freedom to choose and in His steadfast love He will not renege on His promise, but He does give us the benefit of His counsel. We hear it, I think, as the “still, small voice” that speaks to us from somewhere back behind the conscious portion of our brains.
The problem with all of this, of course, is that we don’t always listen. Let me rephrase that: I don’t always listen. I won’t speak for you but I must confess that I frequently listen to my desires of the moment, or to my fears, or to my programs, or even to the Evil One, rather than to the wise counsel of God. And when I do that, I am sure that God must be disappointed in me. He gave me talent, He gave me intelligence, He gives me good advice and I don’t even listen? How disappointing is that?
All of this takes me away from the face of God; it alienates me, it estranges me, to my own detriment. It is my loss and it is my own doing. That, my friend, is sin.
To be sure, none of these is a heinous act. I am not an axe murderer, I am not a rapist, I am not a homicide bomber. I don’t even rob convenience stores or run red lights. But I do commit small transgressions, small errors that estrange me from the glory of God. And I do that out of fear, out of pride, or anger or whatever, even when God has counseled me otherwise. The problem with this is that if I can’t be trusted with the small things, how can I be trusted with the big things?
Our Anglican liturgy includes a prayer called the Confession of Sin. Since our liturgy was taken largely from yours, I imagine you have a similar prayer. Ours reads in part that we have sinned against God “…by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you [God} with our whole heart; We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.”
These words are followed by words of repentance and a request for forgiveness. The good news is that God does forgive us; when I err and fall short of the glory of God, my Lord Jesus Christ lifts the burden of my transgressions from me so that I can once again start off fresh. Not that I have earned this forgiveness but it is grace, freely given by God through His son Jesus Christ.
Thanks be to God.
