What’s the big deal about sin?

Sometimes we ask the wrong questions based on incorrect assumptions. I found a blog yesterday where the author wanted an explanation of redemption and original sin. He thought that redemption was the removal of original sin, and didn’t understand why God would punish anyone for something done by two people thousands of years ago.

His ideas about redemption are in error. Redemption means to be purchased or bought out of slavery, in this case, slavery to sin. And while Jesus’ death covers the original sin that is ingrained into my life, it also covers the sin I commit every day. Salvation and redemption are about setting people free from our bondage to that propensity to want things our way, ignoring what God says or wants for us.

Today’s Bible reading is about the refining work of the Lord to rid me of the dross of sin. The author says that some metals are stubborn; their dross is deeply ingrained into them. These require a hotter fire than others, but after the fire does its work and the dross is purged, the hot furnace is not usually required again.

For the dross of sin, God could bring His refining fire in the form of a trial, a temptation, sickness, family affliction, difficult situations in life, persecution, deep discoveries of my sinfulness, a hiding of His face, even denials of His presence. These things not only try my faith but wean me from depending on myself or anything the world might offer. They produce humility, meekness, and break my stubborn spirit. My mind begins to think with greater simplicity and sincerity and I am more willing to obey God with a greater desire to know His will and do it.

The Old Testament tells the story of God’s stubborn people and the refining process He put them through. Zechariah 13:7-9 says:

“Awake, O sword, against My Shepherd, against the Man who is My Companion,” says the Lord of hosts. “Strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; then I will turn My hand against the little ones. And it shall come to pass in all the land,” says the Lord, “That two-thirds in it shall be cut off and die, but one-third shall be left in it: I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested. They will call on My name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘This is My people’; and each one will say, ‘The Lord is my God.’ ”

Some will not pass the tests, but God will bring a portion through the fire to the place where their hearts and lives are in line with His will for them.

The writer of the blog that I read questioned God’s right to do any of this. Why couldn’t He be merciful and change the rules? Why do sinners need to be punished? Why did we have to “murder His Son” to be saved from eating the forbidden fruit?

All of his questions are based on “I want things my way” and the blogger misses the point. God is holy, hates sin, and knows that sin will not only destroy our relationship with Him, but ruin our lives while we live them. I’ve been reading a book by a doctor about the effects of negative thinking and how a negative lifestyle ruins our immune system. Sin makes us sick. The doctor makes no link to Scripture, but the Bible repeats the same thing. Sin is a great enemy.

Instead of asking why God doesn’t change the “sin and death” rule and do things in ways that seem logical to us, we need to ask why am I so stubborn that I will not listen to the One who created me? We go to the owner’s manual for directions on how to operate everything from automobiles to electronic equipment. Why are we so determined to run our own lives without checking what our own Owner’s Manual says?

This determination is at the root of every problem. Sin, whether it is that ingrained tendency to want my own way, or the outworking of it in the actions that I take, is not to be lightly dismissed by thinking God should simply change His rules about it. Sin destroys us, and asking Him to change the rules is the same as asking Him not to care.