Sin is not a cool concept. It's probably never been cool. To even mention sin suggests that one believes in judgement. And judgement is certainly not cool. But we all want some judgement, just not on us. We want Hitler judged. The millions of Jews executed at his command cry out for judgement. No one comes to his defense. No one attempts to justify Hitler's behavior. For my generation, the complete relativism that I learned in college philosophy seemed to die on 9/11.
Why are we so careful to demand judgement for Hitler and the 9/11 attackers and so careful to condemn anyone that would criticize homosexuality? When we do that, we draw a line, a moral line: Genocide is bad, mass murder is bad, homosexuality is okay. For sure, moral lines have to be drawn, but who gets to draw them? There are only two options. Either some person or group of persons gets to draw the lines, or the Creator gets to draw the lines. And what gives any one person the right to assert his or her opinion on "the lines" over any other person? Isn't that our problem with Hitler and the 9/11 attackers? Did they not just assert their right to define morality? What gave us the right to attack Nazi Germany to assert our moral opinion on the Nazis? But we all believe that the strong should help the weak and not systematically destroy the weak. We consider "heros" those that step in save the weak or marginalized from the "evil strong." But if everyone gets to decide morality for themselves, then the only evil in World War II were those storming the beaches of Normandy. Therefore, if you defend your right to define your own morality, you make a hero of Hitler and a villain of everything heroic.
The only other logically consistent position is to give the Creator the right to define morality. The problem with this however, is that the God of the Bible condemns everyone. Everyone. He condemns not only Hitler and the 9/11 attackers, but homosexuals, adulterers, gluttons, self-righteous religious people, angry people, liars, addicts, disrespectful people--EVERYBODY. There is no special class of people that can sit in a privileged people and throw rocks at "those" people. Religious people don't get to throw rocks at homosexuals. Homosexuals don't get to throw rocks at religious people. All stand before God judged, condemned and ineligible for a life with God.
And then Jesus steps in. He creates a new humanity by dying the death our sin deserved. And in the process, he creates a way for us to return to God, no longer as addicts, liars, gluttons, homosexuals, perverts or the self-righteous, but as adopted children of God.
So then there are two categories of people, those that attempt to justify themselves, either by trying to define their own morality or by attempting to self-create a law-keeping morality on their own, OR people that are connected to Jesus and are justified by what he has done in their place. How do you know which group you are in? Do you throw rocks? Are you a religious person throwing rocks at irreligious people? Are you a liberal person throwing rocks at fundamentalists? We throw rocks in attempt to beef up our own position. The fact that we throw rocks proves that we are looking to something other than Jesus to make ourselves feel okay. Only Jesus has the right to condemn. And only Jesus is willing to sacrifice himself to save.
Why are we so careful to demand judgement for Hitler and the 9/11 attackers and so careful to condemn anyone that would criticize homosexuality? When we do that, we draw a line, a moral line: Genocide is bad, mass murder is bad, homosexuality is okay. For sure, moral lines have to be drawn, but who gets to draw them? There are only two options. Either some person or group of persons gets to draw the lines, or the Creator gets to draw the lines. And what gives any one person the right to assert his or her opinion on "the lines" over any other person? Isn't that our problem with Hitler and the 9/11 attackers? Did they not just assert their right to define morality? What gave us the right to attack Nazi Germany to assert our moral opinion on the Nazis? But we all believe that the strong should help the weak and not systematically destroy the weak. We consider "heros" those that step in save the weak or marginalized from the "evil strong." But if everyone gets to decide morality for themselves, then the only evil in World War II were those storming the beaches of Normandy. Therefore, if you defend your right to define your own morality, you make a hero of Hitler and a villain of everything heroic.
The only other logically consistent position is to give the Creator the right to define morality. The problem with this however, is that the God of the Bible condemns everyone. Everyone. He condemns not only Hitler and the 9/11 attackers, but homosexuals, adulterers, gluttons, self-righteous religious people, angry people, liars, addicts, disrespectful people--EVERYBODY. There is no special class of people that can sit in a privileged people and throw rocks at "those" people. Religious people don't get to throw rocks at homosexuals. Homosexuals don't get to throw rocks at religious people. All stand before God judged, condemned and ineligible for a life with God.
And then Jesus steps in. He creates a new humanity by dying the death our sin deserved. And in the process, he creates a way for us to return to God, no longer as addicts, liars, gluttons, homosexuals, perverts or the self-righteous, but as adopted children of God.
So then there are two categories of people, those that attempt to justify themselves, either by trying to define their own morality or by attempting to self-create a law-keeping morality on their own, OR people that are connected to Jesus and are justified by what he has done in their place. How do you know which group you are in? Do you throw rocks? Are you a religious person throwing rocks at irreligious people? Are you a liberal person throwing rocks at fundamentalists? We throw rocks in attempt to beef up our own position. The fact that we throw rocks proves that we are looking to something other than Jesus to make ourselves feel okay. Only Jesus has the right to condemn. And only Jesus is willing to sacrifice himself to save.
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