TRFG - Reason 3 - The problem of sin

In the next few chapters, Keller walks through the Christian gospel message in a way that appeals to the contemporary mind.

It is easy to see that something is fundamentally wrong with our world today. However, the idea of sin is offensive to many. In this lesson, we will look at a Biblical way of defining sin that is different than the customary understanding shared by most people.

Defining sin

Soren Kierkegaard said

Sin is: in despair not wanting to be oneself before God…. Faith is: that the self in being itself and wanting to be itself is grounded transparently in God.

Many think of sin as breaking divine rules. However, it is worth noting that the first of the Ten Commandants states “have no other gods before me.” So, sin is not primarily defined by doing bad things but by turning (even good) things into ultimate things.

In the movie Rocky, Rocky’s girlfriend asks him why it is so important for him to “go the distance” in the boxing match. “Then I’ll know I’m not a bum,” is his reply. For Rocky, his performance in the boxing match gave meaning to his life. When we attach our worth to something, we inevitably deify that thing. However, no natural thing can bear such a heavy burden. When it fails or has a shortcoming, our worth is threatened and we lash out. We want to know that our existence has meaning and purpose. But again, no natural thing can provide this.

Sin and consequences

Identity apart from God is inherently unstable. When we define our identity apart from God, our self-worth can never be stable. Thomas Oden writes:

Suppose my god is sex or physical health or the Democratic Party. If I experience any of these under genuine threat, then I feel myself shaken to the depths. Guilt becomes neurotically intensified to the degree that I have idolized finite values…. Suppose I value my ability to teach and communicate clearly…. If clear communication has become an absolute value for me, a center of value that makes all my other values valuable… then if I [fail in teaching well] I am stricken with neurotic guilt. Bitterness becomes neurotically intensified when someone or something stands between me and something that is my ultimate value.

Keller summarizes, “If anything threatens your identity you will not just be anxious but paralyzed with fear.” You cannot avoid this insecurity without God. Even if you consciously decide to not base your happiness on anything external, you will inevitably be basing your worth on your own freedom. If that is taken away, you will be devastated.

Sin also tears at our social fabric. This was especially evident and devastating to those who saw the atrocities of World War II. Why does sin have such an effect on society? Jonathan Edwards answered this in The Nature of True Virtue. If we get our self-worth from our political position, then politics is no longer about politics but about us. If someone threatens our position then we must demonize the opposition. If we put our worth in our family, nation, or race, we will tend to care less for other families, nations or races. If we define ourselves by our morality, then we will look down on those who are licentious. And so on. So the problem is not a lack of education, but it is a matter of the heart wrecked by a misplaced identity.

Finally, in a somewhat mysterious way, the Bible describes how the entire natural world is “subject to futility” because of sin. The Bible is unique among creation accounts in that it describes the original form of creation as being “good”. Specifically, it tells how God wove everything together in complete harmony. Humans are so integral to the whole of creation that when they turned from God, the entire natural world suffered the consequences. Disease, natural disasters and death are the result of creation being “in bondage to decay” because of man’s sin. This will not be made right until we are put right.

Sin and hope

While it may seem pessimistic, the Christian doctrine of sin can actually bring hope. If each one can admit that he is a sinner, then he is not merely a victim of his environment. Barbara Brown Taylor stated this eloquently

Neither the language of medicine nor of the law is adequate substitute for the language of [sin]. Contrary to the medical model, we are not entirely at the mercy of our maladies. The choice is to enter into the process of repentance. Contrary to the legal model, the essence of sin is not [primarily] the violation of laws but a wrecked relationship with God…. “All sins are attempts to fill voids,” wrote Simone Weil. Because we cannot stand the God-shaped hole inside of us, we try stuffing it full of all sorts of things, but only God may fill [it].

In the next lesson, we will discuss more fully the Bible’s answer to sin. But we cannot conclude this lesson without noting what C.S. Lewis said in his essay “Is Christianity Hard or Easy”

The ordinary idea which we all have is that … we have a natural self with various desires and interests… and we know something called “morality” or “decent behavior” has a claim on the self…. We are all hoping that when all the demands of morality and society have been met, the poor natural self will still have some chance, some time, to get on with its own life and do what it likes. In fact, we are very like an honest many paying his taxes. He pays them, but he does hope that there will be enough left over for him to live on.

The Christian way is different - both harder and easier. Christ says, “Give me ALL. I don’t want just this much of your time and this much of your money and this much of your work - so that your natural self can have the rest. I want you. Not your things. I have come not to torture your natural self… I will give you a new self instead. Hand over the whole natural self - ALL the desires, not just the ones you think wicked but the ones you think innocent - the whole outfit. I will give you a new self instead.”

You cannot just change your behavior, you need to completely reorient your life. Lewis continues,

The almost impossibly hard thing is to hand over your whole self to Christ. But it is far easier than what we are all trying to do instead. For what we are trying to do is remain what we call “ourselves” - out personal happiness centered on money or pleasure or ambition - and hoping, despite this, to behave honestly and chastely and humbly. And that is exactly what Christ warned us you cannot do. If I am a grass field - all the cutting will keep the grass less but won’t produce wheat. If I want wheat… I must be plowed up and re-sown.

This may sound scary, but remember that you are going to orient your life around something and no natural thing can bear that load.

Questions

Question 1 Keller says, “It is hard to avoid the conclusion that there is something fundamentally wrong with the world”. Do you agree that it’s valid to define what is broken in the world as sin? Why or why not?

Question 2 Continuing the thought from number 1, given all the things that are broken in the world, does that raise any questions in your mind about God?

Question 3 How would it help society if people sought to find their self-worth and identity in God?

Question 4 As C.S. Lewis says, have you handed over your whole natural self to God or are there “innocent” things in your life that you hold on to that give you identity?