A better definition of sin

I grasping at straws here.

Sin is the gap between the ideal loving behaviour and actual behaviour. The ideal loving behaviour is what is best for everyone - Self and Other - borne out of love.

The sinful nature is the part of us that pulls us towards self-centred behaviour without regard for others. It is motivated by desire, want or lust. Want is the fear that I don't have everything I need. If I trust then I know that all that I need is provided for me. The sinful nature is a feeling that I don't have rather than an actuality. Hence a poor man might be rich, a rich man poor, a rich man rich or a poor man poor. Since the sinful nature is based on fear it tends to be irrational. In the light of God's promises it is totally irrational.

Feelings can be suppressed only to pop up again at some future point in time against our conscious will. The sinful nature can be suppressed similarly. This is Romans 8.

Feelings can be released. The sinful nature can be released. This is the heart of spiritual disciplines.

The "ideal loving behaviour" is easy when you have no feelings of lack. Holiness is easy when you have no feelings of lack. Releasing all feelings of lack is attainable if you want it more than you want to embrace the feelings of lack. "You must want to be free more than you want the world" - Lester Levenson. "You must loose your life in order to attain it" - Jesus Christ. When you trust that you have all you need, you have no feeling of lack.

The feeling of lack is fear. It is distrust in God's provision. It can be released. Faith in God's provision, is our natural state. You can also have faith in God's provision by having a high degree of self-confidence - you believe he has given you all that you need to meet your own needs. Fear kills the spirit. We can live courageous, fearless lives. In fact that is the life of faith.

There are many methods to release the fear.

Walking with God is walking without fear in union and harmony to the universe. Walking without fear is the thing that God reckons as righteousness - just as he did to Abraham. Walking without fear and unaware of the nature of the universe is also missing the mark.

The world around us is constantly trying to sell to our fears to make a profit from us.

Game theory is from the perspective of utter depravity - I will do always do selfish behaviour. Without a mechanism of removing fear a religion / way is dead.

Legalism is practiced by many people. It is prescriptive without insight. It motivates by fear. It focuses on insecurity. It kills.

Grace is practiced by a few people. It is insightful, and gives a few pointers to typically good behaviour. It focuses on security.

Many people who claim to be in the grace camp are not. They are unaware of their insecurity - their fear of death and hence fear of life. They still need to control so preach legalism.

A legalist can interpret a graceful message legalistically. Someone under grace can interpret a legalistic message gracefully. It is an orientation of the heart.

To move from legalism into grace you have to let go of / release the fear. If you suppress the fear you move further into legalism. Legalists are hard work. There are "Christian" legalists and "non-Christian" legalists. There are those who are under grace who believe in Christ and those who don't. Eternal consequences are based on the degree of acceptance of Grace not on the degree of acceptance of doctrine.

Grace does not invalidate good doctrine. It does challenge bad doctrine. Doctrine does not empower the legalist. Doctrine does inform the graceful. The fearful mindset is fuelled even further by doctrine. Love overcomes fear.

There is often an internal battle between fear and love. Love begets love. Fear begets fear. Often people are in chains to fear because of a lack of imagination. Love can be grasped through imagination. Imagination is that which is outside our experience.


All around us our experiences typically cause us to fear. Fear does not lead to happiness. Desire fulfilled does not fulfil. Desire remains, and remains, and remains. A way to be free from desire is to release it to let it go. Desire is the fear that something is missing, that we don't have all that we need. James talks about desires.

The technology of releasing and letting go is something that contemporary Christian's are largely unaware of, although it is practiced by those who practice spiritual disciplines and can be found in the traditions. The Bible refers to the fruits of releasing, and provides a story that encourages it. It maybe that the story is sufficient to become holy. I don't know. I wasn't sufficiently committed to it to find out. I've used many sources to find how to become increasingly fearless.

Much of my own salvation and sanctification has not come through the contemporary Christian message. From a solely Christian perspective I am one the outside. From the perspective of the message of Jesus I have been born again and am increasingly walking in the way.

God is love. God is more than love. He is light. And he created well. He reached out to a nation that he established as the Jews and demonstrated he love to them that their story might save all. Knowledge of God does not only come through knowledge of that story however I suspect that someone enlightened who read the story for the first time would acknowledge it's truth. It is not an exclusive story. Paul went to great lengths to explain to the Jews that it wasn't. Today we've made it an exclusively Christian story. But it's not. Its God's story. It belongs to him and he wishes to save all.

People wish to make it exclusive as they fear there is a limited supply of God's love. Their desire / want for God's love fuels a self centred belief. They act out of this belief and the legalist in them justifies their behaviour to themselves. However the truth is that God’s love in infinite is not limited and is poured out on all men to those who wish to be free and happy.

The gospel is good news but has no need to be exclusive. Grace is exclusive. It recognises that fear and sin lead to destruction – Self destruction and Other destruction at minimum. Grace has to be exclusive. There are two forces at war in our innermost person. On the unconscious level as well as the conscious level. Grace recognises this. Legalism doesn’t understand this. Legalism is a defence mechanism and leads to inflexible thinking.

Grace frees. Freedom is where happiness is found, where peace and rest is found, where love and sharing is found, where fearless and courageous living is found.

You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

Thanks be to God who is able to guide us into all truth and freedom, away from law and into a wonder life. Amen