Weighting Sin...
It seems as child we learn that "sin" is something bad that we do. We see it through a child's eyes of course, so it is equated with telling lies, or hitting someone. When we get a little older, we still equate sin with telling lies, hitting people, and then other things come along like stealing, cheating, and basic dishonesty fall into the understanding of sin.
Somehow, somewhere along the lines a foundation of sex and sin begins to form. We begin to learn that somethings we feel need to be worked out, because you can't act on every bodily impulse in life. Hormones change us and our minds go crazy thinking about the opposite sex. To the point that I feel teaching Mathematics in Junior High and Middle schools should be outlawed permanently, because they take in nothing that stays.Many tenth grade algebra teachers have scratched their heads in wonder, as to what had happened to their students in the last three years.. my dear professor, I have solved your dilemma. What I can't seem to solve is the idea among people that some sins are "greater" than others, and that we can label others sinners and not seem to see that it is our label as well... . In passages of the scriptures we find that the writers included the phrase "go and sin no more" coming from Jesus to those people who did not know that they were in the wrong, or those who did, but felt remorse for their actions.
In Scripture the most dire warnings came to those who professed to be "the example", and were creating situations where others could not be close to God in the temple, or in society. I often am drawn in my thoughts to the women who was about to be stoned for being an "adulteress". Even though her behavior was less than stellar according to the rules of her people, the scripture states Jesus drew something in the sand, although I have no idea what it was, my personal theology says that the power of God showed each person the things that they had done, that they thought no one else would know about. When Jesus challenged the crowd "You with out sin, throw the first stone", no one threw a single stone.
Some how over the last few years we have come to a place where we are allowed to assign points of sorts to sin, and the more points your sin has, the more people seem to feel allowed to "throw stones". If the sin is a little sin, we can look the other way, no crowds needed.. Some how those basic things we learned in church no longer apply in the realm of sin. They are some how lesser in a world of bigger sins. If you have money or status, your sins are not really something you have to show remorse for, no point figures will be awarded... because a dollar figure can put a band-aid over the situation. We have to look much deeper than the surface of how things appear. I think my friend Wanda put it best when she said that "sin is anything that puts distance between you and God", my friend Tim clarifies that to anything that "sin is anything that puts distance between you and God, distance between you and another person, or distance you put between two people, whether that is them to each other, or them to God as well".
The phrase "go and sin no more" is action oriented, it doesn't just mean "do not", it implies that something has to change in order for the "no more" part to happen, what ever it was that cause the original action to be made okay the first time, has to change with in. If I steal five million from a pension fund, it is not worse than stealing fifty dollars from a gasoline station. What ever made stealing okay in the first place has to go. While we would like to award more sin points to more money stolen.... The only difference is that more people were effected. It in the greatest sense both acts are equally wrong. For the person who does drive offs at the pump, this is just as bad as the person who points a gun to get the drawer money at a gas station. Some would argue that the use of a gun makes is worse.. my theology says it is not worse, it is more traumatic. Sad but true, drive offs are often not even pursued in bigger cities, they just don't have enough weight in the already stretched police divisions, but someone, some place pays the price.
In today's world in the United States, we don't stone people for their sins.. we actually do something that causes equal pain with a longer sentence. We label people according to actions. Thief, Liar, Bully, Harlot.. the list goes on. Even if we don't say the word out loud, we think it, all the while pretending we deserve no label of our own. "closed minded, judgmental, pious" . We also have a tendency take things a step deeper and assign a "look" to the labeled person in question.. If a blonde woman is pretty, she must be superficial. So she must therefore be only concerned about sex and her looks, and if she dates someone, that girl will certainly ruin the reputation of the person she is with. All the points of that woman's life must be assigned to her sleeve, because she "looks like a harlot, therefore she is assigned sin points based on a glance. What about the poor person? As a person who was low income for a long time I encountered this. "Well this woman is poor, therefore she will need to be watched, because at the first opportunity she will steal money from the box, food from the shelves, or an extra of some sorts" here is your points mam, thanks... or for the wealthy "His check book is huge, that guy doesn't care who he steals from, he has no heart, do you see that BMW??" I bet he has ten at home. A million points to you sir.... I guess to be "honest", you have to live in the very middle of social classes?? Hmm.
Where I am going with all of this is we need to be careful where we put our sin labels and how we decide what is worthy of them or not. I pray for the day when we simply come to realize that treating others badly for any reason is a sin, even through stereotyping, and that bringing people back to the place where they can feel close to God, matters more. I have been with people in many instances where they say, "it doesn't matter what I do, or say no one believes me any ways, so I might as well...". In my life I might never see the end of labels or the sin points awarded to them, but I can at least not let that come from me to another. I can also work to with in myself, not make excuses for "my little meaningless sins" but instead take responsibility, and be vocal in my sharing that I have my own list of sins that I need to address. The first place need to start would be that I have to address that sometimes I feel that people are "jerks" for passing out labels.....just a place to start.. I know there are many more..
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