the purpose of sin

I have been working on a theory off and on for a while. Trying to understand why some people seem to do more stupid stuff than others. Ever wondered how some kids grow up to be bad kids, no matter what their upbringing? Kids from rich families lie, cheat, and steal just as easily as those from poorer families. The siblings from one family, with the same upbringing, turn out different. Why is this?

The ancients found the idea of fate to answer these questions. But as a Christian, I find it inadequate. Fate does not allow for the kind of love in the bible. It does not allow for second chances, or for people changing. But change is integral to Christianity. That’s the beauty of it. The terror. The desperate need for trust.

Trust doesn’t affect fate. Fate doesn’t invite trust. Fate simply controls your life, your destiny; no matter how you feel about it.

But for being a Christian, trust is essential. It affects how you live. It provides freedom.

And now I have digressed from explaining my theory. My theory for why some people just have to do those stupid things. I say “have to” because they are internally driven to it. Sin, or stupid stuff, shows us the depths of our desires. The desires each of us have. They may be in the same category, but the differences make us unique. Our sin shows us who we are. And if we look honestly at it, we see how much we need.

We are a certain way. Each of us. Everyone of us. And our life shows us who we are. Our sin draws us closer to the answer. Our sin shapes our lives, but it also brings our deep desires to where they should be. It changes everything.

What I am trying to say is that the actions of sin are the outward manifestation of the dark desires within us. We were created with a certain character/personality which is corrupted by sin long before we ever get to form an action. The sin we do manifests the corruption inside. It is through honest consideration of our sin that we see how corrupted we are and therefore how much we need a savior.

I have come to define sin as not trusting God instead of just disobedience since that has so many connotations from our childhood. Also, it denotes an obvious list of do’s and don’ts that no one can find in the bible. The Book says to trust in Him. Refusing to trust in Him is the basis for every stupid thing we do. Not trusting Him to bring the right girlfriend or boyfriend when we need it. Not trusting him to know what we need and provide for those needs. Not trusting Him to love those we hurt for more than we do. Not trusting that He has a reason for wanting us to talk to that stranger. This is all sin.

We were created in the beginning to love and trust God for our all. And it was His purpose and joy to care for us and give us every joy. Adam and Eve failed to trust Him and His word. And in turn corrupted us all. To return to that perfect relationship, we must learn to trust God completely again. But we are corrupted. So we sin.

But that sin shows us each part of us that is corrupted. We can allow the savior to come in and heal that part. It’s a lifelong process. Giving each horrible little part of our untrustingness be changed and healed.

However, we can stop in the middle and allow the corruption to grow and slowly take over again. Simply not allow the savior to heal that part. Leave it horrible and it will soon infest the other parts of you.

Now, to apply this to real life answers some but not all of the questions earlier. I believe we were each created unique, with different strengths and desires. Which are corrupted. Each part manifests in a different form of not trusting God; aka, a sin. I am not saying some people are worse than others in their amount of sin. We are all equally sinful. Doesn’t mean we all have the same cookie-cutter sins. Some people manifest their untrustiness in socially quiet ways, while others do so in more obvious ways. We are equal but different. Thank God.

If you are a black sheep. Don’t worry, you have no worse of a sin problem than the white sheep. Its just that you have more fun in working it out of your system. You are more intense in your rebellion, not worse. And white sheep, cut the disapproving looks. Your sin is simply more socially acceptable.