Sin, Yet Again

MON., JAN. 15, 1990, 6:32 AM
FARM, STUDY

An adult class at your church has just been “studied” to determine if it is appropriate as an “official” Presbyterian class. One of the chief issues, as you heard it, was the “Course in Miracles” rejection of the concept of sin. Since your course, based in My Teachings to you, is potentially challengeable, because the theology is not always consistent with that generally accepted by your denomination, I shall address this sin matter this morning. This, then, shall be a Teaching to offer in defense… or to hide as evidence of heresy. I wonder which?

I have never told you there is no sin. I never will. Sin is any act or thought that takes you away from My way or from what I would have you do or say. Thus, there are general sins, behaviors that I do not approve… for anyone. And there are individual sins, that especially apply to you. Sins vary in importance, but the variability is more in how far you are away from Me rather than the act itself.

For example, I have established a relationship with you through these written Teachings. You have become fairly sensitive to My calls to you, and so you generally are not away for extended period of time. You knew, as you went to bed last night, that you were to be here this morning. If you were still in bed now instead of hearing Me, that would be a sin, and a major one. Yet there is no commandment that says, “Thou shalt not remain in a warm bed when the Holy Spirit wants you for a learning session.” I just tell you that this is a sin.

The first commandment thunders that you shall have no other god than Me. I, the Holy Spirit, am an integral “part” of that Triune Godhead called Me. The difficult question, then, is whether I am revealed only in the Holy Scriptures and have nothing more to say to people nearly 2000 years after these Scriptures were written and compiled, or whether I have some “updates” for at least some of My people. The great sin of the Jews in My time, as Jesus, was in holding to the Yahweh of the Torah and rejecting the Living God that was in their midst. So it can be with you… and with other Christians.

The most critical question in relation to sin is: does forgiveness expunge a sin completely, or is every sin “still on your record.” Do I forget as well as forgive? The answer is both, just as it is with you, as a forgiver. It is truth that I forgive sin and I forget sin. You are clean and sinless before Me. It is also truth that I cannot forget how you have lived, for this shall be important to your future, beyond this earth realm. As a husband and father you have forgiven your son John Patrick for his behaviors as a teenager. His present life is exemplary, and you are proud of what he has become. Still, you remember, with pain, his behavior toward his Mother. It is forgiven and not relevant to his present life, but it is not forgotten as part of his history with you.

Is it a sin for your church to reduce its benevolence giving at a time when members have pledged more than ever before? In one sense it is a form of selfishness. In another, it seems necessary to continue the local work of the church. I can forgive, and still I remember when a part of My Body is not mindful of the needs of others.

Is it a form of bearing false witness, and therefore a sin, when you do not tell people in your church about this relationship with Me? I have not told you to do this. If I should, and you would resist (as you would), would this be a major sin?