It doesn't matter how much or how little we sin. Any sin is unacceptable in the eyes of God. The ONLY way to get to heaven is to accept Christ as your savior.
It's the pre-disposition towards sinful actions that leads to those actions that get in the way of the relationship we're supposed to have with God. Christ is merely {
} the means chosen to do something about it. And to show what a big deal it is to God.
When you say
It doesn't matter how much or how little we sin. Any sin is unacceptable in the eyes of God
you kind of minimize the seriousness to God of sin. Sin arises from actions that arise from a state of being. A state of being that, let's face it, most of us don't really take that seriously if we take it seriously at all and one that we don't particularly want to do anything about.
I know this is a terrible analogy so I'll apologize in advance, but I think of it like someone who has written a song and they know how they want that song to go. They know all the harmonies they want, they know the various instrument parts and where they are all going to fall, they know all the phrasing. But they want their bandmates to play these parts because they appreciate what their bandmates can do when they bring their skills to bear.
But the bandmates want to play what
they want to play. They aren't too interested in what
you've worked out for your song and how
you want it to sound. Because they've heard in their heads how
they think things should go.
But it's your song.
This happened with "Hey Jude" ¬> Paul was showing George how it went and he more or less knew how he wanted it to go. At the end of each line, George had this idea to answer with a guitar part and he was keen to stamp his mark on Paul's song. But Paul said no, I don't want that. And he and George got into a big beef about it and apparently, George was really upset and that spilt over some months later into what George said to Paul in front of the cameras during the infamous "Let it be" session where they appear to argue.
I'm a big George fan and I back him way more often than not but I think he was wrong on that occasion. I'm glad Paul stuck to his guns. Because of that, we have the great "Hey Jude" as it is, not adorned with George's lead guitar all over it.
God and his world is like Paul and his song. George and his guitar is like us and our bent towards sin. The song was Paul's and was for him to say how it goes. The world is God's and is for God to say how it goes. Now, both God and Paul {this sounds so funny !
} were in a position where the situation was slightly complicated by partnership, but it was/is partnership with heavy nuance and certain caveats.
I did say it was a terrible analogy.
If this is correct, then how can you say we're not being punished for something that wasn't our fault?
It isn't the fault of any White person today that maybe some of their ancestors or kinfolk engaged in the slave trade. Or in the colonization of various lands. Yet, many White people are open to ideas like reparations or affirmative action or aid to certain nations which demonstrates that it is possible to actively have a view about
today's happenings that spring from
yesterday's events even though those White people that feel that way had nothing to do with the establishment of yesterday's events. Them benefiting from them is arguable.
We were born sinners, and we must repent - i.e., ask for forgiveness for being born that way - or we burn in hell ...
One doesn't ask for forgiveness for being born with a predisposition towards sin. One asks for forgiveness for some of our actions that we engage in because of that state of being in sin.
If an autistic child or adult is in the habit of boxing people in the face and it can be traced to be due to their condition, do we encourage that person to apologize or not ? Do we encourage them to look for other means of expression ?
