Chose To Be Sinners

A very common Christian marketing scheme is to raise the future Caged

Christian’s guilt to such a level that she or he falls to the ground

and claims to be the filthiest and most horrible sinner on the planet

Earth. Let me quote a virtual marketer – “You are covered in sin! You

daily choose to sin! You actually were born covered in sin! Your sin

takes you to hell!! You need to be cleaned (you maggot)!” Of course,

there is a certain level of exaggeration in these words, but I believe

a seed of truth is present, too.

First of all, I think the word “sin” has lost it’s meaning somewhere

along the way. Or rather, it has so many meanings that we should

always explain what we mean by this dishallowed term. In this article

I am using the meaning that I dislike and would love to see it die

among Christians one day. The meaning of shame, failure and guilt.

This is the evangelic gun. However, Jesus never used it to promote His

teachings. When He spoke to the woman at the well He didn’t pull out

the guilt shotgun to show her how miserable she was that she has had 5

men in her life. He smiled and spoke words of wisdom and love. Others

wouldn’t even talk to her. And the result? She brought a whole village

to see Him!

I believe that people need to reflect their deeds and think about

there actions to be able to act better when particular situations

happen again in their lives. I am not speaking against it. I am rather

addressing the guilt phenomenon. And, please, now hear me well: “WE

ARE NOT GUILTY OF BEING SINNERS”.

No person in the entire existence of human race except Jesus, Adam and

Eve could decide to become a sinner. (I really hate the word sinner,

but what else should I use in this context?)

We were born in sin, it’s not our fault. By being born in sin I don’t

mean that the baby is born with lustful desires to kill and destroy. I

believe it’s better to say that we were born in a corrupted world

where the wrong ways influence us and in a smaller or greater level

lead us to destruction and we need to learn (be born again) to go the

right way. We are responsible for our actions, but we are not

responsible for being in sin. And that’s a huge difference.

Jesus treated sin like cancer. He didn’t blame people of sin, he

healed people of sin. We often do the exact opposite. We blame the

patients dying on a deathbed of sin as if it was their personal

decision to get that cancer. It wasn’t! They could have helped it to

grow, but it was not in their competence to reject it. Only three

people on this planet had the possibility to choose. However, we often

speak to people and promote the gospel as if all the listeners have

decided to become sinners. No they didn’t. We as the followers of

Jesus are supposed to heal the world, not to burn it with guilt. If

people decide to follow Him out of guilt they don’t follow Him for who

He is. Even in Isaiah it is written that He has come to heal our

diseases. And one of these is sin. He has come to deliver us, to

redeem us. All these words that became meaningless phrases from the

Christianese dictionary once possesed the beauty of healing. Jesus

came to heal us with love, He didn’t come to shoot us with guilt. And

it’s terrifying that there are Christians out there who believe Jesus

never ever smiled (I’m not kidding, I know of such).

I believe that when we truly realize we are not guilty of becoming

sinners there is a great pile of freedom waiting for us in the fridge.

God has never ever had one thought of blame in His mind for you and me

to become a sinner. When a person is born in a damaged airplane he is

not responsible for the coming crash. God has even given us the power

to repair the plane and to heal the dying passengers. The story of

guilt and shame should turn into story of healing and restoration.