This ‘Sin’ issue, I mean.
This article below prompted a long-standing theological issue to surface yet again.
Basically a nice young Christian music celebrity can’t say for certain if a practice – homosexuality in this case – is a ‘sin’ on a TV talk show.
Not real news, right? There’s been a lot of hedging, loads of waffle and mince on this one lately, so this can’t be a huge shock.
So… she can’t? She won’t? Is our poor celebrity cowed by secular pressure? Choosing the ‘fear of Man’ over the ‘fear of God’? Is she more concerned about fame, approval, and music sales than her Christian testimony and a public declaration of Biblical morality?
Maybe. But maybe she simply doesn’t know. She said as much during the interview. I mean she had to know the question was coming, but perhaps she gave an honest answer.
Call me Reverend Obvious but “SIN” is definitely in the Bible. Jesus forgives us of our sin and saves us from our sin. That’s the whole point of the Old and New Covenants, or Testaments; God helping us address our sin problem. Read 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 to see what I mean.
That said, we need to return to a very subtle but critical understanding: we ‘sin’ because we’re ‘sinners’. Not the other way around. Doing a ‘bad’ thing doesn’t make you ‘bad’. The bad we do stems from a dark part of us. Each of us. It may come out different from our neighbor, but it does come out. Oh yes it does.
Basic Bible doctrine is clear that in every human being that ever lived, lives, and will live, there are two natures: the Imago Dei, or Image of God – And the Fallen, or Sin Nature. We are fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of our creator – and yet we have a part of us that is isolated, broken, and defiant.
It’s from that second, dark part that selfish, cruel, manipulative, petulant, deceptive, rebellious character and conduct emerge. This is a ‘Root’ versus ‘Fruit’ thing; the actions are symptomatic of a much deeper problem.
Of course many of us learn and grow. We sometimes see our errors and flaws, regret them and change. We lean into the Imago Dei to improve, to be better, to love more. But that other part, that Fallen bit, that twisted taint never leaves. Not ever.
It’s that deeper problem that concerns God. It’s the one Jesus came to address.
Now I don’t have my finger on the pulse of American Churches, but I need to emphasize real Christian Conversion isn’t Repression, it’s Regeneration. It’s not Indoctrination, it’s Transformation. We’re not talking behavior modification or the memorization of religious dogma. Genuine faith is supposed to engage the individual on a profound, personal level.
A couple problems seem to stem from forgetting this vital dynamic: First is the idea of ‘grading’ sinful acts and the people who commit them. (I’m bad but not as bad as *points finger*)
No, I’m not suggesting moral equivalence – that a starving beggar stealing food is the same as ethnic cleansing. That’s ridiculous. I am saying however that individuals pointing fingers starts to sound like people in the Emphysema Ward belittling Cancer Patients. Do remember Lucifer fell from Pride.
And second, that God’s unconditional love somehow doesn’t distinguish between the two parts of our nature. It does. Fact: God loves you. Next Fact: That doesn’t automatically ‘save’ you. Read this carefully: “God so loved the world, He gave His only Begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
I take it you’ve heard that before. Somewhere.
God loves us but we’re gonna perish because the Fallen Nature/character we’ve expressed in various willful denial, disobedience and defiance acts separate us from Him. I’m not talking mistakes, or accidents or ignorance. These are the willful deeds. The ones we know deep inside are bad, yet do anyway. Those are the ones that will indict us at Judgment.
At the end of the day, we disqualify ourselves.
Salvation is about admitting that. Confessing to that dark part, those dark acts, accepting forgiveness and allowing God to work in there on the Root. The bad fruit of that poison tree? If the root is dealt with, whatever it may be eventually withers away. Sure, for some, it might take longer and it’s not all going to get pruned on time. But the deeper issue has been resolved.
Simply put, faith is trust. Christian faith is trusting Jesus, not your own nice, possibly substantial but ultimately insufficient good intentions/philosophy/religious affiliations/charitable deeds to compensate for the times you blew it.
So why this and what does it have to do with writing fiction?
As a Christian, I felt the need to put it in the public arena once more.
As a Christian who writes, I am once again reminded to invest my characters with genuine conflict and complexity. If they’re going to do any real heavy lifting, they have to be real enough to bear the weight.
Have a great day. Art Hard.
Hot Space Station Justice 
Thank you for your insight! In the eyes of the world, the “wrong opinion” about this specific topic seems to be the unforgivable sin.
It’s definitely not an easy choice to make, when you fear that your future career might hinge on the correct answer. Especially since nothing will ever be forgotten in this brave new world of ours. (Remember how a sermon from the ’90s came to haunt Louie Giglio right before Obama’s inauguration?)
Having said that, a simple “I don’t know” is probably the least helpful way out.
Thanks for commenting.
Again, I don’t know the young lady. Never heard of her before this and I can’t say if her reply was honest or evasive.
She was in a tough spot though: being a celebrity, going on a secular talk show, dealing with a public that has the attention span of a goldfish and the hair-trigger outrage of a lynch mob, she was between the sword and the cliff here. Thing is, no matter what she says/said, it is going to be misunderstood, misinterpreted, and used against her. That’s how things are these days.
I do think she should have known the question was coming however and been prayerfully prepared to give a solid answer. Which is why I think the distinction between ‘sin and sinner’ is important. End of the day, the reasons may be different but we all need a savior.