Thursday, June 05, 2008
Yet, All Have Sinned
According to USAToday the concept of "sin" is not dead, but it is morphing radically in a variety of directions. This is a fascinating article, and I recommend you read all of it. But this is the most interesting section to my mind:
If we consider sin as simply the state of being out side of God's created order, and "sins" as symptoms of that state, then to attempt to define sin by our own standards is, of itself, an expression of sin. Is it any wonder that we struggle so with this word and idea in the church today? I tend to have some sympathy with people that try to stay away from it because when the definition is so plastic, it tends to be a useless word. The problem is when we abandon the word we often abandon the idea, and that we can never do.
I have some sympathy for Tim Keller's take on it in the article:
This is why I know the gospel, in all its fullness, cannot be communicated merely with words and ideas. I can tell you about my wife, but you will never truly get the picture until you meet her. Although, you will know much more about her when you see the evidence of her in my life.
When we carry the gospel forward, we must carry its evidence in our lives. Sufficient evidence to make people want to meet the one we are talking about. Otherwise, it is just words.
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Take it from pollsters.I am sorely tempted to use the term "meta-sin" here, because this is at root a sinful definition of sin.
A new survey by Ellison Research in Phoenix finds 87% of U.S. adults believe in the existence of sin, which is defined as "something that is almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective."
Topping the list are adultery (81%) and racism (74%).
But other sins no longer draw majority condemnation. Premarital sex? Only 45% call it sin. Gambling? Just 30% say it's sinful.
"A lot of this is relative. We tend to view sin not as God views it, but how we view it," says Ellison president Ron Sellers.
David Kinnaman, president of Barna Research, a company in Ventura, Calif., that tracks Christian trends, draws a similar conclusion: "People are quick to toe the line on traditional thinking" that there is sin "but interpret that reality in a very personal and self-congratulatory manner" — I have to do what's best for me; I am not as sinful as most.
If we consider sin as simply the state of being out side of God's created order, and "sins" as symptoms of that state, then to attempt to define sin by our own standards is, of itself, an expression of sin. Is it any wonder that we struggle so with this word and idea in the church today? I tend to have some sympathy with people that try to stay away from it because when the definition is so plastic, it tends to be a useless word. The problem is when we abandon the word we often abandon the idea, and that we can never do.
I have some sympathy for Tim Keller's take on it in the article:
Two pastors serving youthful congregations in big cities, long the statistical capitals of secular culture, say they must talk about sin to be true to their calling. They just have to use 21st-century lingo.This raises the question of whether medium and message are entirely separable. Vocabulary certainly is, but is there another shorthand for "sin" and if I substitute the word "purfelflarb" for "sin" will not the same plasticity eventually settle on purfelflarb.
Tim Keller of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in Manhattan is a modern-day variation of the circuit-riding preacher. He dashes across Central Park to three different leased locations to serve 5,000 worshipers at five services on Sundays.
When Keller, author of The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism, speaks about "sin" to his audiences, which are 70% single and younger than 40, "I use it with lots and lots of explanation, because the word is essentially obsolete.
"They do get the idea of branding, of taking a word or term and filling it with your own content, so I have to rebrand the word 'sin,' " Keller says.
This is why I know the gospel, in all its fullness, cannot be communicated merely with words and ideas. I can tell you about my wife, but you will never truly get the picture until you meet her. Although, you will know much more about her when you see the evidence of her in my life.
When we carry the gospel forward, we must carry its evidence in our lives. Sufficient evidence to make people want to meet the one we are talking about. Otherwise, it is just words.
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