Path: utzoo!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!bcm!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: gross@dg-rtp.dg.com (Gene Gross) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Sin Message-ID: Date: 13 Mar 91 08:28:53 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Data General Corporation, Research Triangle Park, NC Lines: 29 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article psburns@lims03.lerc.nasa.gov (MAUREEN BURNS) writes: >>[Or both? Perhaps confess both our general attitude of resistance to >>God and specific actions. --clh > >Sin is separation from God; it is more a state that we exist in rather than >an act. Our actions, motives, thoughts and responses are a reflection of >the fact that we are fallen, sinful creatures. Seems to me that both OFM and Maureen have pretty much said it. Sin starts in our hearts, which as Maureen points out are deceitfully wicked. The outworking of this is the actual acts that we often label sinful. Asking God to forgive us requires more than asking for forgiveness for a certain act. We need to also deal with the underlying cause of sin. >Jeremiah says that the heart is decietfully wicked; we are born with the >tendancy to turn away from God, to try to make life work on our terms, >without God's help. He loves us with an everlasting, passionate love, but >we stubbornly and willfully refuse to believe that He can or will truly >satisfy our deepest longings and desires. It is also a matter of trust, Maureen. We have to learn to trust God as we've never trusted, never dared trust, any person before. And this is not easy. En Christo, Gene