Saturday, 09 August 2008

• The Fear of Sin

  Fear, what is it?

  Many people establish their doctrines, beliefs, and philosophies on it. Their Bible reads through one major filter. . . Fear.

  Fear that it might be a sin. Fear that the sin will cause them to lose their salvation. Fear that it will cause them to not ‘make it’.

  It is with this fear that churches are destroyed and friendships are torn apart. That families become bitter war zones.

  This fear drives believers insane. Some lie in their bed at night, terrified of dying, terrified of hell. Others develop habits that prevent them from thinking.

  Often this terror leads people in blind, lifeless servitude to systems of Christianity promising freedom from fear, promising peace. Bondage to a system developed sometimes centuries before, a system that eases their mind, that defines clearly what is and what is not acceptable by God. A system that drives fear deeper and deeper into their heart while proclaiming safety and certainty of their final destination. A system that repulses change and individuality, that loathes life like nature abhors a vacuum.

  But what is this fear that drives people to desolate ends? That changes peoples’ lives and thoughts? From where does it come?

  Is it possible it is a direct consequence of a misconception of sin and what sin is?

  Growing up in church we’ve been taught the following verses often. They are very familiar to anyone who has been a Christian for long and often are used to show people why you need to be a Christian, how bad you have been or to scare you into doing what the person showing you says you should do.

  Romans 3:23 - for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
  Romans 6:23 - For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
  James 1:15 - Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

  So we learn from infancy that sin is a bad thing. We learn that it is because we have sinned that we need Jesus to save us.

  But we never learn what sin is.

  The closest most people get to knowing what sin actually is, is when their mommy tells them that it is bad to lie. And they learn the ten commandments. And that you’re not supposed to have sex until you’re married. And that certain words are evil. And of course there is a myriad of other things that are also presented as sin, so many, in fact, that it is hard to remember them all.

  Yet, we never learn what sin is.

  We learn that sin will separate us from God, that God hates sin. When we sin, we learn to feel exceptionally guilty, often as a type of penance for our sin. We begin to live our life for one purpose, . . .to live a sinless existence. After all, that is the sign of a good Christian and when we no longer sin, we will no longer be fearful because we will know we are going to heaven.

  Still, we haven’t learned what sin is.

  We now create our doctrines to fit into a place we know is safe. We increasingly pack our beliefs into these safety nets, where we are certain there is no sin. We find our security in a system that defines sin clearly and we commit our life to that system.

  Yet, after all this, we still haven’t learned what sin is.

  So we begin to fear, we fear that which we do not know. We fear what we do not understand. We fear that thing which we cannot comprehend. We fear Sin.

  Sin, with its ill-defined silhouette petrifies us. Progressively it reaches deep into our heart and life with its insidious fingers and forces fear deeper and deeper into our soul. Sometimes we give up, sometimes we just put on a good face.

  And the more we fear, the more we fail.

  Before Christianity even existed, Aristotle said this, “Wicked men obey for fear, but the good for love.”

  We obey to the letter. We forbid anything that might fit inside that vague shadow of sin. We obey out of fear, fear of consequences, fear of failure, fear of hell. Our mind is dominated by our fear. Fear now controls us.

  But fear never knows what it wants, is never on the offensive. We can never make progress for fear only knows what it does not want, it only knows that which it fears.

  So how can you overcome what you do not know, because we still haven’t learned what sin is.

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