In a Different Light

Have you ever felt somewhat turned off, ashamed or full of guilt whenever you read a passage from scripture that contains the term "sin"? Does the term invoke highly negative feelings borne of "traditional" religious viewpoints that defines the term sin as the "breaking" of commandments and rules? Has your mind experienced being so accustomed to this form of definition that you automatically visualize sin as some ugly and black colored stain on your soul with varying shades of blackness depending on the "severity" of the sin (such as in the case of venial vs. mortal sins).

That is how I was trained to look at the term from an early age. I can somehow sense and appreciate the probable motivations by religious leaders (and their legions of teachers who carry out their spiritual prescriptions) as they make a strong play upon our innate fears (usually the fear of a grave form of punishment or the loss of a reward) with the aim of somehow motivating us to fearfully follow prescribed rules and commandments with consistency, thereby establishing some order within society and the institution. Nonetheless, we know full well the long-term shortcomings and limitations with such approach resulting in more rebellion, disdain and suspicion for anything religious.

As we have seen in earlier essays on this blog, the better and more meaningful (thus more effective long-term) approach is to inspire people to love rather than to fear...in particular, to love God. When we look at the term "sin" from the perspective of true love for God, it becomes apparent to us that the proper meaning to associate with the word is this - sin is any act that separates us from God...an act that breaks our union with God.

So the next time you encounter the word "sin" in any of your readings, simply replace this term with the words "that which breaks our union with God" or "that which separates us from God."

Let's look at one example to illustrate the point being made here. Let's look at the passage from Romans 6:23 - "For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Using the "traditional" perspective, we cannot help but perceive this passage as telling us that God will bring death to us as the penalty for sinning...for breaking some religious law, rule or commandment. However, when we use the perspective of love for God as the basis for defining sin and make the suggested replacement above, then the passage now looks like this - "For the wages of that which breaks our union with God is death..." In this form, we are able to perceive the proper meaning of the passage which is that it is only when we are in union (connected) with God that we maintain staying (spiritually) alive and once we break away, our souls will eventually (and naturally) experience a spiritual death. Do you see the big difference in meaning? In the former, God brings us death whereas in the latter, we bring about our own death by our choice.

Use this principle the next time you read scripture. In doing so, you will open your eyes to a whole new meaning...the correct meaning and come to see God as the loving and faithful God that He is.

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