"Sin? I don't have a problem. I can stop any time I want..."

I want to thank Isaiah for inspiring me to prayerfully consider some of the subject matter he brought up in response to my last entry, "Don't Judge Me." He graciously and humbly pointed out some distinctions that aren't just minor doctrinal technicalities, in my opinion, but rather foundational distinctions which describe principles operating on the molecular level of Christianity.


Grace and Free Will
Can we avoid sinning? In a nutshell, of course, to some degree. We most certainly have the free will to choose good or evil. After all, who can love what is good without the autonomy to do what is bad? What love has a man who has no choice? Can we avoid sinning with any permanence? It hasn't been done often. And if we could eradicate sin from our lives altogether, would we need a Savior? Or just the strictest of discipline? I think we need both; but only one saves while the other is strictly evidence of salvation. One is prescriptive while the other is descriptive. Paul preached about being disciplined, but he first preached about the despair, hopelessness, and helplessness to be found except within the shelter of God's perfect Grace.

During what would become the finale of Jesus' earthly ministry, He implored His Father to "...forgive them, for they know not what they do."

They know not what they do? Wow. What does that mean? I might consider that they actually had no concept of the sin they were committing. Someone could respond, "If they didn't know what they were doing, perhaps it wasn't sin at all. After all, you can't commit sin if you're ignorant to it." But I would submit first that you certainly can be ticketed for going 75 in a 65 whether you knew the speed limit or not; it is your responsibility to know the limit and to obey it, and there is as much fault in not knowing as in not obeying. Second, I might point out again that Jesus was asking FORGIVENESS on the behalf of others. Would it be necessary to ask -- no, desperately BEG -- forgiveness if no sin had been committed?


Ah, the complexities of life...
On a micro-level, sin is certainly manageable, I think. It is actually quite easy for me to decide, for instance, against stealing -- at least on a situational basis. But life isn't micro. Life is complex, full of inter-mingled relationships and systems of thought. It has been said that there isn't just one reality but a separate reality created and projected by each separate self. In a sort of a relative way, I can appreciate the concept. All people operate on the basis of their OWN personal relationship to the world around them and no one else's. This is unavoidable -- just an ink blot on the vast unchartable expanse of human limitation. I think that is one important reason the Bible pointedly instructs us to work out our OWN salvation rather than the salvation of our neighbor. We are to LOVE our neighbor and work out our OWN salvation.

The point is that I think it is undeniable that on a more complex level -- the level in which life actually operates -- we frequently commit sins that are not even known to ourselves (As I've pointed out, this is possible if we are ignorant of even one word in the Bible.). Furthermore, the Bible says that even our greatest works are as filthy rags to God. Do you know how filthy those rags are? "Filthy rags" translates more precisely into "menstrual rags." Yes. Menstrual rags. If our greatest works are that bad, what about the things we have done in our darkest hours? The truth is that at every point of our lives, we have been powerless. Nothing you will find in the Bible will tell you anything otherwise. We are empowered only to do the will of God. Anything outside of that is disgusting to Him in principle, and yet forgotten by grace and grace alone. In this way, sin is completely inescapable. If I have ever been 99% submitted to God (not likely), 1% of me still was absolutely hideously disgusting to Him except by His perfect Grace.

How important is Grace, and how does it relate?
I believe it is dangerous to lose this perspective even a little bit. Because to the extent that we project power upon ourselves, we also directly devalue the indescribable power and impact of God's abiding grace, which is characterized in part by its all-encompassing necessity. If we can do ANYTHING at all without God's grace, salvation is merely a really really nice accessory. However, if we can do NOTHING, salvation is an absolute necessity.

I honestly am posing much of this rhetorically. I started this blog to humbly enter the discussion -- not to dictate terms or even to moderate discourse.

In the last entry, "Don't Judge Me," I failed to adequately define my terms. But I'm sure, if you have ever found yourself in a contentious discussion, written a long research paper, or been in any situation where an exchange of ideas was taking place, you can relate to the frustration often to be found when the desire to communicate inclusively must, for the sake of avoiding convolution of the intended message, give way to the necessity for exclusivity. I actually agonize over how much time to spend on procedural steps like defining terms in my writing. But I have realized that if I were to incorporate defenses and rebuttals into everything I wrote, I would quite possibly find myself writing into eternity without having done much aside from defending and rebutting. Defense and rebuttal is better served in a different forum or through open discussion, I think.

It is always my prayer that I present my views humbly and that the conversation will remain open and inspiring. I greatly respect your views and positions, and I enjoy being a part of the great discussion.