Sin no more?

"Sin no more." When you read that, I wonder if you are like me, and think about what Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery. "Go and sin no more." If so, just to let you know up front, that isn't what I was actually thinking when I came up with that title for this post.

"Sin no more." In today's culture, we do not see things as sin. There is "no more" sin. There is just personal choice and personal preference. You might not like something but just because it is not your preference doesn't mean it is wrong. We have made "sin" a relative thing and therefore, because we have come to that point in our culture, we can say "Sin no more." There is no more sin.

This is shown in many ways and in many places. "I personally don't think abortion is correct, but if someone wants to have one, who am I to say it is wrong?" "Homosexuality is not wrong, it is just another way of expressing your sexuality." "Why do you need to be married to live together, after all, marriage is just a piece of paper." "If God made marijuana, He must have wanted us to use it." And perhaps you can add some other statements that you have heard - or perhaps that you have even said or thought.

Sin is relative. Just because someone else doesn't like what you are doing doesn't make it wrong. It is just a personal preference. Sin no more.

The thing that is wrong with this thinking is that it takes God out of the equation. Morality is no longer set by God but by man. Right and wrong are no longer guided by a Higher Authority but by personal feelings and desires. We have removed God from the morality of our nation and because of that, sin has disappeared. We no longer call sin, sin. Instead it is preference.

This didn't just happen with the legalization of marijuana in Colorado. Nor did this just begin with the current debate about same sex marriage. It didn't start with Roe v. Wade in 1973 nor did it begin with the free sex movement in the 60's. It didn't happen because of the stringent rules of morality in the 40's and 50's or come about because of the Roaring 20's. We have to go back much further than that.

We actually need to return to a garden, a tree, a serpent and two people - Adam and Eve. "Did God really say..." Satan asked Eve. "Did God really say that you shouldn't eat from this tree?" Did God really set the rules of right and wrong? Did He really fence you in and make it to where you cannot express yourself or live to the fullest capacity that you desire? Are you really going to allow God to set the morality of your life? And at that moment, when Eve took from that tree and ate the fruit, when she gave it to Adam and he ate, right there, when sin entered in the world, mankind was saying, "Sin no more." Sin was not a sin, it was just a personal choice to be made. And while God might have said that eating the fruit of that tree was a sin, Adam and Eve did not. They saw it as an opportunity to live life to the fullest, to live life like they wanted to live it, without any restraints, rules or guidelines. No one was going to tell them what was good for them. They would decide that themselves.

And so we find ourselves following in our parents footsteps. Abortion is not seen as a sin but a choice. Homosexuality is not an abomination but a way of life. Open sexual actions in a mall dressing room is not wrong but an expression of love between teens. Living together outside of marriage is accepted because it is much better than getting married. Cursing is not wrong but an expression of self. Hatred is not wrong but is just a way of expressing oneself. (I thought I would slip that one in to see if you were paying attention.) You would say hatred is wrong but what if it is my way expressing myself about my dislike of another person - how can you condemn me? It is my new morality to be able to hate someone and you can't say it s wrong. Really? Yep, because if we can't call sin a sin, then you can't tell me that I wrong to hate someone. That is just your opinion and while you might tell me that I must love that person, I don't have to. My choice, not yours.

I disagree with that last statement, but that, my friends, is where we are at. Why can we call one thing that God says is wrong a sin and not another? Either God sets the morality in all issues or He doesn't. Sexuality, life issues, race relations, personal feelings about others, how we talk, how we act, all that we do - God has already told us right and wrong. We really shouldn't pick and chose at which ones we want to follow.

Sin is still a sin no matter what society says. It is still wrong to kill unborn. It is still wrong to have sex with someone of the same sex. It is still wrong to have sex outside of marriage. It is still wrong to hate someone else. It is still wrong to abuse someone. It is still wrong to...why? Because God said so in His Word.