Physics and Definition of Sin, Repentance and Forgiveness – Part 11: We Sin Less than we Think

The Physics and Definition of Sin, Repentance and Forgiveness

 Part 10: What Defines Sin: Doctrine

 

Sin is a broad subject with a lot to talk about.  I don’t want to talk about sin without talking about repentance.  I don’t want to talk about repentance without talking about forgiveness.  The few things I want to cover are:

• Types of sins and their definitions
• Repentance and its definition
• Types of forgiveness and their definitions
• Physics of sin, repentance and forgiveness
• What defines sin
• We sin less than we think
• PDF Download

If you do not understand something I’m saying, please ask.  The concept may be hard to grasp at first but it will change how you see yourself and your life when you do.

We Sin Less than we Think

This is kind of a hard point to address.  Sin has become such an abstract word that it means different things to different people.  If sin is a physical condition, like we have discussed, what must be done for something to be constituted as sin?  An action must take place.  James the brother of Jesus sums it up like this:

James 1:15
15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.

This is why Jesus spends so much time talking about our thoughts.  Our thoughts are where our spirit battles with our flesh.  It goes back to the principle of the seed.  Temptation is a seed and our mind the field where it is planted.  When that seed is planted, like a weed, it doesn’t take much care to grow.  Once it is grown, it produces fruit.  Fruit is action.  When Adam and Eve ate the fruit, corruption entered their body.  That corruption gives birth to desire which gives birth to sin which will eventually bring death.

This is why Jesus makes statements like, ‘If a man looks upon a woman and lusts after her he commits adultery with her in his heart.’ (Matt 5:28).  Number one, he is referring back to David and Bathsheba but more importantly he’s addressing the weight of our thoughts.  We need to weed our thoughts and think on things that are good (Phil 4:8).  Our thoughts are where we chop a tree down to the root (Matt 3:10).  Its best to do this before it has a chance to bear its bad fruit which is the sin.

We can’t avoid temptation, especially in our day and age; its everywhere.  Temptation comes from anything we see and/ or hear.  Temptation is not sin.  Jesus was tempted yet did not sin (Heb 4:15).  Dwelling on temptation is not sin.  But if we entertain it until it becomes a desire or lust, it is like Eve holding the fruit in her hand drooling over it.  She hadn’t sinned yet but was imminently about to.  She believed the lie that she couldn’t touch the fruit.  When she touched it and did not die, she reasoned that she could eat it and not die.  You know what its like to be starving and walking into a kitchen with the sweet smell of food.  All your senses, your entire focus turns to food.  You’re stomach begins to scream in a gravely voice, “Feed me!”  Any other fleshly appetite is no different.  If we believe that these appetites are sinful when they are not, we will eventually reason that there is likewise no penalty when we feed them.

You can think about donuts all you want, but is that going to make you fat?  No.  You can think about sex all you want, but is that going to make anyone pregnant?  No.  Does that mean we should necessarily think about these things?  No.  Most of us get upset and repent for our thoughts.  We are not commanded to repent for our thoughts because they are not sin.  This is a problem because we usually end up tearing ourselves down for what we think about.  I used to do this a lot but no so much any more because of a question Paul Nordvik asked me; thanks Paul.  In your life, you need to discern what is temptation and what is sin.  You may find that you don’t sin as often as you think you do.  When you do sin, you should be able to be specific in confessing that sin.  If you can’t, then either you haven’t sinned, or if you have, that sin hasn’t been revealed to you yet (Lev 4:27-28).

It is said that our sin separates us from God, but does it (Is 59:2)?  When Adam and Eve sinned, who did the separating?  Adam and Eve.  Who hid?  Adam and Eve.  When we sin, we tend to think that it is God who separates from us which is backwards.  We think he moves far off but we are the ones who distance ourselves because we are ashamed.  Our mentality is the same as the younger brother in the story of the Prodigal Son.  “I’m not worthy because . . . .”  We think God can’t be in the presence of sin yet God is omnipresent (Ps 139).  Think about that for a moment and let it sink in.  We think all these things because this is what we’ve been taught (by doctrine) most our lives and it hinders our relationship with our Creator.

Stop looking at yourself as a sinner; it puts the focus on you and your sin.  Thinking you are a sinner while knowing you’ve repented and that works don’t justify or condemn you is an oxymoron.  A sinner is someone who continues to walks in sin and does not repent.  You have repented and are striving towards home.  That means you are on the path of righteousness.  Someone who walks the path of righteousness pressing towards home is righteous.  Our Father looks at us as righteous.  Just like in the story of the Prodigal Son, we are part of God’s family, clothed with his robe of righteousness.  This should not fill us with pride but humble us.  How we see ourselves makes a huge difference in our relationship with God.  When we see ourselves the way God see us, it allows his Spirit which dwells inside of us to be greater just as John says (1 John 4:4).  It will change your whole perspective on life, strengthen your relationship with God, reflect in your actions and make you closer to our Messiah which is our goal.

References

*all scripture is from the NKJV unless otherwise noted.

• A Concordance to the Septuagint – Edwin Hatch & Henry A. Redpath
• Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds:  2012 Pure Seed Book! – rareseeds.com
• God’s Key to Health and Happiness – Elmer A. Josephson
• King James Version of the Bible
• New King James Version of the Bible
• Strong’s Concordance to the Bible
• The Ancient Hebrew Lexicon of the Bible – Jeff A. Benner – August 29, 2005
• Wildbranch Ministries – Brad Scott – wildbranch.org

The Physics and Definition of Sin, Repentance and Forgiveness

 Part 10: What Defines Sin: Doctrine