The second chapter of Mark Biddle\u2019s book, Missing the Mark<\/em>, discusses sin from a very important angle: sin as the desire to be more than human. He\u2019s not keen on making this simply hubris or pride or arrogance, but the inconquerable desire for humans to live within their limits and the attempt to be more than they are. The second chapter of Mark Biddle\u2019s book, Missing the Mark, discusses sin from a very important angle: sin as the desire to be more than human. He\u2019s not keen on making this simply hubris or pride or arrogance, but the inconquerable desire for humans to live within their limits and the attempt to be more […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":197,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1744],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-atonement"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nHe begins by looking at passages in the Bible that deal with the classical issue of apostasy, and he does so in terms of violating the covenant \u2014 OT texts, the sin unto death in 1 John 5 and \u201capostasy\u201d in Hebrews. He\u2019s good here; balanced and fair.
\nThe rest of this chp deals wtih the Bible on Arrogance: O! To be more than human. Deftly, he begins with Ecclesiastes and the desire on our part to fail to recognize that we are creatures, that we are less than God, that in spite of having \u2018lm<\/em> (olam) in our hearts, absolute knowledge is found only in God. [Note to self: emerging thinkers ought to deal with Job and Ecclesiastes more often.]
\nThen he has a thoughtful section on Paul: he finds \u201coriginal sin\u201d to be \u201csinning on the part of all humans\u201d rather than somehing inherited; sin is universal. \u201cOne is a sinner, not because Adam\u2019s sin automatically made one so, but because one actively participates<\/em> in Adam\u201d (38). Not only this, but \u201call\u201d means universal in the true sense: each person violates relationship with God by striving to be more than God made them to be. Reaching for too much,etc..
\nFundamentally, sin is the failure of relationship with God by not being what we are meant to be: authentic humans, Eikons, not God.
\nHere\u2019s something I thought of:
\nLiberalism\u2019s essential sin, if I read Biddle aright, is the belief in the perfectibility of humans and society (striving for utopia without facing the reality of sin).
\nFundamentalism\u2019s sin is the refusal to be authentically human (sinful while thinking they are the utopia).
\nNeeds some polishing, but you might explore these two lines of thinking with me.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"