It's Sinful What Christians Teach About Sin

"You'll be judged for the sin of pride!" said a "loving" Christian Social Media commenter recently online. This statement shows how little understanding there is of the concept of sin and how the story told of Jesus redefines sin from a violation of rules to a violation of relationship.

"Sin" is a word Christians love to throw around, particularly in their condemnation of anyone whom they perceive to live outside their legalistic framework. In my Christian days we were told sin means "missing the mark," like an arrow failing to hit the bullseye. The word chata was picked up as an archery term in ancient times, but the actual meaning of the Hebrew word means falling short of or misunderstanding the goal.

The bad interpretation of the word is beloved by Christian leaders as to "miss a mark" one must first have a mark they are required to hit. Thus why religious people so enjoy having rules by which they can judge who is and who is not making their determination of a bullseye. Along with that, the rules can constantly be twisted so one can have grace for themselves not hitting the mark, but claim "I'm not as far off as those people." This is what the religious people were doing to put shame onto others in Jesus day.

The story of Jesus was of his attempt to point people back to the goal that was being missed, rather than any "mark." Jesus said the goal of every law was to love god and love your neighbor as yourself. Therefore "sin" is not going astray of some imaginary mark, it is the violation of relationship.

"You've heard it said 'don't commit adultery,'" Jesus said those religious guys, "but I say if you look on a woman lustfully you've already committed adultery with her in your heart."

This isn't Jesus setting a new, more difficult rule on relationships and attraction between men and women. What he's actually saying is that the line of how to treat women doesn't stop at just not cheating on your wife or at forcing some other woman to have sex with you, but rather, disrespecting a woman and wanting to possess her without recognizing her value as a human being is "sin," too. It's not good enough just to follow some rule while treating people horribly and claim to be "godly." No, the goal is to understand that all humans are uniquely and wonderfully made and worthy of respect. And to not give that respect is to fall short of or to misunderstand the goal of the message of Jesus.

To just follow some rule and say "I'm good," is NOT "Christian."

"The son of man did not come into the world to condemn, but to save (sozo) it." - John 3:17. The greek word "sozo," often translated "saved" in the Christian New Testament. This love of telling people "go and sin nor more" is in direct contrast to how Jesus interacted with people on a regular basis. Jesus modeled giving the show of respect - "sozo," restoration of their identity and dignity and suddenly their reactions to life began to change. Could it be that "go and sin no more" actually means "you no longer have to consider yourself a 'sinner' as you've been told you are by those religious zealots?"