Sin, Sin and More Sin

Sin Is As Sin Does... Or...

Squirrely Girl....Are you crazy or what???

 (I copied and pasted this letter exactly as it came to me because it was from the heart of a younger person and I truly appreciate the question and the sincerity.)

Dear Squirrely Girl,

I think your squirrels are funny and I like you o.k but I don’t know sometimes about your facebook stuff. Sometimes I think you are a good and Christian person and then you post thinks about liking gays or supporting sinners and I just don’t know. Caan you be really good and really bad at the same time? And why do you think sin is allright? If you say sin is allright  that is just like sinning to ain't it?  Have a good day and thank you, you make me laugh some time. 

Signed ~ Just wandering

Dear Just Wandering and Wondering (sometimes they really are the same thing)

I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your letter and your honesty. First I would like to say that your sweet disposition in asking the question touched my heart immediately. I know you are sincere because you started out with a compliment to keep me from going into a “Squirrely Girl Fit” (and we know those are never pretty) and then you were just completely honest about how I might have confused you with my rants and raves.

That is rare, very rare actually (not my rants and raves….your honesty) and for your age (I never give those details out, I promise) it is also very refreshing and authentic. You are coming from a pure place of seeking knowledge with an open mind to listen and make up your own mind. You might not believe how unique that really is but trust me on this one. Most of us make up our mind about everything and then close it up, never to be opened again. That is where learning stops and bigotry and hatred can set in for anyone who disagrees with us and that is a very bad place to be. Now, I will try to actually answer your questions.

 Sin is a strange thing. Not strange like “uncommon”, but strange like “everyone has an opinion about it”. The bible says there is no degree of sin. Sin is sin. I actually found one website that list 667 sins in the bible (http://www.scribd.com/doc/14087682/667-Sins-in-the-Holy-Bible )  Yep, I thought the same thing “One sin more than 666?”  I am not sure if that number is exact but they do list verses to support each one, so we can check them all out.

 Let’s start with sin number 667, “Younger not submitting to the elder”- I Peter 5:5. According to that, you are sinning by even writing this letter at your young age and questioning my opinion because I am definitely your elder. lol  But you have good common sense, you know that questioning someone older than you is not the same thing as being disrespectful. Actually... that whole verse says this, “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” I am sort of partial to the King James Version, not that I don’t use different translations to study the bible, but we need to be careful about “translating” to fit our need or our agenda.

No matter how you read this passage, if you read the ENTIRE verse, the true meaning should come through quite clearly.  It is very simple. ~Listen to people who are wise, through age or experience, listen to each other and respect each other, be humble enough to admit you do not know it all because God can’t work with you or through if you are full of pride and think you can do no wrong. He gives grace to those who are willing to give grace to others. ~ (That is Squirrely Girl’s interpretation only…subject to correction as needed.)

When you hear people just pick out one sin, like homosexuality, out of all the sins in the bible and act like that sin is above all others, do you think they are being humble? When we think one sin is different from another sin, just because it is not “our sin” and take one portion of scripture and leave out the rest-- isn’t that like trying to speak for God or play God? I think He does a good job of speaking for Himself if we just listen.

I do support sinners! There I said it. And I am not going to give you the worn out and overused, “I love the sinner but hate the sin”…if you hear that saying… you have this elder’s permission to tell them it is bull crap! You either love the sinner or you do not. You are not agreeing with the sin-- you are-- loving the person, without giving them your opinion about the degree of their sin. If we truly hate all SIN..well…let’s face it…we have at least 666 to study up on to make sure we are “hating” them all enough. Most of them we commit on a daily basis.  So how would we feel if everyday someone walked up to us and said publicly, “Hey I love you but I hate the way you do all the following things and I gotta tell you how bad I hate them..but I love you man, I really do"  (to name just a few between 650-666)---

CONFORMING TO THIS WORLD
FORSAKING GOD’S CALLING FOR THIS WORLD
FRIENDSHIP OF THE WORLD
GETTING ENTANGLED WITH THE AFFAIRS OF THIS LIFE
LIVING FOR YOURSELF
LOVING THIS WORLD LOVING YOUR LIFE
MIND OR THOUGHTS ON THIS WORLD
SERVING EARTHLY THINGS
SPEAKING OF THE WORLD
SORROW OF THE WORLD
WORLDLY AMBITION
WORLDLY MINDED
BEING WORRIED
LETTING THE SUN GO DOWN ON YOUR WRATH.
 (Yep..those are all sins..and the link has bible to back it up.)

Wow....I know I have committed at least a couple of those already today, so if people want to protest against all of my sins publicly they will have to do more than go eat a chicken sandwich at Chick- fil- a --they will need to go to one of those big ‘ol “all you can eat buffets”!!  I do support sinners because I too am a sinner and I need love and prayer and I need to be reminded who forgives sin and how very much He loves me and that there is hope. I do not need people reminding me that I am not measuring up to the few verses of the bible they have selected. When I feel the need to point out others people’s sin and correct them, I think about how long it will take for me to get the log out of my own eye so I can see their sins more clearly.

Now…“Can you be really good and be really bad at the same time?”  What a great question-- wish I had the perfect answer for you on that one but I do not. I think as humans we are a little bit good and a little bit bad at the same time …all the time. Where we get confused is what is good and what is bad. When we set up standards by man’s judgment we will never win because we will be depending on our own perfection and I don’t know about you but I haven’t met a perfect person yet. So I try not to worry about what sin someone else is committing or how bad that sin is and just concentrate on trying to do the one thing I know will never be wrong or bad and what is always good…ALWAYS…and that is to love others. If that makes me supportive of sinners, if it makes me bad and good at the same time…then I guess I am guilty as charged and hope I continue to be.

But let me tell you what I learned from you today. I learned that everyone does not see things the same way that I do and sometimes I assume that they do. I think that is wrong and I am glad you pointed that out to me. What one calls a tater, another calls a french fry-- but sometimes they are talking about the same thing. I need reminding of that quite often. So you keep wondering and wandering until you get all the answers you want and need. It will serve you and others well. Thank you for writing!

Most Sincerely,

~Squirrely Girl