Need Help With “Sin”?

TUES., MAY 7, 1996, 7:23 PM
FARM, STUDY

Tomorrow morning your group will carry on the study and discussion of My servant Paul’s letter to the new Christians in Rome. He was having trouble with the concepts of sin and forgiveness, and this continues in Christians today. You have felt as though you have settled this issue, but this particular passage reintroduces the “trouble”… except for the last verse. Shouldn’t I give you help with this, between thunderstorms?

Scripture says that humans are created in God’s image. From whence, then, comes sin? Presumably from the will to choose… which also must be an aspect of God, since it comes forth in His image. Paul’s argument is a bit strange to you, as you read it now, for he seems to assume that each of you is wholly a sinner or wholly a non-sinner. Your experience is less polar. You sometimes think great thoughts… and, at other times, thoughts of no consequence, or even evil thoughts. You are sometimes responsible, and sometimes… less so. Your actions benefit others… and occasionally cause harm.

When you try to determine which is more dominant you are getting away from Paul’s homily. But what happens when you try to hold to this polarity which he preaches? It becomes mystical, even as he doesn’t present it as such. If you are in Christ what you do and what you say… totally… is without sin, for He has taken this away, for good. If you are not in Christ you sin continuously, for there is no forgiveness, and sin overshadows the objective good that you might be doing. It is the most blatant welfare, and the most abject separation of humans, one from another.

But remember… it is mystical, which means it doesn’t have to fit Western patterns of thinking. It is the way… but it doesn’t exclude other ways to relationship. In My Father’s House are many mansions. You are aware of some of these, but you needn’t strive to understand any of them more fully.

With your hand in Mine you still shall think and act in some ways that should be considered sinful. Yet you also let Me guide you in other actions and statements, and this is obviously righteousness – bestowed, not earned. I guide you to learn from the sins and grow in spirit, back toward Me.

Let’s go back, however, to creation again… your creation. Spiritually you were created in My image, but much more male than female, unlike Me. Your skin is light. What do you suppose Mine is? Must it be of only a single hue? Obviously not. But you have the temptation to sin. Do I, also? Yes. Is this My only nature? Certainly not. But, if you are in My image what you show forth in your life is also in Mine. Yet am I also “The Very Best”? Of course.

Why is Paul so riled up about sin in these passages? Paul is still a Jew, and he’s writing to Jews who have become Christian. They know about the Law and about laws and customs and they know that not living according to these laws is sin. It is a common premise that Paul has with these folk. Still, he has a new and different solution, which he feels must be presented in stark contrast to the former way of perceiving.

He presents sin as a devilish master who leads you to sinful thoughts and acts. From whence did this sin “come”? It must have been from Me… where else? Any myths about this, like fallen angels, must finally bump up against the absolute fact that I am the only Creator, and I don’t make major “mistakes”, like letting evil into the earth against My Will. The Hindus employ the term “maya”. It is a good one, and doesn’t need further defining. You know what it means, and sin is a big part of My maya.