Michelangelo’s painting of the sin of Adam and Eve (the Fall of Man) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Whatever happened to sin? It seems today that word has been dropped from our vocabulary. Most of the modern mega church leaders, such as Joel Osteen, don’t want to mention sin because it is not what they would call “positive.” They don’t want to proclaim anything negative to their people as it just might offend them, and for goodness sakes we mustn’t offend anyone. They might not come back and put money in our coffers.
So let’s be adults and for a moment think and talk about sin. First off, what exactly is sin? According to the Bible in 1 John 3:4 Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.(emphasis mine) Sin is the breaking of God’s law. That is the most simple answer I can give.
John MacArthur has said this regarding sin: “Sin is any personal lack of conformity to the moral character of God, or law of God. Then sin is a disposition of the heart.”
Today sin has been watered down to the extent that anything goes. Here are a few of the sins of the Bible and how they have been diluted to make them more acceptable to society.
- Adultery – has been changed to “having an affair.”
- Steal- is now “commit fraud.”
- Fornication – we don’t hear that word anymore, but we do hear “live together,” “significant other” or “partner.” But, fornication is having sex with someone outside of marriage.
- Drunkenness - this is now a disease called alcoholism, or perhaps they are a “social drinker.”
- Lie – oh, they just tell a little “fib,” or a “white lie.”
- Gossip - “I want to share something with you about (insert name).”
- Murder/abortion – this is now “birth control,” or seen as “a woman’s right.”
- Homosexuality – today this is called “an alternative lifestyle.”
These are only a few things that I could think of. I’m sure there are many more. But, to be sure sin is alive and well today just as it has been since the fall in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sin entered society. But, today, it is mostly in disguise. Sin is serious business and we will talk more about this in future posts.
