It is universally believed that to cure a sickness one must acknowledge first the presence of the sickness. However, everyone these days seem to be allergic to the word "sin" and do not find it relevant to our "changing times". Unfortunately, the word has come to bear the grudge of those who have either failed to understand and accept the unadulterated meaning of sin, those who have willingly thrown caution to the wind, and those who are victims of exploited judgement of religious and segragational authority. Then again, one must also question the 'absolute' and common claims that : "mankind is essentially good" and ''there is no right or wrong, it all depends on your situation" in light of the crumbling, disappointing realities of humanity, both personally as well as historically.
Louis Kronenberger, noted author, critic, novelist and biographer of the 20th Century has illuminated that "one of the misfortunes of our time is that in getting rid of false shame, we have killed off so much real shame as well". We have developed a habit that I call 'convenient tolerance' where we excuse and ignore the need to call sin, sin. As a result sin begins to resemble a sticky crayon stuck unawares in the folds of a spotless white sofa, spreading out its stain slowly within the folds while we are too busy entertaining and wondering if there is any spinach stuck in our teeth. That is why, often at the dawn of wrinkles, poor sex life and a mid life crisis, questions regarding peace, consistent happiness, and meaningfulness of life creep into the mind of the happy-go-lucky. Some people of course, in their magnetic vibrancy move forward, patting their backs like the champions of our times singing "I did it my way"... never asking these questions till perhaps it's too late. Don't be a fool to that charade. He is not acting to be strong, he is conditioning himself to be strong. I dread the rare but heartfelt moments of loneliness and dispair, when he gets a glimpse of his own self and waits for it to pass as if there's nothing more to life's sorrows than the robotic sweeping away of its contents. Even Oscar Wilde, celebrated by many as a justification of reckless passion had admittedly suffered the agony of repentance, openly aknowledging the torment of his sexual choices. The time between his release from jail in May of 1897 and his death on November 28,1900 was spent in anonymity in Europe, hungering for the wholeness of spiritual reconciliation with God. First gradually and then suddenly, he humbly succumbed to the beautiful, peace bringing, life giving re-start given by his personal Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Yet many still sight him for the partial delusions of his life, rejecting the more solid, redeeming facts of his life. This partial acceptance of sin is mirrored in the common view of Jesus. Many salute the empirical evidence of His blameless life, but pull the breaks when it comes to His divinity. A man that is called a "great teacher", is automatically labelled as a "liar" or a "lunatic"(1). For questioning His claim to divinity is questioning His honesty. No one feels comfortable questioning his celebrated moral of honesty yet in rejecting his origin they do exactly that.
This pattern of partial acceptance emerges again in the acknowledgement of sin, as it is relevent to the present times and our practical lives. Men and women tend to think the word is too harsh. At the most, grieved and bewildered by the atrocities of human behaviour that is constantly reported in the news, some might still concede and use the term for the more prominent ghastly transgressions. As G.K Chesterson once said "Men do not differ much about what things they call evils; they differ enormously about what evils they will call excusable." This is easily distinguishable in the case of murder, rape, corruption. However, much of sin creeps in where the subtleties of superficial and temporary freedom blind our faithless reason. Much damage is done in the quest for love. Promiscuity, even marital infidelity, is not clearly labelled as sin anymore. The simplest and all encompassing definition of sin is disobeying God. In spite of the repetitive patterns of bewildering horror in this world, the average modern man will think twice before calling it sin. In doing so they would have to aknowledge God and also put their individual lives under that same microscope.
Another reason why men and women are allergic to the word sin is the idea of judgement that is entailed to it. Their egoes would much rather design their own gods to fit their level of comfort, and of course a God that grows more liberal with time. Tupac Shakur's famous tattoo "Only God can judge me'" has a ring of truth and also a tinge of defiance. We tend to look at the immediate spectrum of consequences and base our responsibilities on that limited vision. Tupac's tattoo, like many others' celebrate the custom built ideal of "Doesn't matter what I do, as long as I have a good heart". Yes and No. God does see our heart, better than anyone else. Jesus explicitly demonstrated that judging others was a sin by itself and to that effect yes, only God can judge you. But this blessing also comes with a responsibility. As C.S. Lewis illustrates, wrong does not correct itself with time. A mistake in a mathemetical problem does not correct itself by continuing with that line of working. You have to stop, go back and start again(2). When a woman was brought to Jesus for commiting adultery, He said to the testing crowd, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." One can feel the spirit of every human rising at that statement. A giant pat on our backs. But are we ignoring the words Jesus utters at the end of this discourse? When all the men are convicted by their conscience and leave, without condemning the woman, He turns to her and says "Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more". While he condemns man on man judgement, He explicitly stresses on the discontinuation of sin, post mercy.
Some objects are too big, and the stains on them too deep and too tough to wash with your own resources. Some stains can only be removed by the trusted launderer (and everyone is only too familiar with the big hefty laundry bill and the proverbial hole in the pocket). Sadly, some stains are such that even the best launderer cannot completely eradicate that faint shadow of the spill without defying the laws of chemistry. There is only one Person who can remove even that shadowy darkness, against all laws of chemistry and physics. What we find so hard to believe is that Jesus will do that for you, for free. And why should we trust Him in this matter? Well the evidence is numerous but suffice to say, He is an expert in the field of temptation. Hebrews 4:15 says he was tempted in "every" way, yet was without sin. Luke 4:13 says that after the devil had finished tempting Jesus in "every" possible way, he left him until another time. He overcame temptation of every kind and understands the torment of every temptation. Of course, to apply this comfort and inspiration to our lives we must first acknowledge the sickness, keeping in mind what Kevin Spacey's character in "Usual Suspects'' points out: "the greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist".
(1) from 'Lord, Liar, Lunatic' in C.S.Lewis' "Mere Christianity".
(2) from C.S.Lewis' "Great Divorce".
