“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” (1st John 1:8-10 NIV)
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” (Proverbs 1:7 NIV)
I work part-time with an agency that assists senior citizens. There is a huge demand for people to work with these types of organizations as the elderly population continues to increase, and people live longer. The man I am currently working with has dementia, the symptoms of which are manifest primarily in short term memory loss. He is a very fine man with a good personality, and very intelligent. He is just losing his memory. He is also in complete denial of his condition. Denial is one of the primary things that makes care for the physically, mentally, emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually unhealthy person so difficult.
John, in his first letter says, “If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” In a word, what John is saying here is that if we say we do not sin, we are in denial. We are lying to ourselves. The human race is sick with sin, and we are in denial.
Sin is not a popular word in our culture. Using the word “sin” conjures up ideas of strict, outdated, puritanism in a lot of people’s minds. The concept of sin is ridiculed. The reason this is so is because two ideas have become popular. The first idea goes something like this: “People are basically good by nature.” This is the belief in the inherent goodness of human beings. People become bad as they are influenced in negative ways, or are taught wrong things. The second idea goes something like this: “People are not good or bad at first. They are neutral. A new baby is a blank slate, and whatever is wrote on that slate (influence) determines how the person turns out as they mature.”
Both these concepts give rise to a lot of wrong conclusions about things, conclusions that are very popular in our culture, and drive a lot of what is done in education and government. These concepts, the basic goodness and/or the neutrality of man, play out in the educational system in the belief that if you give people the right information, and they learn it, things will be well. All we need is the right information. Education is the answer to the ills of mankind. The reason that people do evil and destructive things is because they do not know better. Simply teach them. That is the answer.
The government answer goes something like this: People do evil and destructive things because they are oppressed, and do not have the opportunities that they need to thrive and succeed. Simply implement the right policies and programs, and people will thrive and be content. Spend enough money to fund these policies and programs, and all will be well with the world. Operating under this premise, the government in this country, and the national deficit has grown to the point of being out of control, like a runaway locomotive ready to derail.
I am all for good education. I am for programs and policies that actually, not theoretically, improve the quality of people’s lives. The reason I say “theoretically” is because there are a lot of social programs that sound good in theory, and a lot of money is spent implementing them, but long-term case studies often prove that they are ineffective. They provide a “feel good” for those championing their implementation, but time often prove that they do not work.
The fallacy of both these approaches is that they deny the reality of sin in the human heart. Christian theology identifies it as “original sin”. This does not mean that mankind was created in sin, as a reading of the first three chapters of the book of Genesis shows. Mankind was created in a state of perfection and purity. But he was given a free-will, meaning he could choose to love and obey his Creator, or he could rebel and go his own way. Unfortunately for us, the first couple chose the latter option, and because of this, the nature of mankind became corrupted. The nature of the first couple was corrupted with a bend towards rebellion against their Creator, a bend towards evil and eventual death. This corruption of their nature was passed on to all their offspring, the entire human race. Babies are not born as blank slates. Mankind is not “basically good”. There is an inherent corruption in the nature of every human being that has been born since Adam and Eve that is bent away from God, and bent towards rebellion, selfishness, evil and death. All the education and social programs in the world will not fix this problem.
If we claim that we have not sinned (if we deny our own sin, or the basic sinfulness of man) we are calling God a liar, and His word has no place in us.
There is a myriad of ways that we deny our sin. Sometimes we call it mental illness. I am not a mental health professional, so I cannot say that everything that is defined as a mental illness is the result of individual sins. Sometimes it can be the result of chemical imbalances in the brain, illness, etc. However, the source is the same. Original sin. The corruption of the human nature, in the physical and spiritual realms. If we existed the way we were originally created to exist, there would be no mental illness. Everything would be in its proper balance.
Sometimes we call sin ignorance. “I didn’t know any better!” Sometimes we call it the result of evolution. “I didn’t cheat on my wife because I am a sinner. I copulated with another female because I am a highly evolved primate that is seeking to expand my gene pool. This is simply survival of the fittest.”
We justify our sin by comparing ourselves to others, whom we deem to be worse than we are. I am acquainted with individuals that seem to constantly troll the internet looking for horrible, bizarre news stories. “Look at this news story about a man who cut his dog’s ears off! What an a—hole! Sure, I cheated on my taxes, but at least I don’t torture animals!” I see this a lot on social media.
We justify our sin by playing the victim. “I worked for that company for 20 years and they laid me off! I didn’t deserve that. I robbed the store because I have to feed my family!”
All of these are just excuses. They are just complicated methods of saying “I did not sin.” But it goes deeper than that. As John plainly states, “If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.” Every time we deny our sin, by whatever method we choose, we are calling God, our Creator, the One who holds our very life in His hands, a liar.
Proverbs states, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” “Don’t tell me what to do” is the mantra of the fool. We, as a society, have lost a healthy fear of God. Some would argue that God does not want us to serve Him out of fear, but out of a heart of love. To that, I would not argue. However, the caveat to that is that the heart is not inclined to love and obey God. We must learn to fear God before we can love Him, because when we realize His holiness, we see our own filthiness, and that should cause us to fear. Fear is not the end of the story, but it must be the beginning.
I have concluded something from being a parent. A child must first learn to respect his parents before he can truly love them. This involves a degree of fear. Not an unhealthy, debilitating fear, but a respectful fear. I did not start out thinking this way. I bought into all the Disney World commercials that foster the idea that if you just surround your child with love, support, and affirmation, and create wonderful memories, the child will naturally love you, and turn out just fine. This makes for a sweet-sounding fairy tale. Unfortunately, it is not true. A child who is not disciplined and corrected (which involves a degree of healthy fear) will not just naturally turn out well because they are inclined to love and appreciate you as a good parent. The child will turn into a spoiled, selfish brat who doesn’t appreciate anything, and grows up thinking that the world revolves around him and his desires.
God is our heavenly Father, so the same principle applies to our parent/child relationship. The child must first learn to respect (fear) the parent before he can love and obey Him. We cannot love God if we by-pass the fear of His Holiness. It just doesn’t work. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
The good news is that man’s sinfulness is not the end of the story. There is a cure for our sin sick hearts. It is the shed blood of Jesus Christ, God Incarnate, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. The bad news is that you will never experience the life-giving power of His forgiveness if you do not first acknowledge your sin.
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”
What can wash away my sin?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Oh, precious is the flow
That makes me white as snow
No other fount I know
Nothing but the blood of Jesus
Danny's Stump 