What is Sin?
Ask Me Anything
Week 20: What is Sin?
What is the Methodist view of salvation? Is more than a personal relationship with God needed for salvation (i.e. good deeds)?
I’ve heard that we are all sinners and broken but can only be made whole through Jesus’ love and God’s love. But if God is love, then how are we sinners if we are made in His image?
Can Christianity and free will coexist? If I CHOOSE to sin, then God isn’t responsible, but if I do something great then it’s by the glory of God. God obviously allowed the situation to occur, but God cannot get all the credit for everything given sin, right? God taking credit for all the good things but none of the bad seems like a cop out.
Is Jesus really the only way? What about other religions?
What is the purpose of faith? Why does God want everyone to believe? (Why did we propagate evangelism so much that it became harmful?)
Before we get too far into the weeds, I want it to be said that these conversations around the meaning of sin and salvation have been happening for centuries across cultures and religions. I believe in progressive revelation, meaning that we are continually reimagining our understanding of God over time, from ancient civilization to now, and will continue. No one theology is truly correct, because any theology that is pushed to its limits will break down. After all, theology is a human attempt to explain divinity, and that understanding will ultimately fail. In The Neighborhood, we prioritize asking questions over providing answers and I think that’s going to be really important to keep in mind as we think of salvation.
Sin and salvation are at the crux of the Christian faith. For many, these beliefs are at the core of why we choose to believe, or even why we were burned by the church. Conversations about sin and salvation come with an incredible amount of baggage that we are encouraged not to unpack. We are given a bullet pointed script that we are told to accept at face value. Like so many things we have talked about, there is varied interpretation. This conversation is going to be split into two sections. This week, we are looking at what we've been taught. Not to tear it to shreds, but to give us a starting place to sift through our doubts and reimagine what salvation means to each of us. Next week, we will talk about how we can reimagine and look at some alternative interpretations for salvation.
To start, let's cover what we told about sin and salvation. What were you taught about sin and salvation? Many people are familiar with John 3:16, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." This is used as a common verse to summarize salvation, and our need for Jesus. I worked at a summer camp that was big on using the bridge illustration. The common narrative that we hear is that Adam and Eve sinned in the garden of Eden, thus cursing humanity with the incurable condition of sin, which separates us from the love of God. God, ever merciful and benevolent, sent his only begotten son, to die in order to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, and allow us back into God’s presence. Those who believe in Jesus “both in their hearts and on their lips” will be saved and have eternal life. Some believe this is spiritual paradise, some believe this is the resurrection of bodies and renewal of the literal earth, but regardless some form of paradise.
There is nothing inherently wrong with this narrative of salvation. If you are someone who holds tightly to this, I am not asking you to change what you think. In fact, I still believe in many of the ideas and pieces represented here. What I want to do is provide space for questions, discovery, and new meaning. For many people, myself included, this model didn't click for me. I had way more questions than answers and felt that the questions were met with pre-rehearsed, Bible verse answers for why this model is the end-all-be-all representation on salvation. We have had a lot of questions submitted that touch on these ideas, so I know I am not alone in my questions related to sin and salvation.
Before we move further, we need to talk about sin. Some church spaces talk a lot about sin, but give terrifyingly vague yet somehow simultaneously specific sin definitions. Sin comes from a Greek word that refers to archery, and translates as missing the mark. Ordered faith spaces try to provide clear lists of what is and isn't sin, but at some point this starts to break down. Some spaces are quick to say that being gay is a sin, because the Bible says so, yet aren't so quick to condemn racism. So what is sin? There are a few definitions that I am drawn to. The first being from my religion professor from college. In our Liberation Theology class, we defined sin as a break in relationship with God, with self, with others, and with the world. The second definition is from St. Basil in the 4th Century, "This is the definition of sin: the misuse of powers given us by God for doing good, a use contrary to God’s commands." When we think of these definitions with "missing the mark" we realize that this is not a clear answer. There is plenty of room for interpretation and discussion. These definitions provide us with a different framework in which to view sin. Viewing sin as a misuse of power means that oppression in any fashion is sin. It means that political misuse of power is abhorrent to God. It means that when I say harmful things to my husband, I am breaking the relationship and therefore sinning. When we take a closer look to our definitions of sin, we can begin to unpack our notions of salvation.
I think in some ways we put too much emphasis on sin. This is not me saying that sin isn't serious, or that it doesn't matter. What I mean by this is that over time, protestants have adapted an unhealthy relationship with sin, we focus on it so much, but we have very little ritual or direction with what to do with it, and how to "cleanse ourselves" which leaves us feeling trapped. On top of this, we have equated our sins with our moral character. This combination leaves us feeling worthless, trapped, dirty, rotten sinners who have nowhere to turn. I think about this in terms of relationships with others. Sometimes when I am upset with someone, I am tempted to use that thing I'm upset about and make a character statement about that person, instead of viewing it as an action. For instance, if Austin didn't do the dishes, I might be tempted to respond by attacking him and calling him lazy. Or, I could take an opportunity to check in, voice my frustration, ask how I can support him, and work towards a resolution. For many of us, we are taught that our sin is a character statement on our morality, instead of taking the opportunity to check-in compassionately, and get curious about why something happened and strive to avoid that behavior moving forward.
In ancient Judaism, you were either clean or unclean depending on if you followed the law. Intentions were largely irrelevant, it just mattered that you follow the law. If you broke the law, you followed the instructions to repent. This is the entire book of Leviticus. It outlines laws and ways to repent from breaking said laws. In Catholicism, you would go to confessionals and the priest will give you ways to make amends. When Protestantism broke from Catholicism, we were left with little structure and hierarchy--for better or worse. There was no pope to outline specific beliefs, traditions, and settle debates. So protestants turned to scripture to determine sin, repentance and salvation. Scripture wasn't really meant for that weight. There wasn't a unified voice, answer, or theology on salvation. The most unified voice we find is with Paul, but even then, he evolved his beliefs over time. Being left with no "outlet" or practice for repentance, I think protestants began to attack the self. Jesus frequently calls people to repentance, which means to turn away from something. So instead of attacking our morality, and abusing ourselves, we need to find ways to release that guilt and move forward, or turn away.
This brings me to the second question, "I’ve heard that we are all sinners and broken but can only be made whole through Jesus’ love and God’s love. But if God is love, then how are we sinners if we are made in His image?" We berate our flesh and spirit as detestable, yet we turn around and say we are created in the image of God. Assuming we believe that God created us, they would grieve the way we talk about ourselves. If we are thinking of the previous definitions of sin, yes, we have all sinned, both as individuals and as a collective. There is no denying that. So what does that mean for the way God created us? First, the creation stories weren't literal accounts. This was a pretty basic attempt at imagining the creation of the world, how evil came to be, and what role humans have to play. This story was never meant to carry the weight and the answers we've tried to place on it. If you want more in-depth information about creation myths look at our past crew guides: Creation Myths, Christianity and The Environment, Cry of The Earth, Feminist Liberation Theology.
The creation myths were somewhat ignored in Christian communities until St. Augustine came along. We will talk more about Augustine when we get to our Crew on purity culture, but he had some questions around sexuality that he was grappling with. Augustine had questions about our sexual drive and human corruption. Naturally he turned to our origin stories to try and find answers. He interpreted these stories desperately seeking answers on his inability to have control over his sexual desire. He believed that Eve eating the apple in the garden is where we find original sin. However, this phrase, original sin, is nowhere in either of the two creation myths. This was Augustine's theological imagination at work. Augustine wanted answers, so he believed all of our sin, imperfections and inequities go back to the moment of our origins. There were theologians who disagreed with Augustine, but ultimately this interpretation became wildly popular and is the lens through which most western Christians view sin. Augustine's search to find the origins of sin, humanities use of free will, and our need for salvation have become a prominent narrative when we discuss of sin and salvation.
Free will is an interesting beast. This is where I want to remind us I am not providing answers, but room for theological discovery. We are invited into this conversation about free will versus determinism. Does God have ultimate power and/or ultimate love? Do humans have the power to choose, or did God outline all of our choices? If humans have ultimate power, what does that mean for God? Do we have free will? Why does God get credit for the good, yet humans are condemned if God created a world with the potential for evil? I don't have good answers, I have my own thoughts and imaginings that I am sure are wrong, but it is ultimately going to come down to my view of God and God's relationship to creation. I would invite us all to really ponder this, to wrestle, and imagine and maybe try to do so without thinking of the creation story. We aren't stuck in a specific corner. If something feels incorrect with the way we view God, lets reimagine what that interpretation looks like. Faith is about discernment, and discernment isn't once and for all. If we've learned anything from human history, it's that something we believed to be true, won't be true forever. It may have served a purpose, and we can build upon the goodness, and hold accountable the harmful pieces. Life in many ways is centered around this wrestling, and meaning-making. This process is a salvific process, that we will imagine more next week. In the meantime, I'd invite you to be gracious with yourselves as we reflect on sin.
Discussion Questions:
What do you think about the two alternative definitions of sin Rebes shared?
How does your view of sin affect your relationship with God?
If you are inclined to share, what are your thoughts on free will versus determinism (or predestination)? How do these beliefs affect your interpretation of sin?
Resources:
The Deconstructionists Playbook - Our Bible App
Crew Guide - Christianity and The Environment