JIM COGGINS
What is this sin stuff?

Sin. It is a quaint, old-fashioned word. Many people have never heard the word. In fact, it is a word hardly ever used outside a Christian church – and many people in North America don’t go to church anymore. It is a word from the Bible, that great book that Christians believe to be holy.

Others have heard the word. They have heard church people talk about sin, and dismissed it as only a word Christians use to make other people feel guilty. Christians, they assume, are just out to spoil other people’s fun, keeping them from enjoying parties, sex, alcohol, drugs and tobacco.

The thing that nags at me, however, is this. If sin is such an irrelevant, old-fashioned word, why does it describe so clearly so much of what is happening in our world today?

In the Bible, the term “sin” is used to describe alcoholism, sexual immorality and other “fun” activities that have been carried on irresponsibly and which, let’s face it, have caused much devastation in people’s own lives and the lives of others. The Bible also uses “sin” to describe many other actions that we all recognize as evil – including anger, hatred, sex abuse, murder, terrorism, theft, lying, racial discrimination, consumer fraud and environmental waste.

If sin is no longer relevant, why are we surrounded by so much evil? Why do couples hate each other? Why do parents abuse their children? Why do predators stalk teenage girls? Why do politicians lie? Why do teenage boys slaughter their classmates with assault rifles?

If you don’t like the term “sin”, call it evil. It is bad all the same, and it is real.

It’s not my fault

And if we admit that “sin” or evil may be a problem in the world around us, can we really say that it is not a problem in our own lives? Oh, I know we don’t think what we are doing is really wrong. And if it is wrong, it is certainly not as bad as the things that everyone else is doing. And in any case, it is not our fault – it is the fault of the drugs, our depression or our upbringing. Over and over we are told (and we tell ourselves) that “guilt”, like “sin”, is an outmoded concept, a psychological misunderstanding, an old-fashioned idea that we should get rid of as soon as possible.

Why then, when we take time to face ourselves honestly, do so many of us feel guilty? If we can tell ourselves over and over again that guilt is an archaic concept, why aren’t we convinced? With all the teaching in our schools about positive thinking and building self-esteem, why do so many of our young people (and adults) think they are not good enough and seek refuge in a passionate pursuit of entertainment, alcohol, tobacco, drugs, sex and anorexia? All the time that we are denying the reality of sin and guilt, isn’t it true that we, our society and the individual people in it, are struggling under an enormous burden of guilt?

What if the Bible is right? What if it is our own fault that our lives aren’t working out. Maybe we really are guilty of sin, and we should feel guilty.

What’s Jesus got to do with it?

If that is the case, what can we do about it? If the Bible is right about the problem of sin, can it also offer the solution? What is this strange thing the Bible says about “Jesus dying on the cross for our sins”? The Bible tells us about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came to earth to live as a human being, and who lived here for 33 years without committing any sins. The Bible goes on to say that Jesus then died, nailed to a wooden cross as a criminal – not because He deserved to be, but as a way of paying the penalty for the sins that we human beings have committed. What if that’s true? What if Jesus really is the Son of God who died for our sins? What if our guilt really can be taken away? Can it really be true that we can be forgiven, pardoned for everything we have done wrong? This would certainly be good news!

The catch, I suspect, is that we would need to admit that we have done wrong, that we have sinned, that we deserve to be punished, that we need help. Then we could pray to God and ask Him to forgive us and to help us stop sinning.