Classifying sin

One of the problems that people can have with Christianity is that what is considered sin sometimes doesn't resonate on an emotional level. So, for example, sins can be things like murder, rape, and assault, but people often include within sin many minor things, such as wasting one's time, being silly, liking certain kinds of music, etc which don't feel particularly wrong or evil.

There is a problem with sins that do not feel very wrong (or wrong at all). This problem is that a Christian, in that situation, sort of has to force themselves to repent and to act like something is wrong, but they themselves do not actually feel it is really hurting anyone and so they cannot really make themselves feel, rather than think, it is wrong.

I believe this could be an influence that motivates Christians to give up their faith, because people get tired of saying things are evil or sinful when they don't actually feel those acts hurt anyone.

Here are some interesting verses written in Psalm 119 about this issue:

18 Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.
27 Make me understand the way of your precepts, and I will meditate on your wondrous works.
33 Teach me, O LORD, the way of your statutes; and I will keep it to the end.

34 Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart.
73 Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.
125 I am your servant; give me discernment that I may understand your statutes.

The psalmist prays specifically for understanding of God's laws, to see why they are right or how they make sense. So the psalmist is praying not to follow God's law out of an iron sense of obligation, but to follow it because they can say, 'I can actually agree with that command, I can see how that makes sense and is the right thing to do'. Then they can feel the rightness or wrongness of a command because it makes sense.

So it seems that it's important to be able to rationally see how something is a sin if you say it is a sin, and for many people that means tracing it to some kind of harm - self-harm, harm of others, or harm of God.

So one conclusion is that some things we consider sins may actually not be sins, and we are being too hard on ourselves, because we cannot trace it back to a rational basis. A verse that relates to this is from 1 Corinthians 4:6, where people in the church had been adding to what the Bible said:

"Now, brothers and sisters, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not be puffed up in being a follower of one of us over against the other."

Another conclusion is that we can trace it to a rational basis after thinking about it a lot, and this will help us do it joyously rather than from inexplicable guilt, e.g. "I can see now how that action might be harmful in some way and why I shouldn't do it".

Fatalist attitudes and the Bible

The Appointment in Samarra

Death speaks:

There is a merchant in Baghdad who sent his servant to buy provisions from the market and in a little while the servant came back, white and trembling, and said, "Master, just now when I was in the market-place I was jostled by a woman in the crowd and when I turned I saw it was Death that jostled me.

She looked at me and made a threatening gesture; now, lend me your horse, and I will ride away from this city to avoid my fate. I will go to Samarra and there Death will not find me."

The merchant lent him his horse, and the servant mounted it, and he dug his spurs in its flanks and as fast as the horse could gallop he went. Then the merchant went down to the market-place and he saw me standing in the crowd and he came to me and said, "Why did you make a threatening gesture to my servant when you saw him this morning?"

"That was not a threatening gesture," I said, "it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra."

This short story, The Appointment in Samarra, is a story about fatalism. The world it describes is one where people cannot avoid their fate or situation in life. A practical implication could be that people therefore should not try to avoid their fate. You could call this attitude the 'fatalist attitude'.

The 'fatalist attitude' has an opposite attitude, which is a sort of 'can do' attitude, where you can really do quite a lot. In fact, both attitudes could probably be put on opposite ends of a scale relating to one's level of passive acceptance of one's fate or situation in life.

Both attitudes have good and bad aspects.

A good side to the 'passive acceptance of one's fate' attitude is that it helps people be content with what they have and not worry that much. Why not be content with a situation that you can never change? And why worry about things you can never affect?

On the negative side, this attitude encourages passivity and to ignore ways in which we can make a real difference to our and other people's lives.

The good side to the 'can do' attitude is that it's a hopeful attitude, and hope, the emotion, makes people happier. Another good aspect is that maybe you can do something about your situation and your 'can do' attitude will encourage you to try.

A bad side to the 'can do' attitude is that it might morph into worry if you start thinking that you can affect or control problems that you simply can't, instead of passively accepting that certain things are outside your control.

Here are some verses that relate to this discussion from the Bible:

Proverbs 19:21: "You can make many plans, but the LORD's purpose will prevail."

Proverbs 20:24: "The LORD directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?"

Psalm 32:8-9: "The LORD says, 'I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you.  Do not be like a senseless horse or mule that needs a bit and bridle to keep it under control.'"

Phil 4:6-7: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Matt 6:25-34: "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

1 Peter 5:7: "Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you."

At first glance, the Bible seems to be endorsing a fatalist attitude, but I'm not sure that it is. It's not really about fatalism, it seems, so much as, e.g., a child accepting that their parent will take care of their needs. That is, it seems to relate more to trust than passively accepting one's situation in life. The Bible is saying we should not worry because God will take care of our needs and us.

But I also believe that Jesus does give us a bit of practical advice and encourages us not to try and control things that we simply cannot in Matthew 6:27: "Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" This could be interpreted as saying that, for example, suppose one has a general anxiety about the length of one's life, this anxiety will not practically allow one to control matters so that one's life is actually longer. Perhaps Jesus is practically recommending a touch of fatalism as an antidote to worry, but only about things we certainly can't affect.

Anxiety

Phil 4:6-7: "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

What would have to be true for these verses to be giving good guidance?

I think it would have to be that Christians have almost no control over the major events and occurrences in their life, although it often seems that we do. Instead, God must really be the one in control, who orchestrates the major and many of the minor points of our life. Otherwise worry would be the proper, rational response.

The reason for saying this is that anxiety and worry are always about trying to control something that you believe you have power over, and/or the feeling that it will be awful if you mess something up that you can mess up.

So for example, if I didn't think that I had any control over whether a job interview went well, but I just turned up determined to go through with it, then it stands to reason I wouldn't worry at all about how it would go. It's only if I thought I had it in my power to make or break the interview that I would worry.

Also, if I'm taking an exam that isn't very important then I won't worry either, because I can't mess things up by doing badly. Even if I have the power to do well or do badly, the fact that I don't care how I do on it means I'm not going to try and exert any control over its outcome beyond just turning up and doing it. My lack of concern for control means I won't worry about it.

So it's obvious that anxiety and worry is about control: about believing you can control and affect whatever issue or thing you're worried about.

So for God to tell Christians, "Do not be anxious about anything," God is pretty much saying we have almost no control over the major events of our life, or that they can't be messed up against God's will. Otherwise we ought to try to control these events, and therefore should experience a lot of anxiety and worry as part of that control. Also see Matt 6:24-34 where God says the only things that we should worry about are things that we can obviously and easily affect.

A possible exception to this is that, if we reject what God obviously and unambiguously wants for us, then we can completely go against God's will. But even then God could work around it, and in any case God is assuming in these verses that we won't do that.