It’s a Sin!

If it’s fun or pleasurable, it must be a sin!  That’s what many people seem to think.  Sin isn’t about an action or habit.  It has to do with how we live. 

The following is a text version of this posting.

It’s a Sin!  The song by the Pet Shop Boys was one I often danced to in nightclubs in the 1980s.  The lyrics include these words:

Everything I’ve ever done
Everything I ever do
Every place I’ve ever been
Everywhere I’m going to
It’s a sin.

Many people grew up being told that just about everything was a sin.  Everything fun and interesting seemed to be called “a sin.”   I think that many well-meaning people are simply wrong when they claim that so much of life is sinful.

As a follower of the teachings of Jesus, I need to start by examining what’s called “sin” in the early Christian writings and the Bible.  The New Testament was written in Greek.  The word for “sin” that’s used is an archery term that means missing the mark or the bullseye on the target.  The Greek word is hamartia.  It’s used in Greek theater, in tragedies, to describe the flaw that leads to a character’s downfall.  In many plays the flaw was hubris or arrogance.  Or it could have been pride or a lack of self-control.  In other words, what’s sinful isn’t evil in some way.  Instead, it’s off-target.  It’s something that misses the bullseye or is off-center.  In the New Testament, sin isn’t about individual actions but about the way we live, like if we live in an arrogant or self-serving way.  Today, we wouldn’t say our lives are off target, but it’s common to say that our lives are out of balance.  It’s the same idea.

When I was a graduate student, more than forty years ago, I was introduced to the work of novelist and philosopher Aldous Huxley.   In his novel, The Devils of Loudon, Huxley explores the concept of transcendence.  Transcendence is a capacity we have as human beings to reach out beyond ourselves to find something more in life.  When we are inspired or in awe, we’re experiencing transcendence.  I consider our capacity for transcendence to be the basis of the spiritual dimension of our lives.

Huxley proposed three types of transcendence.  These categories reflected his British culture which was imbued with Christian values.  There was downward transcendence – reaching out to find something more in life through addiction, sexuality, and things Huxley considered animalistic and less than human.  There was horizontal transcendence – reaching out for something more in nature, music, art, and human perfection.  There was also upward transcendence which he considered to be the most valuable.  This was a movement of reaching out to God as our total fulfillment.  

I think Huxley offers us a great insight into transcendence while also being wrong.  Yes, transcendence can lead us to reach out downwardly, horizontally, and upwardly.  In essence, they are the same energy.    Transcendence is a movement of our reaching out to find something more in life than is initially apparent to us.  It’s not accurate to say that things like drugs, sex, and rock-and-roll are downward transcendence and therefore wrong or sinful.  Instead, these things may be part of a person’s best attempts to find something more in life.  Art, music, nature, and experiences of awe and beauty aren’t somehow “less than” because they are part of horizontal transcendence.  Instead, they are often openings for us to experience something more that is rich and enlivening.  Lastly, upward transcendence as Huxley defines it can be misleading.  People can too often strive for connection with the Divine and become rigid, judgmental people who do more harm than good in the world. 

My point here is not to critique Huxley, but to point to a different truth:  the experience of transcendence whether downward, horizontally, or upwardly can lead us to find something that truly hits the mark for our lives.  It may be part of the path toward balance and wholeness in life.  And for another person, the same things may miss the mark and lead to the loss of well-being.  It’s not the action, nor the engagement with something, that’s the sin.  Instead, sin is about our ability to stray from the path toward wholeness and well-being. Sin draws us away from discovering meaning, purpose, and value in life. 

Let’s admit it:  we’re all missing the mark and live in ways that are out of balance.  That’s what sin is about.  Regaining balance and a sense of wholeness is what living in and with grace is all about.