Individual Entry: Is X a sin?
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May 13, 2007

Faith : Is X a sin?

As someone who doesn't hide my Christian faith, I periodically have people ask me "So, do you think X is a sin?" where X is usually some cultural hot-button issue. Their tone and body language tend to communicate that this is some kind of litmus test – if I answer "yes", then I am some kind of religious fascist to be discounted and avoided, while if I answer "no", then there is hope that I might be a reasonable human being.

The problem is, as I understand Christianity those are completely the wrong questions to be asking, so in fact my answer (whatever it may be) is not a good means to understand what I believe. Despite the loud proclamations of many well-intentioned people, Christianity isn't about "sins", lists of things we must do or not do – it is about relationships. This is why I can provide my own answer to the question "Is X a sin" without actually bothering to say what X is.

First, for the non-Christian, whether any specific X is a sin is irrelevant.

The only thing God asks for non-Christians to understand about sin is that we all do it. We have all done things (or taken up attitudes) that have (or have the potential to) hurt ourselves and others. We have all done things which are not the best for us. Someone might disagree whether a particular activity falls into that category, that's OK as long as they acknowledge that some of the things that they do are (potentially) harmful, not the best. If they don't, I would claim that they have proven themselves to be guilty of the sin of pride (which leaves you open to all sorts of harm).

As a Christian then, the sins of those who have not made a commitment to Jesus are a non-issue. It is what is expected. Nowhere in the Bible do I see Christians called to respond to the sins of those outside the faith. The fact that people sin is often acknowledged, and Christians are encouraged to behave differently; but there is no call to try and change the behavior of non-believers. I only care about the sins of non-Christians to the extent that they hurt people – I do believe that Christians are called, out of compassion, to treat the hurts caused by sin. Otherwise, non-believers are just doing what comes naturally.

So, what then about Christians? Does it matter to them if X is a sin or not? Well, yes and no. As Christians, we are called to be obedient to God. To become a Christian one must "accept Jesus as Lord and Savior" (as the Baptists used to say). The "accepting Jesus as Lord" part of that means that you commit yourself to obey Him. I claim that a proper understanding of obedience means that Christians don't need to keep lists of do's and don'ts.

As an example: John Wimber (the key leader in the early days of the Vineyard movement – he's on my mind since I just got back from an Association of Vineyard Churches conference) was a quite successful musician before he came to know Jesus. Soon after he committed his life to Jesus, God led him to give up music. So he packed up all of his instruments, notebooks, etc. and drove them to the local dump and left them there. So, is doing music a sin? No! Many Christians are involved in both secular and Christian music. But would it have been a sin if John Wimber had continued to do music after sensing that God wanted him to stop? Yes! It would have been disobedience. I can speak from my own life that there are many thing that God has led me to give up either temporarily or indefinitely that aren't "sins" in the sense that no Christian should do them. They may not be harmful for everyone; but I trust (because God told me to stop) that they would have risked harm to me (or to someone else through me).

So when a Christian comes to me and asks "Is X a sin?" my reply is to ask "Whether it is a generic sin for everyone or not, would you be open to God asking you to stop doing it?"

If their answer is "no", then I claim X is in fact a sin for them (regardless of whether it is for anyone else); because it is something they value more than their relationship with God. The Bible has a word for that – idolatry, and idolatry is most definitely a sin.

If on the other hand, they search their heart and are honest with themselves and come to the conclusion that if God asked them to stop they would in fact do so, then my response is that they shouldn't ask me if X is a sin; but rather ask God. Only God knows the future and understands the possible harm or benefit of an activity or attitude.

But (you may ask) aren't there things which are "obviously" sins (murder, theft, etc.) for which I should simply respond "yes, that's a sin"? Well certainly there are many activities and attitudes that the Bible unambiguously describes as sin. What I can not answer so clearly is: what sins in a person's life are most important for them to address?

To make this point clear, I'll share a story of a friend of mine. Before he came into a relationship with Jesus, he was what pretty much everyone would consider a "bad man". He was a violent drug dealer, slept with a gun under his pillow, etc. Then he came to know Jesus. One of the first things God led him to do was to start tithing (giving 10% of his income to his local church). Now I don't want to get into the question of whether tithing is a requirement for Christians or not, that's not the point. What matters is that my friend was called to start tithing, and he did so – on the income he earned dealing drugs.

Yes, my friend was still dealing drugs as he started tithing as a Christian!

Now many people would have said that the first thing he should do was stop dealing; but that wasn't how God worked with him. As my friend explained to me in hindsight, what God understood was that the root of many of my friend's problems was greed. It was why he dealt drugs. It was why he was violent (to protect his wealth), etc. Until God could deal with my friend's greed, progress would be slow on the other issues (and he would likely just trade one bad behavior for another – perhaps becoming a dishonest sales person). So God's first step was to get my friend to loosen his grip on his money. Once that was done, God was able to get him to change the other things as well.

The lesson I take from that is that we can never know which of someone else's problems are the most important for them to work on – only God can. We may look at someone's obvious, visible sins and say they should work on them first; but God, who sees what is going on inside of them, may know better. So yes, there are things I can confidently say "X is a sin"; but as long as the Christian is open to God's work in their life, I am comfortable leaving it up to God when to address that issue. Only when someone is resistant to what God wants them to do, does it become an issue for other Christians to address - address with both love and humility as we all have our issues.

Posted by Steven at May 13, 2007 07:47 PM

Comments

Posted by: Roland at May 16, 2007 08:36 PM

Posted by: Steven at May 17, 2007 07:44 AM

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