"Go. And sin...just a little." Part 2
Part one is here.
So what is the deal with this whole sin thing anyway? I mean, why did God even create us with the capacity to sin? Why couldn't there have been just a (to coin a phrase) bunch of shiny, happy people holding hands? I think that the answer, from the Bible, is twofold.
The first, as far as I can see it, is that God is creative. It is within his nature to create and if he did not create he would be inconsistent with his nature and he would cease to be God. It is almost like me, being a human, suddenly grew scales, lost my arms, legs, and lungs, grew a tail and gills, and started swimming around in the ocean. I would have lost those things that classified me as human and anyone who looked at me could see that I was a fish. That is how fundamental creativity is to God. He must create. And he certainly did.
The second is that, in his creativity, he wanted to make something, or someone, absolutely stunning. So, he created men and women in his image.That does not mean that we look like God in the physical sense. The old man sitting on a throne is not found in the Bible at all. No, he gave us the ability to participate in certain aspects of his divine nature. So, for example, God is holy and we can be holy. God is just, and we can be just. God is love and we can be loving. But did you see that? God "is" and we "can be". I think that in order for us to understand sin, we need to understand the transition from "can be" to "must be".
It is this ability to participate in certain aspects of his divine nature, the "can be", coupled with the obligation to participate in certain aspects of his divine nature, the "must be" where we find our capacity to sin. We'll pick it up from there next time.
So what is the deal with this whole sin thing anyway? I mean, why did God even create us with the capacity to sin? Why couldn't there have been just a (to coin a phrase) bunch of shiny, happy people holding hands? I think that the answer, from the Bible, is twofold.
The first, as far as I can see it, is that God is creative. It is within his nature to create and if he did not create he would be inconsistent with his nature and he would cease to be God. It is almost like me, being a human, suddenly grew scales, lost my arms, legs, and lungs, grew a tail and gills, and started swimming around in the ocean. I would have lost those things that classified me as human and anyone who looked at me could see that I was a fish. That is how fundamental creativity is to God. He must create. And he certainly did.
The second is that, in his creativity, he wanted to make something, or someone, absolutely stunning. So, he created men and women in his image.That does not mean that we look like God in the physical sense. The old man sitting on a throne is not found in the Bible at all. No, he gave us the ability to participate in certain aspects of his divine nature. So, for example, God is holy and we can be holy. God is just, and we can be just. God is love and we can be loving. But did you see that? God "is" and we "can be". I think that in order for us to understand sin, we need to understand the transition from "can be" to "must be".
It is this ability to participate in certain aspects of his divine nature, the "can be", coupled with the obligation to participate in certain aspects of his divine nature, the "must be" where we find our capacity to sin. We'll pick it up from there next time.
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