So Just What is this Sin Stuff? v. 1.2
by Iain Mac an tSaoir

    There is a thing that most everyone wants. It is a thing that most people, to varying degrees, work for. That thing is "Utopia". With some exceptions we humans want to see war end, see disease and suffering eradicated. We desire for poverty and death and destruction to become a forgotten memory. We long for peace, health and security, and for longevity. We just see different ways of obtaining Paradise.

    There is an adage that states, "you can't miss what you never had". But we do miss it, we long for it. We would not as a species hunger for it if we had not at one time had it. If we had not known it, we would have no way of defining those elements that make it up. You are probably asking, "Iain, what on Earth does that have to do with sin?" Everything.

    The Bible tells us that there was a time when there was no death, no hunger, no disease, no heartache. Maintaining that state of paradise required that we follow one simple law - to not eat of one fruit from one tree. There came a time though, when we set aside that one law given by the Creator, and replaced His law with our own ideas. At the bottom line, the most damaging idea we humans adopted was that we were like, or could be like, G-d. That initial act of rebellion put up a wall between the Creator and created.

    What I find incredible is that, compared to G-d, we humans are so like two and three year old children in comparison to their human parents. Two year olds throw temper tantrums for that which would hurt them. They can't see where drinking the drain cleaner, or running out into traffic, would hurt them. The parents do, and so lay down laws to keep the children safe. The parents see the long term results, or consequences, of the child's actions, but the child can't. Even teenagers, bless their hearts! I was one of those once also. And its incredible how dumb my parents seemed when I was fifteen. By the time I was thirty though, they had gotten so much smarter! *grin* In the exact same way, we can't see the full picture "down the road" all the way to eternity. But the eternal creator G-d can.

    G-d did not create sin, evil, disease, death, heartbreak, poverty and the massive list of bad, dark things. The state of the world which allows for those dark, bad things is indeed like darkness. Darkness isn't a thing, it is a state caused by a lack of light. Another dynamic that serves as an example is the state of cold, which is simply an absence of heat. The long dreary list of things dark and bad are symptoms of a state caused by the absence of G-d. That absence is due to the separation caused by human rebellion from G-d's way of doing things. How much pain and despair could we have avoided if we'd just listened to our human parents when we were young? Listening to our Heavenly and eternal Father is the only way to avoid the ultimate, eternal pain and despair.

    It is said, "to err is human." Indeed it is. Sometimes those errors are from carelessness. Sometimes they are the result of habits. Sometimes it is because we simply don't care and just callously do wrong, consciously and willfully. But we all do err, we do act in ways that are against how G-d ordained things. By doing them we become just as guilty of the rebellion as our first ancestors with their first rebellious acts. We can't help it, it is our nature, we are human, and that nature to do wrong is called our "sin nature".

    It is our nature to err, to miss the mark, to sin. That state of being stands in sharp contrast to an absolutely holy G-d. Because of that difference there is a barrier between ourselves as falliable and unpure humans and the absolutely perfect and holy G-d. Paradise was lost because of our error of rebellion from a simple yet pure way of living. Sin is like radiation, the effects are cumulative. This is true for individuals and for the human species. The cumulative effect of sin manifests in the lives of people, in our societies and social interactions, and in the condition of planet Earth.

    Just 300 years ago, there were massive, towering old growth forests across north America, nearly from sea to shining sea. Now most of it is gone, and desert is spreading quite fast. That is just one area of the world. Most of the world is like that now as the Planet becomes more and more exhausted. The decay of peoples' physical bodies due to drug use, the poverty inflicted by broken marriages, and human brutality against humans, give examples to adjust the focus from macrocosm to microcosm. It is the dynamic of death operating at every level due to man's sins, from the very first sin to all those committed within this last moment. Every time we miss the mark of G-d's standard we are contributing to and strengthening death, destruction, poverty, disease and all of that dark state caused by the absence of G-d. Every time. And we can't help ourselves but to err.

    You have no doubt heard about the Nazi Concentration Camps. At those camps Adolf Hitler's henchmen brutally maltreated and murdered millions and millions of people. The perpetrators who were caught were put on trial for "war crimes". They were tried and sentenced for crimes against humanity and most were put to death. Our crimes, or sins, are worse. This is because due to our crimes, destruction, pain, disease, poverty, heartache, and death came upon the whole cosmos. All this suffering because of us, because our rebellion whereat we replaced G-d's ways with our own. And the sentence isn't just the death we experience in the physical world but also a second death, the death of the soul as it is cast into hell. And all of us are guilty. When it is put into context it is easier to understand why, as Revelation 21:8 says, "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." At that point the separation from G-d becomes absolute and eternal.

    That seems pretty dim and dire doesn't it? The thing is though, there is a way to avoid that sentence. It has never been G-d's desire that we humans should have that fate. Nor was it His desire that we endure disease, death, pestilence, heartache, or anything else that comes from a separation from Him. That was our choice. One that we made at the beginning of history. Yet, because the penalty had to be paid, G-d sent his Son, the Messiah (Christ), to pay that price and teach us a better way - G-d's way. With the death of the Messiah the price was paid, with His bodily resurrection from the grave He secured victory over sin and death. He is the way to mend that breach between absoluttely holy G-d and our falliable selves. And it isn't a matter of fear, but of faith. Fear may bring us to the threshold, but it is by faith in the Messiah, and turning away from doing wrong, that salvation from our sentence becomes ours.

