Category Sin

Even with the hurting Jesus spoke of sin, because without sin, the message of the gospel is meaningless. If we had no sin, we would not be enemies of God, we would not be under His judgment, we would not need reconciliation with God, nor salvation from His justice. 

Most people are not murderers, rapists, bank robbers, and child abusers. Most people’s sins are of the ‘milder’ sort: lying, gluttony, jealously, gossip, laziness, cowardice. We don’t see ourselves as ‘bad’ people because we don’t see our sins as ‘bad sins’. Consequently, most people expect God to freely allow them access to His glory on the basis of their being ‘good’ people, and do not see a need for Christ to save them...

Many atheists condemn God for the penalty of death for sin; they consider eternal punishment unjust. They and many others say that God is unjust to consign to hell eternally those who are unfaithful to Him. Their lack of understanding of death and hell result in wrongful accusations against God. 

God Himself is the Source of Life.[i] Separation from Him is death. Just as an offense in our human relationships creates a rift, so also sin, including unfaithfulness, separates us from God. Therefore, sin brings death upon us.[ii] 

This is beautifully illustrated by the account of the Garden of Eden, where Adam and Eve first resided. In the garden grew two trees, referred to only as ‘the Tree of Life”, and “The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”...

The natural consequence of rejecting God is the degradation of the human character into wickedness. God being the sum of all goodness in every aspect is necessarily its only source; to reject God is to reject good, leaving men with only what is other than good. We cannot define goodness for ourselves; it already exists as an expression of the nature of God. We either know and acknowledge God and by extension all that is good, or we refuse God and by extension embrace wickedness.

God created man in God’s image: “And God said, “We shall make man in Our image and as Our likeness…'” (1)  He intended that we would live and reflect the goodness of God among all creation. When we live in communion with God, we are directed by His Spirit into the fullness of His goodness...

1Cor 10:13: “No temptation has overtaken you except what is common to man, and God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can bear, but when you are tempted He will provide a way out that you can bear up under it.” 

Or are you ‘only human’ and subject to fall? 

2 Cor 5:17 “Therefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become new” – or do you believe you are still in your ‘sin nature’ – a term, by the way, that does not exist in Scripture. 

John 8:31-2 “If you abide in my word you are my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free….if the Son makes you free, you are free indeed.” Is the saint in bondage or are we free? 

2 Tim 1:7 “God does n...

Repentance is a condition of the heart towards sin. Rather than a distress that we did some specific deed we consider to be too “bad”, it is the recognition that everything opposed to the nature of God is an offense against the Lord of all Creation. When we repent, we reject sin in every aspect of its nature, specifically because it opposes God. When we turn from one thing, we necessarily turn to another. To turn from sin we must turn to the Living God, for only in Him is sinlessness. We cannot turn from sin other than by turning to God, for to face any way other than towards Christ is necessarily to turn our faces towards sin.

We know that every time we who know the grace of God choose to commit sin, we are despising His grace and effectively joining our voice with those who crucified ou...

In virtually every context that makes people ‘feel good’, whatever that might be at the time, people inside the church find ways to justify things we should not do. Consequently, sexual sin is ‘ok’ because the Book is out of date, and substance abuse of various types is ok because most people aren’t trying to “unite with the spirit world”, and foul language is ok because it’s only the old-church fuddy-duddies who worry about that, and we can feed our eyes, ears, and minds with the trash the world offers because we’re ‘washed, sanctified, justified’ by the blood of Christ so it doesn’t affect us. Yoga is ok. Tai Chi is ok. TM is ok. Tarot is just a game. etc...