Understanding Sin

A popular trend in Christianity is to argue about sin. We argue about what it is, and what it is not. The funny thing is we fight about it to control the behavior of others and to justify our behavior. They sin, but we do not. If you have every been ‘there’ today’s blog is for you.

Today’s Gospel lesson is about sin, but more than sin. It is about how we use sin against others. We love to tell others what sin they should stop, and we hate others telling us to stop our sin. By default, what others do is sin. What we do is not sin.

We just don’t understand sin, and we risk our salvation. Take a moment and read today’s reading from the perspective of being the one that causes others to sin. We don’t like to admit it, but our attitude toward sin often causes others to sin, and we become accountable.

At that time, the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened round his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the man by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and throw it away; it is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the Gehenna of fire. “See that you do not despise one of these little ones; for I tell you that in heaven their angels always behold the face of my Father who is in heaven. For the Son of man came to save the lost.”

Matthew 18.1-11

We want to think we are not responsible for the sins of others. While that is most often true, we take responsibility for their sin when we are the cause. The question shouldn’t be why we are responsible, but when are we responsible. Then we can avoid sin, ours and theirs.

To first understand sin, we must understand that all sin is equally sin. Unlike other Christian denominations, the Church does not teach ‘small sins, big sins, really big sins’. There is sin and there is not sin. We are called by God to not sin. God never says, “Ignore small ones.”

Once we accept that all sin is sin, then we learn to pay more attention to our sins rather than the sins of others. You know….the whole “First remove the plank from your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.” (Matthew 7.5)

From my perspective we spend most of our time either ignoring our sin, or ‘redefining’ our behavior as ‘not’ sin so we no longer have to try to stop. It is easy not to sin when our behavior isn’t sin in the first place. It gives us much more time to watch others.

I fear this is the real danger Christ warns us about today. If we redefine our sins away, then we teach others, at least by example, to continue to sin. Here’s a simple example. If we call lying ‘protecting their feelings’ then we teach others to lie, all so we can continue, and we both sin.

Fighting temptation and sin is hard enough. We shouldn’t make it harder by pretending there is nothing to fight. It would be like facing a wild beast thinking we are at home with our pet chihuahua. We would die before we realized we were lied to.

Stop arguing about sin. Stop worrying about their sin and start fighting to defeat it in your life. Stop ignoring the ‘small’ sins as they grow to become big sins. White lies eventually overpower the truth, one lie at a time. Start controlling your behavior and stop trying to control others.

Here’s the most important as it relates to today’s Gospel lesson. Stop pretending your attitude toward sin does not affect the lives of those around you. By your example others will either fight temptation and sin, or dance ignorantly with sin.

You will be accountable to your attitude about sin. Thankfully it isn’t too late to repent. Repentance is a great example to those around you. We all sin. We could all learn the skill of repentance, but we will never repent so long as we don’t understand sin in the first place.