WHAT IS SIN?

[pfrattali]

Sin is primarily a state of being rather than an act. It is a 'disconnect' or willful separation from God by an individual. It leads to disobedience and actions of sin, which are contrary to what God tells us we should do. The individual becomes alienated from God.

"Whoever commits sin transgresses also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law." 1 John 3:4
God has established laws in the universe and if we break those laws and overstep the 'boundaries' that he has set, we will get hurt, hurt others, and eventually destroy ourselves. Do you think this is God's intention for us? Of course not! God created us to enjoy life, not to suffer and die in the end!
Why do we all end up sinning? Because we are a curious creature and we all want to know what's 'out there', outside of God's will, His laws and his rules. Eventually we learn that there's really nothing of good 'out there', outside of God's boundaries. In fact, we find ourselves in sorrow, pain, confusion, and anything else negative that you can think of.
When Adam and Eve ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they willfully made a decision to separate themselves from God and see what it would be like to experience the 'dark side', or be outside of the Light. You see, God had already told them that they would experience hardship, pain, and eventual death. Satan tempted Adam, saying basically that he could become a god unto himself, that he didn't need to depend on God. But God told Adam the truth: Sin and disobedience causes you to die 'inside' immediately after you eat of the fruit. Eventually your physical body would break down and die also. This is why we have 'aging' and disease. We all go through it because we're all descendants of Adam and we all sin. ALL of the problems in the world today (and there are many! ) have their root in the fall of man into sin!
Our basic choice in life will always be, " do I follow my own will, or do I follow God's?"
Myth (the lie): "Independence from God is more satisfying, fulfilling than dependence to God."
(this was the serpent's lie to man in the garden of Eden)
Truth : "Independence from God is dangerous and deadly!"
Sin is a condition of the heart of a man when he has lost intimate and emotional 'connection' with God. It causes you to 'hide' from God because of a feeling of 'nakedness' and shamefulness you feel when He comes on the scene. When God looked for Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden after they sinned, God asked them, "where are you?" Adam's reply was, "I hid from You because I was afraid, naked, and ashamed."
The light of God's presence was literally pulled out of them after they ate of that forbidden fruit. Their eyes were opened to know exactly what the difference between good and evil is.
Sin will deceive you and make you believe you can be your own god, like God Almighty. Calling your own shots so to speak. But, in trying to gain your "own control", you end up "out of control" and the result is chaos in your life, and those around you are affected also. You live a stressful life and you end up destroying yourself because you truly do not have control apart from God.
When I say "I don't need God." it's like a flame saying, "I don't need oxygen to stay lit!"
When a leaf falls off of a tree it grew from, what happens to it? It curls within itself and eventually disintegrates! The leaf needs to stay attached to the tree by which it will stay alive. We are no different.
You need to remain connected to the 'source' of all power to stay alive!
Here is another fact. When you remain in sin, not only do you separate yourself from God, but you will also 'go against' or confront God as an enemy of God. You have automatically 'declared war' against God and all of His followers! Look at what Satan did and is doing now! Sin forces you to fight a desperate fight of 'control'. Sin wants to rule above the rule of God Almighty! But in the end, sin and darkness always lose.
Not all of you who read this will agree and repent and turn back to God. In fact some of you refuse to turn to the Light because you enjoy sin and you love the independence. But let me say this, God's love and God's goodness is many times more fulfilling and satisfying than any sin or perversions you can conjure up in your twisted way of thinking !! In the end you will face loss and total destruction in Hell, and will it be worth hanging on to your independence from God for it?
Don't be a fool! Turn your heart and your life over to Jesus Christ. Believe in the Son of God and you will be saved and cleansed of ALL sin.
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"But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanses us from all sin." 1 John 1:7
"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us." 1 John 1:8-10

Result of Sin & Self-Reliance:

- spirit of error/misunderstanding, bondage

- disharmony, chaos, confusion

- lack of fulfillment

- greed, selfishness, self-absorption, pride

- fear, stress, disease

- DEATH (ultimate outcome)

Result of Self Submitted to God:

- freedom

- harmony / security

- true fulfillment

- stress reduction

- fearlessness

- health

- Eternal Life

 

[Miss Hepburn]

Very good.

 

[Jimmy Engle]

Very nice post pfrattali! I agree with what you have said. Whenever we sin we are taken ourselves out from under the authority of God. However, when we repent we are placing ourselves back under the authority of God. I mentioned this in a different post but I will bring it up again because it applies with the subject of sin also.

The other day I discovered the following Psalm

Psalm 51:12 - Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit.

The truth that I have learned is the desires or temptations that drove us to commit a sin/s is not the disease. It is just the symptom of the disease and not the disease and I believe that is why this Psalm doesn't mention that. The disease is this...when we lose our joy of our salvation it causes us to lose our sight on God and look elsewhere. All the things that causes us to sin such as lust for things like money, sex, drugs, cars and so on is the symptom of a much greater problem. You can try to create safety nets such as installing internet filters to keep you from falling to pornography, but if that is where you fight the battle you will never break free.

Is it not true that when you have great joy because of your salvation and what Christ has done that you seem to never even have temptations? They seem to be non existent. As soon as we take our eyes off of Christ and our joy dies down...we sin or we at least get tempted to sin. So I pray that the Lord will restore to us the joy of our salvation so we may be sustained by the Holy Spirit and we can battle temptations and stay under the authority of God.