Sin
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Sin does not exist |
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A Course in Miracles,
a book which is accepted by many New Agers, teaches that sin does not exist,
and each person is perfectly guiltless and innocent. In other words, it
teaches no one is sinful in any way. Here are some statements we read in this
book: ‘No one is punished for sins, and the Sons of God are not sinners” (A Course in Miracles, Vol. 1, page
88); ‘The Holy Spirit will never teach you that you are sinful” (Ibid., 1, page
423), ‘When you are tempted to believe that sin is real, remember this: If
sin is real, both God and you are not” (Ibid., page 377). |
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Christian
Science also says that sin is not real: ‘The only reality of sin, sickness,
or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring
belief, until God strips off their disguise. They are not true, because they
are not of God’ (Science and Health,
Boston, 1971, page 472), ‘Man is incapable of sin’ (Ibid.,
page 475). Sin is an illusion, there is no such thing as evil or sin. |
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Confutation |
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First
of all, let us see what sin is. The apostle John says in his first epistle:
“Sin is the transgression of the law” (1 John 3:4). Therefore we must
establish whether the law of God is violated or not, for if the law of God is
not violated then those who deny the reality of sin are right. Who can say
that the law of God is not violated by men, who are so wicked, who have
perverted the straight ways of the Lord, who have given themselves over to
lewdness to work all uncleanness with greediness, who refuse to believe the
testimony that God has given of His Son and thus they have made Him a liar?
Therefore sin is real, and not unreal. Sin is in the world, the Scripture
says so and we can see that sin is in this world with our own eyes. To deny
the existence of sin is foolishness. The Scripture says also that sin is a
work of the devil, for John says that “he who sins is of the devil, for the
devil has sinned from the beginning” (1 John 3:8 – NKJV) – therefore those
who are slaves of sin are prompted to commit evil works by the devil – and
that “for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy
the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8 – NKJV). Christ, by the sacrifice of Himself, has put away sin for He has delivered us from the
dominion of sin. Those who formerly stole, now they no longer steal; those
who formerly blasphemed God, now they no longer blaspheme God; those who
formerly gave themselves to revelries and drunkenness, now they eat and drink
moderately, and all this because the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
has made them free from the law of sin and death; Christ has destroyed that
work of the devil in their life; Christ has taken away from them that vice,
that bad habit. |