Sin and Sinners

In my 22 years of life I have come across many people, some of whom are still friends today and some whom are no longer directly in my life. It is funny how we use a term to justify our actions and treatment of others. I have heard a few people in my life say "Don't do that, that's what 'sinners' do" or "you can't hang out with them, they're 'sinners' and will bog you down under their 'sinfulness'", but what does the term sinner mean? "Anyone that goes against God, either directly or indirectly" some say and the Studylight.org lexicon says that a sinner is someone who is "devoted to sin" (way to use the word in the definition, my English teacher would slap you if you were a slap-able person, so watch you back). We must first define what sin is before we can discover the meaning of sinner. A very basic definition is: any act/movement that hinders the Kingdom of God (yes, that does mean, according to this definition, that there are even Christians that are "sinners", but again that is a big topic to discuss in such a small amount of time).

That definition of sin was also used as an exclusive term, that the Jewish people used to exclude anyone who was not a Jew. This definition became the prevalent usage in much of the Old Testament and particularly by the time of Jesus, it had been used by the different sects within Judaism in variant degrees but the main principle was still there: exclusion. When Jews heard that Jesus was chilling with "sinners" they did not think that he was hanging with people that got drunk for instance, although they probably did or at least some of them did; rather they heard that Jesus was hanging with people that were not Jewish even though some possibly held some similar beliefs with those of their fellow Jewish brethren.

Jesus even said that prostitutes would enter the Kingdom of God before the Pharisees would. Jesus dramatically changed their beliefs about being "chosen", or about being "selective". Jesus was leveling the playing field, by hanging out with people that were not Jewish by birth or belief. This attitude toward "outsiders" had apparently continued through the time of Paul, and so he had to re-level the field again, by saying that "all have sinned". Both Jesus and Paul are reframing the term from exclusivism to inclusivism.

It is scary that we have, or rather never left, that ideology. We have used the term to mean anyone who does not "go to church" or "read the bible" or the other synonyms. We have even used it like the other sects of the New Testament Jews saying that one denomination is more "sinful" than a particular denomination. What if we began to think in terms of "we are all sinners" instead of "they are sinners"?

As sinners may we live in that collective view instead of that exclusive view!

It's Ok To Think

I enjoy a good theological book, particularly any N. T. Wright books, and it always astonishes me that people begin to freak out when they see me reading something like that. I have had people come up to me and tell me to be careful because the theology in these books is not sound, which is a bunch of crap but that's for another time). Why are people so afraid of these views? The answer is simple, although if you ask these people they will deny it, but it is because they are afraid that what they have been taught may not have been right, and that it is easy to believe something that you have come to know as "true" but it is difficult to learn a new way of thinking. Another observation that have from these people is that many have not even read enough or any of the works of these authors, but have instead focused on hearsay. I say, grow up and think for yourself!

It is important to note that looking at other views on a subject is not dangerous (I bring this up, because I have been told by many people to be careful of reading Rob Bell or Brian McLaren for example). It is not dangerous to look at different views, no matter what people say; in doing so it simply allows us to be more informed on a subject so that we can formulate our own opinion and think for ourselves, heaven forbid.

May you be wise enough to seek different opinions on a particular subject and courageous enough to think and formulate your own views.

The Justice of God

A while back I was having a discussion with some friends of mine about justice. It was a very interesting dialogue in that we all have different views on what that term looks like in action. In our discussion on justice, I brought up the notion that humanitarianism is a form of justice. Unfortunately the term has a certain connotation about what it actually means. Many people think that justice is doing some action against someone/something that has wronged you in equal proportion to what was done to you. This cannot be true justice because we do not have a measurement to measure such actions (if anyone has found that please let me know).

Can we bring true justice to the world? I believe that we can, simply because we are created in the image of our just Creator, therefore I believe that deep down we have a notion of what justice is. If we (Christians that is) are in submission to the Lord of the entire creation, living in the Kingdom of God in the present (please do not think that I'm talking heaven in the sense that people use the term). What about people who do not follow this King, can they still do justice? The simple answer is yes, whether they know that they are doing it or not. Many companies that are not "Christian" are bringing justice to the world, for example Bono and his campaign to fight aids in Africa is doing justice, bringing heaven to earth as Jesus prayed.

This brings me to what my view of what justice is and how we can do true justice here and now in the present. In my opinion, justice is a way to bring the creation to right back to it's original purpose. Christianity is charged, in particular, to do and seek justice, together, regardless of the denomination. Every person that lives in the Kingdom of God must work to do this. What does this look like? It starts with the mind set that Jesus is truly risen, that the final tyrant, death, has been dealt with. We live in a revolutionary way, in a resurrection way, in which what we do today is important for the future. If we believe that nothing goes away, but is simply reenergized if you will, then we should work towards that today, through loving our neighbor as ourselves, and if we do that everything will fall into place.

May you live in pursuit of justice and live in the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven.