Sin
An old guy trying to hit something outside,
that can only be found within oneself.
April 29, 2022
Sin……..
“For many theologians who were blinded by the cultural-philosophical and intellectual movement of the eighteenth century known as the Enlightenment, this was by far the biggest heresy. They took the biblical texts literally and constructed via their rational reasoning – symbolically on sand – their houses of dogmatism. Unemancipated listeners slavishly followed the instructions of the preachers and, for this reason, caused great suffering for many generations.
It was taught that we are all conceived and born in sin, unable to do any good, inclined to evil, and that only the grace of Jesus Christ can save us. In a certain sense, they were right, but inner understanding was lacking and truth became more important than virtue. Because their designation of ‘sin’ was understood wrongly as ‘moral evil’ and the one necessity – the love that is above all – had a limited presence. A lot of people were saddled with obstructing conditioning and unfortunately also with religious traumas.”
To miss the goal
“The Greek word for sin (hamartia) is derived from archery and means something like missing the goal and not being well-focused. So, sin is actually not badness in a moral sense, but rather ignorance and lack of practise. The Prophet Hosea therefore writes: ‘My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge’ (Hosea 4: 6). Prophets like Elijah, Hosea, Isaiah and John the Baptist make people aware of their sinful state-of-being so that they will desire to remedy this situation, to make their paths straight and to acquire and maintain proper orientation.
Many people long for world peace and struggle to achieve it. Their efforts will not be fruitful as long as their activity is not inspired by the Spirit. Jesus was expected to solve all problems on earth. However, that is not his job. He is not focused on bringing about external changes in the world, but rather on promoting an inner transformation in people as a result of the awakening of the sleeping divine spark within them. That is why he expressly says: ‘My kingdom is not of this world’ (John 18:36).”
Extract from Chapter 1 “Accepting the Word”
Mysteries and Challenges of Birth, Life and Death - becoming a new human being.
André de Boer and René Stevelink
It is futile to look outward for that which can only be found within.
The dormant, waiting, divine love that corresponds to the area of the human heart.
That dormant, latent, divine love which is closer than hands and feet.