Sin revisited

I was at a church prayer meeting last night and we were praying for our town and that got me thinking about sin again. I know, I keep coming back to it!

There's a film called the Truman show in which the main character is brought up on a film set without actually knowing what is going on. He is living "real life" but everything and everyone around him are simply playing a role. Obviously, the film creates doubts in his mind and he finally wakes up to the deception, but one could imagine that this could deceive someone possibly for the whole of their lives.

How else can you explain the smiles and playfulness of children brought up on a rubbish dump, sifting rubbish for a living? It's not that they recognise the terrible situation they are in but choose to make the best of it- they simply accept as normal what they experience from day to day.

Isn't this how abusive relationships go on and on? The victim simply accepts as normal a way of life that looks deplorable from the outside.

I was struck again by what I realised in an earlier blog- the huge, ongoing and crippling effect of sin in our world. And what struck me hard was the fact that we are so used to living in a sin-sick world that we don't even notice how bad it is. Like families living on a rubbish dump in South America, we can't even imagine what a world without rubbish would be like. How could a person from a slum dwelling imagine the life of an Arab oil sheikh?

But life without sin is what we were created for and what we will experience after our bodies die, providing we have accepted the free gift of salvation that Jesus offers us. And life without sin is God's best for this world too.

In the words of Michael Jackson, someone who I don't think I have ever quoted before, "I'm starting with the man in the mirror!" Wish me success!  :-)

Sin again!

I guess, if you have been reading my blog posts sequentially, you may have been amazed that I have written two longish posts on sin without mentioning God at all. Well, that's about to change!

The reason that I didn't mention God before was that sometimes people read the word "God" then switch off to everything else that is written in the same paragraph. I guess I wanted to show how sin is part of our everyday experience and inseparable from many of our troubles and problems in life(whether we believe in God or not) . I also wanted to recognise the fact that sin isn't just "out there" but is also "in me".

Where that leaves us is.......sunk! Because sin is endemic, we are in no position to help ourselves out of the mess we are in.

That's why I have to mention God now. Christians believe that God reveals himself and his plans through the Bible, but also that they can and do experience him in their day to day lives.

Atheism seems to be very fashionable at present, with some high-profilers making a lot of noise about trying to get rid of religion. They cite wars and injustices done in the name of God as the justification for their claim that religion is a poison. They unsurprisingly do not document wars and atrocities carried out by atheists such as Stalin, PolPot and others.

These atheists have been very successful at spreading their views but if you stand back and look dispassionately at organisations fighting for social justice, looking after the poor and marginalised and improving conditions for everyday people, it is hard to find one which was not started by Christians. Many still have a strong Christian ethos today.

We can all point to terrible historical events carried out in the name of religion, but honesty compels us to acknowledge that our world would be a very different place today if it weren't for the influence and actions of Christians throughout the ages, in all spheres of life.

In addition are the evidences of radical changes in people's lives. Churches are places where you will find ex-alcoholics, ex-drug-addicts and ex-criminals. Why? Because God has made a change in them from the inside out.

That is why God has to come into the picture if you want to find a remedy for sin. God can change people inside, in a way which no education programme or prison rehabilitation programme can.

So how does God deal with sin and make a difference in our lives? You'll have to wait for another installment, as I have to go and make supper!

That Sin-King feeling

Okay so dogs took over the blog yesterday. I had to get my moan out of the way! Now back to sin.

I was thinking about what I would call this post and, being rather partial to puns, was thinking of words that start with "sin". When I thought sin-king, that seemed quite good, but the more I have thought about it, the more I realise how appropriate it is.

The reason we all find it so difficult to talk about sin is that we are all people living in glass houses, who really shouldn't throw stones.
Well I haven't murdered anyone- yet- but I have found that sin has a persisitent hold on my life. Anger, pride, self-centredness and greed are neighbours who spend a fair amount of time in my house. Despite my good intentions, I can't seem to stop them visiting. Even moving to Wales hasn't thrown them off the scent!

I have to face the fact that sin is often king of my life, which makes it all the more difficult to talk about sin as a real issue for our society. Nevertheless, it is.

In my previous post on this subject, I talked about the financial cost to our communities, but really the human tragedy is the cost that we as a society cannot afford.
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Just take a few moments with me to think about the many ways in which individuals are mangled and torn apart by sin.
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It's horrendous. Within a couple of minutes the list grows longer than one can bear to contemplate.
That's why sin is an issue which needs our urgent attention.

Who really believes that there is no such thing as sin or morality, right or wrong? When the rubber hits the road, nearly every one of us recognises that people do good things and bad things, and we applaud the right and hate the wrong, the unjust and the cruel.

So what can we do to address sin in ourselves and in others?

The big one- sin!

Having just seen a photo of shoppers in America pushing and trampling to get bargains in a pre-Christmas sale, it's just got to be done.
I'm going to talk about sin.

The funny thing is that everyone knows what sin looks like, but nobody wants to talk about it.

I heard a definition of sin as "I in the middle" which I think sums it up well.
Sin is when what I want is more important than what you want, when doing things my way becomes a number 1 priority.
When I become the star of my own show and think that everything in life revolves, or should revolve, round me, that is when people get hurt.
A murderer thinks that their own pleasure in killing takes precedence over the right to life of another human being.
A thief justifies their crime by citing their needs and desires.
A person trampling another to get to a bargain, is shouting aloud that they consider their needs as more important than anyone else's.

We all recognise sin when we see it and we are all affected by it.

Why are insurance premiums climbing all the time? Because individuals exploit the system and make false claims. Each bogus claim is putting the financial desires of one person before the needs of a greater group of people. And we all pay.

Sin affects the amount of tax we pay- hugely!  Would our national budget be in such a state if we didn't have to pay to keep people in prison? If there was no sin, would we need a police force or an army? If there was no violence, hospital Accident and Emergency rooms would be empty on a Saturday night. The list goes on.

So the question is, why, when it has such an effect on our lives, are we so anxious to avoid mentioning it. It must be the number 1 of all unpopular words. Why is sin the elephant in the room?

That is a question I will leave you mulling over. I'll tackle it tomorrow.