Can We Talk About Sin?

Niceness is the new religion. The only people who are offensive enough to mention sin are the kind of people I don’t like very much. They are arrogant, mean, judgmental, and far from the loving Jesus that the world is willing to embrace. So to keep from being thrown on the pile of “mean Christians,” we just avoid the word sin.

It seems to offend the sensibilities of people. And this isn’t just political correctness at work. It is the fear that we might offend. We don’t want to be off-putting. I listen to some denunciations of Christians upon the world and just cringe. I don’t want to come across that way. I want to be more like Jesus.

But do I really?

In an odd way, invoking Jesus has become the mantra for telling somebody to stop judging human behavior as sinful. We say, “Love and accept people like Jesus did. Be hospitable like Jesus was.” OK. But we may need to revisit Jesus.

Can we model his scandalously wonderful love while ignoring his equally scandalous judgments? Yes, he was a friend of prostitutes; but he also condemned divorce and non-marital sex. Yes, he befriended tax collectors while excoriating religious authorities; but he also called for a surrender of privileged wealth for the sake of the poor.

Yes, he invited notorious sinners to dine with him; but his aim was their repentance. His love said, “come,” but his impact was “go and sin no more.” Is it possible that we are imitating the love of Jesus without the ultimate aim of Jesus?

I wish we would rethink sin. It is more than a list of things to be condemned. It is the self turned inward, the fracturing of a human, the breaking of a person. Have we really loved like Jesus loves without speaking of sin?