Sin and our nature

Sin. Such a lovely word. It's means to literally "miss the mark" like missing a target with a bow and arrow. We are all familiar with it. When you look at it from an Evengelical perspective, it's every where. The half naked chicks on Tv, premartial sex, swearing, forgetting feed your dog, and so forth. From an academic view, things like the "Seven Deadly Sins" are use to look at ourselves and find which part of our lives could be improved to better our overall wellness. But, is this the word the only reason why Christ became incarnate and died and resurrected? For our sin? Or is deeper, is there more to it?

This is the logic in the message most of society see's when it comes to the message of Salvation (the Gospel):If we are sinful, then we are forigners to God. If we have a savior, then we are not forigners to God. Thus we need a savior.If A then BIf C then not BTherefore, CIn logic proof writing thats { (A>B>)(C>~B) }=C

We are Bad, God is good. We need Jesus to bridge the gap. That's the watered down version of the Gospel presented today by most evangelical churches. The normal rule of thumb if you've broken one of the 10 Commandments, then you need Jesus.

Honestly thought, I think there is more to it. Based on the 10 Commandments that God gave Moses the Hebrews interpreted 600+ laws to keep in order to keep them free from sin and keep them Holy. Then after Christ came, he "fulfilled" the law, and sin isn't limited to a list of things not to do. Sin is countless, unlimited, never ending; as well is God's love for us which cancels sin out.

Ok, enought on the act's of sin. What about it's nature? Our nature? Are we sinful by nature? Is our nature sinful? If it is then did Christ come to save us from our sin, or our nature? Even when we think of sin, we think of acts or doings which hinder us from God. And you see friends, I think it's much more than that.

For this to make sense to me, I have to think like a Hindu. In Hinduism, we as humans are trapped on this damn wheel of reincarnation called Samarah. The only way to get off this silly wheel is to meditate until the point of "Enlightenment". Enlightenment is the complete detachment from the world and your mind turns purely Godly. And when you die, your soul will reunite with God. In this tradition, it's not what we do which makes us miserable sinners, it's the fact that we are human. Do I completely agree with this? No, otherwise I'd have Hindu on as my religion on facebook rather than Episcopal and I would be meditating on a pile of nails rather than typing this out. But, I do agree with the idea that its not just our acts which separate us from God, it's our very self.

Christianity and coming into the faith isn't just about repenting of your sin and trying not to do it again. It's about taking complete responsibilty in being ourselves by repenting. I think that after man had the Great Fall in Eden (where ever that is or whatever that means so to speak) we didn't just become sinful in nature, we became something just untouchable. I almost can't explain it. Maybe because it's 3am in the morning, but who knows.

Anyway, I don't think just it's our sinful actions which separate us from God, it's our very being and existance. Jesus didn't come just to save us from our sin, he came to save us from ourselves.

And if you look at what the word repentance, it literally means, it means to "get a new mind". It's not just cheating on your girlfriend, being an alcoholic, or cheating on your income tax; it's become something completely new. And I think it fits quite well with what I'm thinking.

In conclusion (i slapped those who just said "finally"), our acts of sin arn't what separates us from God. It's ourselves. If it were just our sins which separated Mankind from God then theoretically the sacrafices of Jews to God for the attonment of their sins should have worked. Thus no need for a savior. That would imply that there is something still inside of us that makes us capable. But they didn't. We arn't capable.

In religious philosophy, the purpose of the Sacred is to become desecrated and defiled. Think of it as food. Food is holy and good. What do we do to it? We eat it and crap it out. But for the greater good for ourselves, this process gives us nuitriants and helps our survival. We were created a perfect and holy people but ended up getting craped on. But in this process of becomes disciples and taking responsibilty, we repent of our sins (the small stuff) and through Christ we work on ourselves to becomes more like God.

We live in the post-modern age, the age philosophers today call the "Age of Anxiety". We just don't know what going to happen any more. We live in an age of thinking, questioning, and reasoning. The Gospel message is quite simple. but in today's world people are hungry for seomthing more. Something to really chew on, meat. Maybe we would have a bigger impact on Western Culture if Christian salvation was more than selling Jesus with emotions for eternal life.

Ok, did all that make any sense? I am really tired. I do want to hear feed back if anyone has any.