I'm really gonna throw a spanner in the works now. LOL
Just a side point but there are sins of omission as well. Often when people
talk about sin, they talk about the things they have done, but what about the
things they haven't done which they should have done.
Now big question - honestly I am not sure of the answer myself.
Did Adam and Eve sin before the fall? They ate from the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil and for the first time realised they were naked.
But they were also naked before they ate from the tree, is it possible they also
committed sinful actions before the fall but were unaware of it? If so, then it
was not held against them as they had no knowledge of what they were doing.
I told you it was a bit of a "spanner in the works" question. I don't know either.
Another spanner in the works question - what exactly is sin?
We can point to things like robbing a bank, lying, stealing being
rude or angry etc and we know that is sin. But the actual act of sinning is just
a by-product of the thought processes of the brain.
The wrong doing is an outward action of an inner attitude or thought process.
So… is sin really more about the way we think, rather then the actual action.
If this is the case, then it would make sense that sin came into the world when the
knowledge of good and evil came into the world.
Umm interesting, the verses which say be transformed by the renewing
of your mind, would make more sense if sin was regarded as the way we think,
rather then by what we do.
Other interesting verses:-
Gen 6 v 5 The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the
earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil
continually.
Matt 15 v 17
Do you not understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the
stomach and is eliminated? But those things which proceed out of the
mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. For out of the heart
proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false
witness, blasphemies. These are the things which defile a man….
If sin is the ingrained way a man thinks, and the outward working of it is just
a consequential wrong action. Then sin goes way beyond just the physical, one
might conclude that the sin nature became part of our DNA, with the only corrective
cure being the blood of Jesus for those who accept the free gift of salvation.
Even then, the sin nature is so ingrained, that the current physical body still cannot be
saved, it gets old, gets ill, breaks down and dies - only the spirit is saved, the inner man.
My brain is starting to hurt now, i've done too much thinking