Definition of Sin. Healing Substitution Model

Transcription

1 Definition of Sin What is sin? Everyone, who studies the issue of sin comes to the understanding that there is a type of sin that brings condemnation and there is a type of sin that does not bring condemnation, except Dr. Jennings, Dr. Dorothee Cole, Dr. Brad Cole and friends. Everyone who studies the issue of sin realizes that there are sins that are imputed and there are sins that God winked at (Acts 17.30) except Dr. Jennings, Dr. Dorothee Cole, Dr. Brad Cole and friends. In fact Dr. Jennings and friends define sin in a way that appears to be squarely Biblical but a closer examination demonstrates that their definition of sin resembles the view of Christian Deism. 1. What do we inherit at birth? (You may notice it s the same answer, the difference is in the following question) 2 At what point in life do we become guilty for sin in the sight of God? Healing Substitution Model And because God gave Adam and Eve the ability to create beings in their image, every human descended from them is born infected with this terminal condition: our brains do not naturally function the way God designed (37) We are not born guilty; we are born terminal; dead in your transgressions and sins (Eph 2:1). We are born with brains that naturally fire the alarm center, impair the prefrontal cortex and seek to protect self at the expense of others. (42) Once they turned their backs on God and sinned, all their offspring have been sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me (Ps 51:5). In other words, all humanity has been born defective. (p. 116) We are born infected with fear and selfishness corrupting our entire being, with brain out of balance, with overdeveloped fear circuits and underdeveloped love circuits, with minds that no longer know God nor operate on his law of love. Without divine intervention, this condition is terminal, for life is only compatible with the law of love. (40-41) Guilt comes from our conscience not from God. Guilt is an adverse byproduct of lies believed about God: Adam, it s your own conscience condemning you not me (p. 93) The guilty conscience, the unregenerate heart that prefers lies and selfishness cannot tolerate the light of love and truth. This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil (Jn 3:19). (p. 214) The Bible (Gen 5:3) And Adam lived one hundred and thirty years and fathered a son in his own likeness, after his own image. And he called his name Seth. (Rom 7:18) For I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwells no good. For to will is present to me, but to work out the good I do not find. (Rom 7:8) But sin taking occasion through the commandment worked every lust in me; for apart from Law, sin is dead. (Rom 7:9) And I was alive apart from Law once, but the commandment came, and sin came alive, and I died. (Rom 7:10) And the commandment which was to life, this was found to be death to me;

2 3. What are the effects of guilt? But when we are involved in activities that violate God s law of love, the conscience impairs strategizing and planning. In other word, we cannot think clearly when we are guilt-ridden. In order for our judgment to work best, our consciences must be clear. This can only happen when we live in harmony with the law of love, which requires removing distorted God-concepts and coming back to a true knowledge of him. (p. 39) This is the problem with fear-based decision making; the emotion circuits dominate, and selfishness is chosen instead of love. (40) 4. What is sin? But to sin is to break the law (1 Jn 3:4). Sin is severing the law of love. Just as cutting its throat kills the animal, or throwing the switch turns off the lights, or removing money from circulation destroys the economy, when the law of love is broken, the only possible outcome without divine interventions I ruin and death. The wages of is death (Romans 6:23). Sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death (James 1:15) (42) At its core, sin is composed of two elements: lies (from Satan, the father of lies Jn 8:44) and selfishness. Fires of combustion don t destroy ideas. Fires that burn material substances don t consume lies and selfishness. (p. 214) (Rom 7:11) for sin taking occasion through the commandment deceived me, and through it killed me. (Rom 7:15) For what I work out, I do not know. For what I do not will, this I do. But what I hate, this I do. (Rom 7:24) O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from the body of this death? (Rev 6:15) And the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the rich ones, and the commanders, and the powerful ones, and every slave, and every freeman hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains. (Rev 6:16) And "they said to the mountains" and to the rocks, "Fall on us," and hide us from the face of the One sitting on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, Hos. 10:8 (Rev 6:17) because the great day of His wrath has come; and who is able to stand? (1Jn 3:4) Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. (Rom 7:7) What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Let it not be! But I did not know sin except through Law; for also I did not know lust except the Law said, "You shall not lust." Ex. 20:17 Because sin is the result of believing lies about God, which break the circle of love and trust I explained. Sin broke the bonds of love and infected the hearts and minds of human beings with fear and selfishness. Insecure people want to

