A Snippet or Two on Sin

As it is written in Romans 3:23, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” This includes all of human creation.

Being “sinful” or prone to “sin” doesn’t necessarily make anyone inherently evil; susceptibility to sin makes him human. Having the courage to recognize and turn away from sin is a sign of wisdom, just as it is necessary to be honest enough about any disorder or disability in order to manage or remedy it: this is the key to appreciating the dysfunction or the shortcomings in our ways, and consequently the risks posed by their propagation throughout society across time; this is the immeasurable contribution of wisdom and wisemen who admit the essential value of the individual while accounting for that which is required of each for a fulfilling life within a stable civilization, that which is essential for the benefit of our heirs.

Where sin is identified or corrected, that needn’t imply that the one identifying or correcting it is himself free of sin or superior to the other who has sinned; nor is it necessarily implied that either has sinned any more or any less than the other. After all, “every kind of sin and slander [except blasphemy against the Spirit] can be forgiven.” The identification of sin, as with the identification of evil, is for the benefit of the sinner as well as the benefit of the community, just as it is for the instruction of the children and the edification of the congregation. As a certain philosopher once put it, “One of the main things that parents have to do is to train their children in the identification of corruption or evil, because corruption and evil will do far more harm to your children than riding a motorcycle in the rain.”

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