The other day someone responded to a friend of mine by saying that sin was invented by the Bible (I would presume he meant those who wrote it) so that it could then be cured by the Bible. He went on to ask, "Would you be grateful to a doctor who cut you just so he could stitch you back up?" But is sin really just the invention of the Bible? Would there really be no such thing as sin if there were no such thing as the Bible? It isn't that difficult to find an answer.
The problem of sin existed before there was a Bible. I know believing the Bible will give me critics; but I ask my critics to confirm that the oldest portions of the Bible are only about 4000 years old and that known human history records stories of wars, rebellion and Conquest prior to the writing of Moses. Would we really insist that war is not sinful? I am reminded that one of the early accusations the American Indians had about as Christianity is that it took the honor out of murder. The Indians believed they did no wrong in killing another human being so long as they did not dishonor the body of the dead by stealing from it. Really?
Speaking of native people, there are, people groups who do not have a word of the Bible. Those people groups each have some code of ethics, morality, right and wrong. Even in the least civilized people groups there is some form of government and some means of dealing with those who will not live for the betterment of the group as a whole. The word "sin" may not exist in their vocabulary but the problem of sin does.
The Bible did not create the concept of sin so it could then be the cure of sin. But it does offer the only true cure for sin. In Benjamin Franklin's autobiography he described his method of becoming perfectly moral. He believed that since he thought he knew right from wrong and desired to be perfectly moral, it should not be a problem to become perfectly moral. I note two things about his system;
First, even he included a passage of Scripture to meditate upon daily
Though he saw that Scripture as merely a wise saying rather than God breathed.
Second, he admitted failure
Though he wanted to be moral; though he believed he knew right from wrong, though he applied himself to becoming perfectly moral nearly his entire adult life, he admitted he had failed. Only the Bible offers a perfect solution to the sin problem and it is not in a system but in a Person. Jesus Christ came
• First to seek the lost, finding out those who longed to be forgiven
• Secondly to pay the price of sin dying in the place of the sinner and giving us reconciliation with God and
• Finally to prepare for us a place where sin would be non existent
The Bible did not invent sin. But it does offer the only eternal remedy for sin.
Marvin McKenzie
In the fields
The problem of sin existed before there was a Bible. I know believing the Bible will give me critics; but I ask my critics to confirm that the oldest portions of the Bible are only about 4000 years old and that known human history records stories of wars, rebellion and Conquest prior to the writing of Moses. Would we really insist that war is not sinful? I am reminded that one of the early accusations the American Indians had about as Christianity is that it took the honor out of murder. The Indians believed they did no wrong in killing another human being so long as they did not dishonor the body of the dead by stealing from it. Really?
Speaking of native people, there are, people groups who do not have a word of the Bible. Those people groups each have some code of ethics, morality, right and wrong. Even in the least civilized people groups there is some form of government and some means of dealing with those who will not live for the betterment of the group as a whole. The word "sin" may not exist in their vocabulary but the problem of sin does.
The Bible did not create the concept of sin so it could then be the cure of sin. But it does offer the only true cure for sin. In Benjamin Franklin's autobiography he described his method of becoming perfectly moral. He believed that since he thought he knew right from wrong and desired to be perfectly moral, it should not be a problem to become perfectly moral. I note two things about his system;
First, even he included a passage of Scripture to meditate upon daily
Though he saw that Scripture as merely a wise saying rather than God breathed.
Second, he admitted failure
Though he wanted to be moral; though he believed he knew right from wrong, though he applied himself to becoming perfectly moral nearly his entire adult life, he admitted he had failed. Only the Bible offers a perfect solution to the sin problem and it is not in a system but in a Person. Jesus Christ came
• First to seek the lost, finding out those who longed to be forgiven
• Secondly to pay the price of sin dying in the place of the sinner and giving us reconciliation with God and
• Finally to prepare for us a place where sin would be non existent
The Bible did not invent sin. But it does offer the only eternal remedy for sin.
Marvin McKenzie
In the fields
