What is sin and why is it “bad”
Today we will be continuing our series that I will be calling “ tough questions”
Today’s question is, “what is sin and why are we punished by God for it?”
This is a very healthy and common question by those who are new believers or who don’t know about God.
I want to start by referencing scripture :
“You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.””
Genesis 4:7 NLT
This is one of the first words spoken by God, all the way in the beginning of the Bible. To give more context, God said this directly to Cain when he became angry because God blessed his brother Abel’s offering and not his, because Cain offering was insincere and made of scraps, whereas Abel gave Cain the best of what he had.
This is the perfect explanation for what sin is.
Sin is the indulgence in thoughts or actions either to yourself or others which distance you from God because they Go against his nature, and the nature in which he made us to be.
And why is this bad?
Well sin is bad because
1 it puts distance between you and your creator (the source of all life) and
2 it is something that brings harm to yourself and others which causes pain and suffering.
And some may reference random verses in Leviticus or deuteronomy as to say that God is bad because in the Old Testament he said eating shellfish is a sin.
And this is where biblical literacy is so important. We can’t read verses of the Bible out of context without taking into account
1 the time period
2 the biblical timeline of events
3 the overarching themes and moral foundations set by Jesus in the NEW testament.
For instance, Jesus’ can be quoted directly saying ““Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. But the words you speak come from the heart—that’s what defiles you. For from the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander.”
Matthew 15:17-19 NLT
The Bible isn’t meant to be read in random lines out of order. We need to understand the Bible from the perspective of the life of Jesus and his teachings. Otherwise we take things out of context and use it as a license to be judgmental and biblically illiterate!
