Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: bnr-fos!bmers58!davem@watmath.waterloo.edu (Dave Mielke) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: sin Message-ID: Date: 15 Dec 89 06:38:10 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: Bell-Northern Research, Ottawa, Canada Lines: 42 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu (David M Tate) writes: >As I've described my conception of "sin", this is a non-sequitur. Matthew >says that some matters (mercy, faith, etc.) are more important than others >(tithes, sacrifices (by implication)). Where does this talk about sin? To >make this a passage about relative "badness" of sins, you need the highly >suspect additional assumption that "sin" is simply action which is not in >accordance with the Law. God HImself defines sin as a breaking of His law. 1 John 3:4 says "Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.". >I have already argued that this is a terrible mis- >construction of the nature of sin, leading to nitpicking legalism, holier- >than-thou hypocrisy among believers, and fragmentation of the Body. While this may well be what we sinful people would do when confronted with the definition of sin which God has given us, we must bear in mind that such conduct is in and of itself sinful. God's law includes commands which do not permit us to assess either the conduct or the character of others. If we engage in this sort of conduct then we ourselves are sinning as we are transgressing those particular elements of His law. Philippians 2:3 says "{Let} nothing {be done} through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.". Matthew 7:1-5 says "Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam {is} in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.". Dave Mielke, 613-726-0014 856 Grenon Avenue Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K2B 6G3