Graham is having
a discussion on his blog which includes touching on sin. I decided to post something of my response here for a bit of fun.
I don't think of sin as individual acts which someone needs to be punished for. I would say that sin is all about self. When we put ourselves first, and pay attention to ourselves to the neglect and detriment of others, we devalue ourselves and we devalue them. If life is as, I believe about relationship, including with Jesus, the focus soley on self can only diminish that. The human condition.
I believe that when we begin to follow Jesus we begin the process of learning to lay down our own self, our own ego, - dying to ourselves in fact.
I used to believe that when I sinned, I somehow damaged my relationship with God, that he somehow thought less of me as a result, or perhaps more that I was less as a result - it's a very harmful concept, and I still struggle with it. I believe now though that God loves us the same amount, always has and always will, and that our level of selfishness/sin has no part in his relationship with us.
Rather though as we move through life, learning in part to be less self-centred, to lay down our selves more for others, and for Jesus, to practice the love and inclusion Jesus so clearly demonstrated, being Jesus to others, that we become more able to understand the true nature of God, and experience that.
I'm not sure what I believe about end times, though I'm proably leaning towards a restored earth thing. I do believe in judgement though - that is, that we come face to face with the true love and selflessness of God, and we see our own lives in the light of that. A healing process, where we grieve and celelebrate our lives and actions - who we were, and who we are becoming. Where after we have grieved over those parts we are not so proud of, and celebrated our struggles and lives, God says - well done, you are forgiven, and I'm proud of you, and we move on. The fulfillment of what we've been moving towards in our lives, (if we have been), and the final breaking (though understanding, a very therapeutic type thing), of the power of sin and selfishness over our lives. What that means for hell I'm not sure, but to have spent one's life moving away from God, towards selfishness, and to come face to face with pure unselfisness in God, seems to be a big thing.
Either way, I'm not as fussed about afterlife as I used to be. For me, the importance becomes now. The idea of speading the message of Jesus becomes even more urgent. It's not about saving somone from hell, but about who people are becoming right now. Who we are now, is a part of becoming who we were made to be, and who we are in eternity. That's not to say that pain and sorrow won't pass away - but that we are now becoming the person God created us to be - we don't have to wait for heaven fo rthat to start.
I belive that Jesus was the ultimate example of all of this - a person living a life as close to the person he was created to be, as anyone ever has. Who died to his own will and self, his own ego, and submitted himself completly to us. How it all worked - the mechanics as someone said - I not sure I need to know. (not that I don't have opinions).
The other thing it means for me, is that we are all in this together, not just Christians but everyone - that we are a people as a whole, and that we who have found a calling in Jesus are called as if a militia, armed with knowledge and the spirit of Jesus, and a promise to live as he did, to be Jesus to others, and tell of him.
I guess it's time to begin to practice that more...