Is it Time to Dispose of the Concept of “Sin” ?

A few (ahem) years back when I was in college, I encountered a fellow student who had a propensity to take things that did not belong to him.  He just could not help it.  He would see something he wanted, and the next thing you knew, he had it in his possession (much to the surprise of the former owner).  He stole from strangers.  He stole from friends.  He stole from me.  When I became suspicious of him, I set up a sting operation in my dorm room giving him an opportunity to prove me wrong.  Unfortunately, he failed the test, but I had prepared for this possibility.  I caught him red-handed and shame-faced.

He had no explanation for his theft other than, “I don’t know why I do it.  I just steal.  I can’t seem to stop.”  You can imagine the trouble he stayed in with those around him, and I am sure ultimately with the law in the years since I lost track of him.  Back then, I had very little advice for him other than that it was wrong to steal and that he should stop.  He at least respected Christianity and recognized that stealing fell outside Christian morals according to the Bible.

I only wish that back then I had possessed the insight concerning stealing that we have now.  We now know that a sizable number of people have an inherent predisposition to steal.  They cannot help it.  It is a recognized psychological part of who they are and even has a name you will be familiar with: “kleptomania”.  When the writers of Scripture categorized stealing as always being a sin, they had no idea that some people are inherently kleptomaniacs.  The authors of Scripture did not understand that in many cases, stealing just cannot be avoided.

I wish I’d had this insight all those years ago when this five-finger-discounting student was stealing from me.  I could have told him that although Scripture seems to say that stealing is wrong, what it really means is that stealing is wrong only if you have malicious intent.  If you really struggle to resist stealing, or if you do not do it with the intent of hurting others, or if you only steal things from people who will not suffer without the items, then stealing is actually permissible.  The writers of Scripture would have never been so clear and dogmatic about stealing if they had understood that we can’t always be responsible for our actions – something now proven to be a psychological fact.

If I had understood this back in college, I could have helped my thieving acquaintance feel better about his actions.  In fact, it seems there are clinical causes around a host of other “sins” which some people experience as irresistible compulsions.  Some individuals have great difficulty telling the truth.  Others struggle with outbursts of anger.  I suppose these “sins” have unalterable underlying psychological causes which just need acceptance more than Biblical judgment.  I have been informed that if we Christians properly understood Scripture, we would learn to not judge things such as theft, lying, gossip, murder and the like as sinful.  I mean, really, how can we classify any action as “sin” with all these psychological and possibly genetic forces driving our actions?

This new-found understanding even implies that society would be much better if we just accepted people’s actions without judgment – “live and let live” if you will.  We could save billions of dollars in law enforcement, court proceedings and incarceration.  Sermons would be a lot shorter.  It should also follow that our self-images would improve.  I suppose humans have now progressed to the point in civilized society that they should be able to make their own judgments about behavior without fear of condemnation from others.  That would be a better world … would it not?  Scripture really intends for us to evaluate human behavior this way … does it not?

You’re a crack-head or Colorado pot-zombie?  Good for you – the Bible would have you be true to yourself!  An incorrigible philanderer?  Tell your wife to get over it - you can’t help it so Christ's words don't apply!  Just verbally destroyed your daughter in another one of your fits of rage? Tell her to suck it up – it’s just how your twig is bent!  Scripture doesn't require self-control for you.  Or – and I know this sounds crazy - could Scripture possibly mean what it says about all that (I shudder to even mention the word yet again) “sin”?  Hmm, with my tongue firmly planted in my cheek, I wonder…