A Short Philosophy of Sin [TOF Announcement Sheets]

Some food for thought from tonight’s Teens of Faith announcement sheet:

What is sin?

Well, duh, Bro. Ryan. Breaking God’s rules.

Hm… so was it always a sin to lie, even before God made it one of the 10 commandments?

Yes.

The point of writing it down as a law was to help people understand God’s good intentions.

Even our society full of atheists has a sort of moral code: it’s generally better not to lie, cheat, steal, murder, etc. I’m talking about MORE than the law… I’m talking about common courtesy.

We shouldn’t lie because it hurts people and yourself. We shouldn’t steal because the item wasn’t earned, and stealing hurts others. We shouldn’t murder because… well… hopefully you get it.

SIN is breaking God’s laws, technically, but His point of writing them for us was to help us, not restrict us.

The commandments of God are not grievous (1 John 5:3). They’re no burden to bear because when you reverse sin, the “rules” make sense.

The Golden Rule is not just a kids’ tale. “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is essentially Jesus’ summary of all his rules: Love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

Uhh.. don’t cheat, don’t lie, don’t slander, don’t murder, don’t commit adultery, don’t covet… Think from the other person’s perspective.

What if YOU were the one being murdered? What if someone stole from YOU? What if someone lied about YOU?

Last week’s note was about gossip.

It’s easy to commit the sin of slander, backbiting, talebearing, railing and reviling. But think about the person you’re gossiping about.

Do you love her? Do you care about him? Are you spreading truth in order to help the situation? Or are you just guessing about the “nitty gritty.”

Words hurt. Especially when they’re not said to your face.

So, what is sin? Why do we care about rules?

1. Because God said so. That one comes first. But, there are REASONS behind the rules, which brings us to…
2. Because it’s good. That’s like a cool byproduct of God’s laws. They make everything better.

Do right in your speech to and about others. For their sake and yours. –Bro. Ryan