Ruminations on the nature of sin
What is sin?
I had to ask myself that question recently and I realized that I really didn't know the answer. So I looked, and apparently 'sin' is transgression against the laws of God.
Well, OK. What's the law of God (to a Christian)? Obvious answer is obvious, I suppose. The Bible, Old and New Testaments. Except, wait, that rang a bell.
Pretty much all of my life, I've been raised by and indoctrinated to believe the things that a mid-south, back hills Kentucky baptist believe and somewhere along the line I was told something like 'We really don't worry about the Old Testament because we're Christians and we believe Jesus was the saviour.'
Well. Ok. Since I'm examining root causes, what does that mean? Jesus fulfilled the law. That's the story and the rationale is that if he fulfilled it, the OT is for people who don't accept Jesus as the saviour. You know, though, the very next line of that verse is that he didn't abolish the law, so now I'm confused.
So I did a little random flipping around while being really confused, and I find the story where Jesus is being interrogated by the priests and one of them tries to trip him up with the question about which of the 10 commandments is the most important and he sidesteps it with the answer that there are only 2 commandments (love god, and love your neighbor as yourself, I think). That's interesting, because now we have the one and only time in the NT that I was able to find with a random flip search where God, through Jesus, has Laid Down The Law.
Now, obviously the 2 commandments cover all of the sins of the 10. You cannot break any of those commandments if you truly love. Wait, now I have a way to navigate this question that resolves, to me, what I was raised with and what I have read for myself.
The way I read it, Jesus redefined the law. He did it in two sentences. Pages and pages and pages of rules and regulations and stone tablets signed in triplicate put aside with the power of Love. It's like a cheesy cartoon ending, and I'm OK with that.
What is sin, to a Christian? Doing something without love in your heart. That answer works for me.