Breaking the Shackles of Sin
August 31, 2007
When Jesus was asked what the most unforgivable sin is, he replied that it was to blaspheme against the Holy Spirit. He could not have been more wrong if he tried.
The most unforgivable sin is not speaking disrespectfully about some imaginary ghost. Surely the most unforgivable sin is the sin which has caused the most pain and suffering and no other sin has achieved this more than the very idea of sin itself.
We call this the doctrine of original sin. It’s the idea that man was corrupted when he ate from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. All mankind became corrupted and as a result we commit “sins”. The word sin literally means “missing the mark” and it’s this characteristic which condemns man to eternal torment in the fires of hell.
Obviously it’s all a bit “Lord of the Rings” but the fear of committing or being associated with a sin has caused countless acts of sin. Oh the irony!
The doctrine of sin has caused more sin than anything else. It has caused us to torture and murder those with whom we disagreed theologically. People caught in the act of extra-marital sex or even being rebellious towards their parents were tortured and stoned. It has caused families to be divided, self mutilation and books to be burnt. How many more homosexuals are going to be attacked, how many marriages are going to be destroyed before we realise that it’s the doctrine of sin itself which is the worst sin of all. It’s the belief that we are dirty and not good enough that makes us hate ourselves and our fellow men. It transforms the most beautiful human desires into something horrible. The doctrine of sin makes us less human and turns us into something which only the devil could love.
Love the sinner, hate the sin, is such a horrible cliché as the sin and the sinner can never be separated. The sinner will always be treated hatefully and will always be judged. That does not mean that we have to find all actions acceptable but surely reason tells us that any action which does not harm a fellow human being should not be vilified.
If humanity has any chance of happiness or indeed survival, then surely we have to revive the age or reason and collectively realise that there is no such thing as sin. There is nothing that will cause us to be punished in the afterlife as there is no afterlife. We no longer need to live our lives in this life in fear for what will happen in the next life. We have to break these shackles that have held us back and embrace our own humanity. We need to embrace each other’s humanity with all its’ faults, weaknesses, strengths and quirks.
We need to realise that we are not sinful humans. We are only human and that is good enough!
By Ruhan van Vuuren, Thank you Ru.
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