3 control others. And we tend to carry out practices in the manner we believe God behaves. If we believe in an authoritarian god, then we usually become controlling toward others. (p ) 5. What is the real law? 4. What is the Remedy to severing the law of love? So what is the real change to God s law, the change Christians almost universally accept as true? That God s law is an imposed law put on his creatures to govern their lives and test their obedience rather than the truth that God s law is a natural law, a principle on which he created life to operate. Prior to Constantine, Christians recognized God s law as the law of love, the principle on which life is built, and thus they realized Christ s true purpose was to rebuild and restore humanity. But after Constantine converted, the concept of imperialism, with a powerful emperor imposing law on his subjects, gradually infected Christianity. Christians lost sight of God s law of love and instead accepted an imposed law by a powerful potentate. (p. 173) When we accept imperial Rome s imposed law-concept as God s law, we distort the divine character and teach that, when the law gets broken, God must use his power to inflict punishment on lawbreakers. (p. 194) The problem is not in believing God is merciful but in misunderstanding God s law. It all comes back to how you understand God s character and law. (p ) While God did introduce laws, there were simply therapeutic interventions to educate and protect until the law of love was put back into the heart. (p. 175) God s healing transformation of our lives occurs gradually, steadily, progressively. It takes time for unhealthy neural circuits degrade and healthy ones to form. (p. 86 It is in this saving relationship that God s healing power begins working in our lives. However until Christ returns, the healing of our minds, the transformation of our characters, the rewiring of our brains is an (Exo 32:16) And the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God; it was engraved on the tablets. (Dan 7:25) And he shall speak words against the Most High, and he shall wear out the saints of the Most High. And he intends to change times and law. And they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and one half time. (2Th 2:3) Do not let anyone deceive you in any way, because that Day will not come unless first comes the falling away, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, (2Th 2:4) the one opposing and exalting himself over everything being called God, or object of worship, so as for him "to sit in the temple of God" as God, setting forth himself, that he is God. Dan. 11:36; Eze. 28:2 (2Th 2:7) For the mystery of lawlessness already is working, only he is holding back now, until it comes out of the midst. (2Th 2:8) And then "the Lawless One" will be revealed, "whom" "the Lord" "will consume" "by the spirit of His mouth," and will bring to nought by the brightness of His presence. Isa. 11:4 (Rom 12:1) Therefore, brothers, I call on you through the compassions of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service. (Rom 12:2)

4 ongoing battle as old neural circuits are degraded and healthy pathways are formed. This is what Paul is describing in Romans 7:1. I have paraphrased what I believe Paul is saying, inserting some insights regarding brain physiology: (p. 86) These unhealthy neural circuits have not yet been totally eliminated and thus cause me to do things I do not want to do (p. 87) What a damaged and corrupt man I am! Who will deliver and heal me from a brain and body so diseased and deformed? Who will deliver and heal me from a brain and body so diseased and deformed? Praise be to God for he has provided the healing solution through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I find that in my prefrontal cortex I am now renewed with trust for God and love of his methods, but my entire brain 1 and body remain damaged by years of self-indulgent behavior. (p. 89). He experienced the full force of evil s onslaught, but he overcame it by the power of self-sacrificing love. Jesus became our substitute in that he took our sinfulness, our terminal condition, our iniquity, our infirmity (Is 53:4) on himself in order to cure, heal and restore humankind back into God s original ideal. He became sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21). He took our sick condition and cured it! (p. 168) He revealed the truth about God to win us to trust; but more than that he became our substitute by taking our condition on himself in order to cure, fix and heal humanity in his own person. In other word, he perfected humanity! He achieved what Adam was created to become. (p. 169) God possesses a perfect divine nature; angels in heaven possess perfect angelic natures, being on other worlds (assuming they exist) are in possession of perfect nature of their order but, after Adam s sin and before Christ s victory, there was no perfect human nature. Christ came to fix this, to within the human species, restore perfection of character, to rewrite God s law of love into humanity. Divinity can create a new order/species anytime divinity chooses but because And be not conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, in order to prove by you what is the good and pleasing and perfect will of God. (Act 2:38) And Peter said to them, Repent and be baptized, each of you on the name of Jesus Christ to remission of sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. (1Jn 1:9) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous that He may forgive us the sins, and may cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (Rom 6:14) For your sin shall not lord it over you, for you are not under Law, but under grace. (Rom 6:22) But now having been set free from sin, and having been enslaved to God, you have your fruit unto sanctification, and the end everlasting life. (Rom 8:1) There is therefore now no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to flesh, but according to Spirit. (Rom 8:2) For the Law of the Spirit of life 1 Paul contrasts the mind and the spirit, not sure what Jennings intents in saying the entire brain and body?

5 other nature of love and liberty, humanity, once defective, could only be cured by the exercise of human choice. No human, descended from Adam, could accomplish this, but Christ, uniting his divinity with our humanity did this work. In order to cure this creation, a human being had to exercise trust in God. A human being had to reject the lies and temptations of Satan. A human being had to eradicate selfishness with love. It is this renewed human nature achieved singly by Christ that God offers to instill in all who trust him. We become partakers of the divine nature, through our trust in Jesus. (p. 170) in Christ Jesus set me free from the law of sin and of death. (Rom 8:3) For the Law being powerless, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh, (Rom 8:4) so that the righteous demand of the Law might be fulfilled in us, those not walking according to flesh, but according to Spirit.