A few days a week I stay home with my daughter. I often find time while she naps to get serious things done, but sometimes I just rest and watch a movie. Yesterday I watched an interesting independent film called “For the Bible Tells Me So” which is about homosexuality in America and the view of Christians. It made me think about sin and how we define it. Oddly enough some has recently done a study on this excite issue.
Let’s begin by stating the most Americans believe in sin.
Specifically, 87% of Americans believe there are certain actions that are “almost always considered wrong, particularly from a religious or moral perspective.” This is how sin was defined in a recent study by Ellison Research (a Christian research firm) of Phoenix Arizona, which sampled over a thousand American adults.
As we might expect, among those who regularly attend religious services, 94% believe in sin, yet among those who do not attend services, 80% still believe in sin. The difference is only slightly more evident depending on political persuasion. 94% of conservatives believe in sin, and 77% of liberals also believe in sin. Interesting the broad majority of liberals believe in the idea that some things are just morally wrong.
So, most of us believe in sin. But we cannot agree on specific behaviors and activities that can be defined as sinful. The following numbers tell the story.
The behaviors a majority of all Americans describe as sinful are:
- Adultery 81%
- Racism 74%
- Using “hard” drugs such as cocaine, heroine, meth, LSD, etc. 65%
- Not saying anything if a cashier gives you too much change back 63%
- Having an abortion 56%
- Homosexual activity or sex 52%
- Not reporting some income on your tax returns 52%
A number of other behaviors are considered sinful by a significant portion of all Americans, although not a majority. These are:
- Reading or watching pornography 50%
- Gossip 47%
- Swearing 46%
- Sex before marriage 45%
- Homosexual thoughts 44%
- Sexual thoughts about someone you are not married to 43%
- Doing things as a consumer that harm the environment 41%
- Smoking marijuana 41%
- Getting drunk 41%
- Not taking proper care of your body 35%
Then there are behaviors that less than one-third of all Americans see as sinful:
- Gambling 30%
- Telling a “little white lie” to avoid hurting someone’s feelings 29%
- Using tobacco 23%
- Not attending church or religious worship services on a regular basis 18%
- Playing the lottery 18%
- Watching an R-rated movie 18%
- Being significantly overweight 17%
- Not giving 10% of your income to a church or charity 16%
- Drinking any alcohol 14%
- Working on Sunday/the Sabbath 14%
- Spanking your child when he/she misbehaves 7%
- Making a lot of money 4%
- Dancing 4%
Of course if we take into consideration various religious, ethnic and political groups, or by gender, we would see some wide disparities. I would encourage you to look at the research yourself. I would like to spend my time asking, “How do we know what is and is not sin?”
Probably, the majority people draw on whatever moral or religious experience they have had in life – which defined sin for them. Those not “religious” usually draw on some moral or ethical code at which they have arrived through reason. Even those who claim not to believe in right and wrong have some kind of behavioral standard.
I remember as a child hearing preachers proudly point to their Bible and declare “This is our moral compass!” And I agree it should be – but this view has caused problems. First, we can’t agree entirely on what the Bible defines as sin. Plus, challenge a Christian about sin and we get downright nasty about it, resorting to badmouthing, shunning, beating each other because we’re questioned over what is sin. Second, the New Testament seems a bit vague on defining sin the way we would like. There is no single biblical passage that systematically lists all the behaviors that “annoy” God and all the behaviors that “keep him happy.” Just look at the list above — Smoking? Gambling? Racism? Dancing? Marijuana? Environment abuse? Making lots of money? None of this is specifically defined as sin in the New Testament or anywhere in the Bible.
Maybe we need to look at sin from a different perspective? It’s clear that God wants a relationship with us. Jesus provided a way by taking our sin – our bad behavior, past, present and future. In Romans 3:23-24, Paul does not bother with trivial arguments over what sin is and is not. He gives sin the broadest possible definition — anything short of God’s glory: “. . . all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are freely justified by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.” For those who accept this offer, sin is no longer an issue. Now, in light of our relationship with God, and that fact that he is living in us, how do we behave? The way he leads us to. He will produce right, moral behavior in us (look at my previous post about the Which Comes First).
As Jesus leads us and transforms our consciences we’re not so concerned about lists, definitions, arguments and measurements of what is or is not sinful. But we should be concerned how our actions impact other people, about loving God, loving others and His creation in general. We should be concerned with Romans 14:23, “…everything that does not come from faith is sin.”
Why do we feel the need to argue what is “sin” or what is not? I assume so we can justify our ridiculous behavior? So we can continue to live self-destructive lifestyles? Why do we categorize other people’s actions as “sin”? So that we can criticize other people spiritually? So we feel better about our own standing with God by comparison? So that we can make sure that all sinners “get what’s coming to them” in this life? So that we can control the behavior of everyone around us to make a more comfortable (controlled) environment for ourselves?
How about grace? Doesn’t grace find beauty in everything? My entire life I’ve obsessed over sin – how do I stop, where is the beauty, has it been taken care of? I think my problem (our problem) comes from wanting to fit into religion (whatever your religion) and less about making sure that God’s grace is our firm foundation. Simply, living in Christ. Learning how to live life in Christ. ME (sinner) forgiven.
