What is Sin?

What is Sin? This is a great question. Most of us have been told what is “sinful” and what is not. The ten commandments is what most monotheistic religions teach to be the basics of what God has declared to be sinful and these same ten commandments have become the benchmark for defining sin.

Unfortunately, many religions have taken it upon themselves to logically and “spiritually” expound upon the ten commandments to further define, describe and elaborate on what sin is.

This elaboration has done nothing but lead to confusion, guilt, shame and legalism. Was this God’s intention? The answer is a resounding “NO”.

The original “sin” of Adam and Eve which caused the broken relationship between God and Mankind was the partaking of the forbidden fruit of “Knowledge of Good and Evil”. The story goes, Eve was tempted by the serpent to partake the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. She succumbed then shared it with her husband Adam who also succumbed and they both partook of the forbidden fruit.

The first thing they realized after gaining “Knowledge of Good and Evil” was that they were naked. That sounds terrible! Wow they were naked, but they were husband and wife. What’s the problem?

Also, What’s the big deal? Why is knowing right from wrong such a bad thing? If we knew what is wrong wouldn’t it be easier to avoid committing a sin unknowingly out of ignorance? The serpent’s temptation was only rational, Right? Wrong!! Let me explain.

First, the serpent was Satan in disguise. Satan is known as Lucifer, the highest ranking angel BUT a fallen angel. He was one of the third of the angels that rebelled against God while they were residing in Heaven, God’s residence, and subsequently cast out of heaven.

After being cast out of heaven, where did those angels go? Their being cast out of heaven is believed to be before the creation of mankind, but nobody knows for sure.

Angels are also believed to be “created” by God, however, unlike mankind, they resided in heaven with God. While in heaven, they witnessed God’s power directly. They were firsthand witnesses of many of God’s mysteries and powers, yet one third of them rebelled against Almighty God.

I tell you this so you can now better understand what the Sin of mankind really was. It was Not knowing right from wrong. The Sin was gaining Knowledge of the Mystery of Nature and how God created our universe.

The fall of the third of the angels and their being cast out of heaven was because they rose up against Almighty God and followed Lucifer as their new leader and god. As you may recall, Lucifer cried out, proclaiming that he would overcome Almighty God to become the supreme ruler of all that was God’s. That obviously did not work or go well! He underestimated the power of Almighty God and was cast from the presence of God.

Somewhere in God’s realm of time, He created Mankind (humans), the universe as we know it, earth, animals, plants and all that exists. After creation, He chose to commune and have fellowship with mankind on earth in a “perfect life” where He met ALL the needs of His creation.

Lucifer and the third of the angels saw an opportunity. They needed to recruit more members to support their coup against Almighty God. The temptation was to lure mankind by telling Eve, the first to be approached, that if she and Adam agreed to collaborate with Lucifer and his fellow fallen angels, she and Adam would be taught the “Mystery of Nature” and learn and gain knowledge to live their life “without God”. They would be able to meet all their needs without depending on God. THIS WAS THE SIN OF PARTAKING OF THE FRUIT OF THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE OF GOOD AND EVIL. Good is allowing Almighty God to meet all our needs and guide and direct us while Evil is “living life without a need for Almighty God”.

Both Adam and Eve believed if they had knowledge to “be like God”, knowing and understanding the mystery of His power, they could live and direct their own lives. They believed by having this knowledge they could do as good of a job as God to meet ALL their needs. In fact, they thought maybe they could even do a better job. This was the SIN.

My above explanation is validated because God cast Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden, where ALL their needs were met to a life where “By the sweat of their brow”, the curse, they would work and toil, using their new-found knowledge to live. No longer were their needs met by a loving, caring God who strongly desired to love and care for mankind, whom He created.

Adam and Eve never realized how good they had it allowing Almighty God meet ALL their needs!