What is Sin?

The Hebrew word for sin means “To Miss the Mark”.  This infers sinning is anything that misses God’s desire, purpose, and will.

Ephesians 4:19:  Paul says sinners “being past feeling have given themselves over to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness”.  Lasciviousness is Behavior Without Restraint and Disregard for Anything/Anyone.

In verse 17, Paul talks of the “Walk of Life” which should not be futile, meaning life should not be chaotic, or haphazard without purpose.  Confusion is the word that best describes a sinful life.  “God is NOT the author of confusion, but of peace…” (I Cor. 14:33).

Paul also talks of sinful people being blinded because of the “ignorance that is in them” because of their heart.  The heart Paul is speaking of is our Heart’s Attitude toward God.  Let’s look at the progression of the Heart’s Attitude.

In verses 17 through 19 of Ephesians chapter 4, Paul provides a reason for a futile walk (lifestyle) and futile mind (thought life).  He first says it’s because of ignorance, which is because of a blind heart.  The blind heart is the problem.

Why do people have a blind heart?  Because they made a CHOICE.  The choice begins with greediness (self being more important than ANYTHING OR ANYONE).  This Heart Attitude leads to lasciviousness which causes behavior of uncleanness.  Uncleanness is impurity; God is pure.  A habit of unclean behavior leads to becoming “Past Feeling”.

Being “Past Feeling” is the “Unpardonable Sin”.  Jesus tells us all sins are forgiven by God but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven and is in danger of eternal damnation (Mark 3:28,29).  What does it mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit?  It means to reject God’s calling to forgive.  The one who rejects God’s offer to forgive is telling God “No, I want to live for myself and my own pleasure”.

How can we know this is the only sin God won’t forgive?  We know forgiveness is awarded to “whosoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Romans 10:13).  When one calls upon God they are looking to God for salvation.  Sin is looking away from God, a complete “180”.  Sin is living for self.  Repentance is “turning away from”; It is a complete “180” of living for self and self-pleasure to living for God.

The original sin of mankind, Adam and Eve was to live for self, enjoying pleasures of living as one pleased because they had been given scientific “knowledge” to be capable of living life without God.

Satan was and is the great deceiver.  He convinced mankind they could live without relying on the God who created them.  All mankind had to do was choose to 1) turn away from God and 2) look to Satan for guidance for “Knowing” how to accomplish this by using the “Knowledge” Satan would teach them.  In other words, looking to Satan for guidance was to elevate Satan to being honored more than God.  Isn’t this what Satan attempted when he and a third of the angels attempted to overthrow God in heaven?  Wow, now here on earth, he could be “like the Most High” (Isaiah 14:14).

With the goal of living for self and self-pleasure, mankind would “Miss the Mark” (Hebrew meaning of the word sin).

The irony of living for self is that people believe living for self and self-pleasure is freedom.  Who wants to be enslaved to someone who demands all your attention?  No one!  But after sinning, and making ourselves our own god, we find we are truly enslaved to the consequences of living for self and self-pleasure.

Truly, there is freedom in worshipping the Most High God.  Jesus even tells us “committing sin makes us the servant of sin BUT Jesus sets us free and we are Free indeed” (John 8: 34-36).  There is Freedom in serving God.  This is Liberty!

Look at the world we live in, it is full of sickness, suffering, death, and pain, both emotional and physical pain.  We live in a world of fear and anxiety with NO real peace.  God is the author of PEACE (I Cor. 14:33).

“Missing the Mark”, sin, is a general term and is not specific.  When we assign a definition of sin listing what is right and what is wrong it can be easy to, also miss the mark.  The listing of sins most religious people list as being sinful is actually the characterization of the Heart’s Attitude and the natural behavior of that attitude.

Heart Attitude leads to intent which leads to behavior.  This is why Jesus said if you think an evil thought, you have already sinned (Matthew 5:28).

Proverbs 23:7 says, “as a man thinketh in his heart so is he”.

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!

Be Vigilant

The bible tells us in first Peter to be sober and vigilant because our adversary the devil is prowling…seeking to devour.  This pretty much describes the world today but, do not believe for one moment satan has not been on the prowl since the beginning; he has, you just may not have been aware.  This is why we are exhorted to be vigilant.

Being vigilant means being “on the lookout”, attentive to your surroundings and what is happening.  Being sober is having a “clear mind” so you can be “attentive”.

Many think of “satan” as Lucifer, the fallen angel, but if one studies the word “satan” it means adversary, opposer.  The English translation in some cases should have been translated to “The Satan” instead of just satan because in early manuscripts context indicated “that which opposes God” is really what satan means.

Ephesians chapter 6 tells us our fight is not flesh and blood BUT Principalities and Powers.  If one researches the terms principalities and powers, they will find that those terms mean rulers, authorities AND cosmic powers; so, what does that mean?  It means that heavenly powers (fallen angels) have joined forces with Mankind, who is flesh and blood to create RULERS (elected and non-elected leaders, presidents and leaders of corporations) and AUTHORITIES (corrupt law enforcement, corrupt judicial systems, regulatory agencies (corrupt FDA, CDC, WHO) who use positions of authority and the powers that accompany those positions to attain Personal Wealth and Power.

What we are seeing today is that the OCCULT is no longer occult meaning Evil is NO LONGER being hidden or disguised.  Evil is on display open and transparent.  We as children of God need to see the evil for what it is.

There are world organizations promoting “depopulation” (Killing off PEOPLE).

We need to open our eyes to see there are leaders who are worshiping and giving allegiance to Lucifer and the fallen angels to use their power and “KNOWLEDGE” of God’s mysteries of heaven and nature to overtake God’s kingdom and people.  Rest assured their strength and power are NO match for Almighty God; that is the good news.

The bad news is we are at war with Evil.  War is no fun, but God is victorious.  We need to support all the children of God, those who love, honor, and respect the one and only Almighty God, creator, sustainer, and provider.  We need to set aside details of our personal beliefs and unite in the fight against evil.

Abraham believed God AND it was accounted to him as being righteous before God.  God is the ONE who Saves.  God Saves!  Seek Him and Him only.

Almighty God, Save us and Protect Us by your strength and your power.  Amen