Sermon Central
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No More Sin!
Contributed by Dr. Fred W. Penney on Jul 8, 2023 (message contributor)
David Brooks in his book “The Road to Character” says this about sin...
Today the word sin has lost it's power and awesome intensity. It’s now used to refer to desserts... fattening desserts.
Most people in daily conversation don’t talk much about individual sin.
If they talk about human evil at all that evil is most often located in the structures of society – in inequality, oppression, racism and so on -- not in the human breast.
We’ve abandoned the concept of sin because we’ve left behind the depraved view of human nature.
However, sin is a necessary concept because it reminds us that life is a moral affair.
No matter how hard we try to do to reduce everything to brain chemistry or herd instinct.
No matter how hard we strive to replace sin with non-moral words like “mistake” or “error” or “weakness” - the most essential parts of life are matters of individual responsibility and moral choice.
Whether to be brave or cowardly - honest or deceitful - compassionate or callous - faithful or disloyal.
The concept of sin is necessary because it is radically true. To say you are a sinner is to say that -like the rest of us you - have some perversity in your nature.
We want to do one thing but we end up doing another. we want what we should not want. None of us wants to be hardhearted but sometimes we are. No one wants to self deceive but we rationalize all the time. No one wants to be cruel but we all blurt out things and regret them later. No one wants to be a bystander to commit sins of omission - but we do. We really do have dappled souls.
Sin also feeds on itself. Small moral compromises on Monday make us more likely to commit bigger compromises on Tuesday.
People rarely commit the big sins out of the blue - they walk through a series of doors. They have an unchecked problem with anger, drinking, or drugs.
Corruption breeds corruption. (more) Sin is the punishment for sinning.
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