Reimagining Sin/Sins

Heb 3:17-19  But with whom was he angry forty years? Was it not those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness?  (18)  And to whom did he swear that they would not enter his rest, if not to those who were disobedient?  (19)  So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.

There are many errors in orthodox dogma. One such area is the idea or concept of Sin. First, it is instructive to look at sin from both the Greek and Hebrew. In Hebrew the word is Chata, and it means to miss the way. In Greek, the word is Hamartia, and it means to miss the mark. This is a far cry from the meaning that Judaism and subsequently Christianity has placed on the words. The connotation for the words sin and sins has had a deleterious effect on Christianity and its adherents. In the above passage from  the Letter to the Hebrews, it is obvious that the writer equates sin, disobedience, and unbelief. What was it they did not believe? It was that God was gracious and had given them deliverance.

Jesus also points to the fact that sin is unbelief. Joh 16:8-9 "And when he comes, he will prove the world wrong about sin and righteousness and judgment:  (9)  about sin, because they do not believe in me;" It is interesting that Jesus says, he will prove the world wrong about sin. He is saying you should reimagine sin. Sin is not what you have been taught. The only sin that the Holy Spirit convicts of is the sin of unbelief. Here we have two separate witnesses to the fact that sin and unbelief are synonymous. Now look what Paul states: Rom 1:5 "through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for the sake of his name," Here Paul agrees with the writer of Hebrews and Jesus. Faith or belief is obedience.

The question becomes, how is faith/belief obedience and unbelief sin? The answer is that it is belief in a God that is love. It is a belief in a God that is Papa. It is a belief in a God that is in each of us and each of us are in God. Paul states in 1 Corinthians 13 that love keeps no record of wrongs. Therefore, faith/belief is agreement that God is not keeping a record of our sin and that he loves us unconditionally. If one really believes this message, then one cannot help but reciprocate by loving such a God. From the place of loving Papa, it becomes easy to understand what he wants for all of us. He wants us to love one another. He wants us to even love our enemies. He wants us to do good to those that mistreat us, and guess what, faith in an all loving Papa will birth the willingness in us. It is from the peace and love we receive from a Papa that does not keep track of wrongs. This is the good news. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself, not counting wrongs. Guess what, he gave to all of us that believe and understand this the "ministry of reconciliation."

So then, as the original languages suggest, sin is merely missing the way and missing the mark. In that way, to one degree or another, we are all sinners. However, that does not separate us from Papa and it does not require Papa to punish us. Papa had the Logos declare from the beginning that his creation including especially humanity was very good (Gen 1:31.) Guess what, that is the place that God declared us righteous. That is the place that righteousness was imputed to humanity. It was right after the creation. Jesus merely came to prove that we are eternal and he did so by his resurrection. In addition, he came to prove that we are divine children of Papa, the loving Papa of the universe.

Remember Jesus words, the Spirit was sent to prove the world wrong about sin. They were wrong in how they imagined sin to be.