   I know that much of this may sound like an intolerant belief system. Everyone who believes in something assumes that what they believe in is right. Just as anyone else has a right to their beliefs so do we. Its certainly not a jihad to pray for someone. So to be intolerant of us for peacably and firmly holding to our beliefs is in itself intolerant. As long as we are civil in our dialogues, loving in our service to our fellow humans, and give validation to each other as peoples there should be no issue. Lets take a different track. Probably most religions teach that all religions lead to heaven. My natural question then simply is, "all?" Surely cults which deprive people of their freedoms, resources, and even lives can't be seen as positive things. Those religions that practice, or would like to practice, ritual sexual abuse, ritual physical abuse, and even ritual murder? Are these positive? If whether or not something is seen to be intolerant is based on a thing being arbitrary, then isn't any intolerance to any religion then intolerance? And if we must by weight of the evidence agree that some religions are not good, then how do we determine which are and which are not? How do we know which one to pick? Could it not be the religion that provides a way to repair the breech between the absolutely holy and the imperfect? Now, I know schools don't teach logic and reason anymore, but isn't it logical that the imperfect can only build things that are also imperfect? And so to again have paradise exist will require it to be the work of the abolutely perfect and holy? And our access to that paradise to be by the work of the absolutely perfect and holy? G-d, absolutely perfect and holy, the source of love, is that Creator. Personally, I'll take people being loving over people being tolerant any day of the week. To the Christian, it is through G-d's loving grace that we shall again attain Paradise.

    Now we come to Paradise restored. In a world where the leaders are so often the likes of Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pott, Saddam Hussein, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad do you really think that Paradise can be restored by the leaders of the world? When human beings engage in activities such as happened in Nazi Germany, Cambodia, Bosnia, Rwanda, or Darfur, do you really think humans are really enlightened enough to carry off such a feat? Of course not. The human nature to err raises its head with a vengeance. Or as another adage states, "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely". But all is not lost. Paradise can and will again be. It will be under the leadership of a Holy G-d and His incorruptible Son. That paradise will be peopled by those who had their sentences commuted because of their faith in the Son, and hence turned away from sin. No, they aren't perfect yet. But from the time of their gaining faith and turning away from sin until their death they want to do G-d's will, and allow G-d to work in their lives in a process of sanctification. Ultimately, in that paradise, they will have put off the corrupt and become incoruptible. So yes, paradise will come.

   I know that all of the "you shall" this, and "you shall not" that stuff can be really hard for a Pagan to understand or accept. I know all about that because I was in the same boat at one time. But I have an example that I think may help you to understand. There is a scene that has some version in many adventure movies. Its the scene where the group of good people are being chased. And they come to the edge of a cliff. Across the way the see another mountain. But between that path and where they stand is a mile deep valley. They can't turn back because the bad guys are starting to catch up. They look again at the valley, and then see a very, very narrow, less than a foot wide thing spanning the valley between cliffs on either side. The hero goes across, turns and begins encouraging others to cross. The others are scarred. The hero gives encouragement. He keeps telling each person crossing, "look at me. Don't look down! No, don't look over there, keep your focus on me! You can do it! Come on, I'm right here just keep looking at me. Take baby steps, go slow, one foot in front of the other. Keep your focus on me." Everyone has to go across. The ones still waiting yell, "don't leave us behind". And he answers, "I'm right here with you. Just keep your focus on me." Some people do just that, and after what seems forever they finally make it to the other side. At least one gets cocky, starts looking around, then gets vertigo and falls off the walkway. Another later on will be scared, but will not listen to the hero. They look down, and fall. Its that way with our existences as well.
    The hero, Jesus the Messiah, is on the other side of the narrow way encouraging us. He has already gone across. He is telling us to put one foot in front of the other slowly, to not look down, don't look around, to just keep our focus on Him. He doesn't want us to go splat! So He teaches us how to get across the narrow way. And the key is to keep our focus on Him and we make our way across. The trek across the narrow way seems to take a long time, but its really a very short time indeed. And he is there with His arms out stretched to recieve us.

    I was a professing Pagan for over two and a half decades. I founded, then actively led the Clannada na Gadelica for about ten years, with four more as a member of a governing coucil. Before that I was a practicing Witch and High Priest of a coven for a total of another seven years before that. I was tenacious and faithful in my Pagan walk. And I was an intellectual and scholar in researching the Pagan religion of my ancient ancestors. However, what I have stated about our guilt, our sentence, and our absolution coming only through the Messiah, I don't just believe to be true. I know it to be true.

'aloveoffering.org' is a registered trademark.
©2008 aloveoffering.org, all rights reserved.

Web Site Based on a Design by Heather