Is it possible to not sin?

Last summer I decided that I was going to read straight through the Bible for my quiet time. Once I had read through the entire thing, I would start at the beginning once again and do a study of each chapter. It's been an interesting and challenging goal so far! I just finished up with the book of Proverbs this morning, which means that I am totally halfway done with the Bible! Crazy!

As I read through the book of Proverbs, I often felt like I was drinking from a firehose. There is so much wisdom seeded throughout that book! I feel like I could read a single verse everyday and I'd still be constantly learning something new. Many of the proverbs that are in the book deal with ways to avoid living in a sinful and foolish manner. Applicable to everyone, no?

Well last night at the young adults Bible study that my parent host, we talked about sin. My dad proposed the question, "is it possible to not sin?" As I'm sure you could guess, everyone's reaction to that was a resounding no(!), but lets stop and think about that.

Of course we all are already sinful from the moment we are created. We come into the world with a sinful nature with makes us separate from God. But despite my sin nature, from this moment on could I no longer sin? Hypothetically the answer is yes. If I became the closer to God than any other human ever has, somehow became extremely disciplined, and avoided all temptation I could not sin. In 1 John Paul expects for the christians to be aiming toward "no sin", not "less sin".

As we discussed this one of the fellows that was at the Bible study said something that I think is true and completely sound. he said, "the true mark of a christian is their reaction to sin." Think about that for a minute. I think that is true!

Whenever a christian hears the gospel for the first time, they become aware of the weightiness of their sin. What will they do with that knowledge? Some repent and become awestruck by the grace of God while others shrug their shoulders and keep living in a sinful manner. What happens when a christian falls back into sin? They repent of the sinful actions that they have committed and work proactively to change how they will react to that temptation in the future. Now this isn't something that is completely based upon the christian: God still has the biggest hand in this reaction to sin.

Where would a believer run to if they wanted help from sin? They would run to Christ. When a believer want to act proactively in dealing with a temptation next time, they begin leaning upon Christ more for support. Christians go out and evangelize because of the grace they were given. They were given grace because of how they reacted to their own sin. I never had looked at christianity from this angle, but I think it stands up underneath our faith.

What do you guys think?

Shalom in the culture

     So, this is blogging. This is my first blog ever to date, so i guess that this is a momentous occasion. We will see how it goes, depending on the frequency of posts and blogs. 

     I guess to start i can talk a little bit about the article that i have recently just finished. The article is called "The Problem of Good", written by Scott Kauffmann. The basic question that Kauffmann proposes in the article is, "if we're all so bad, how can the world be so good?" How can a fallen, non-christian firefighter run back up the steps of the world trade center during 9/11 to save a non-christian businessman whom he doesn't even know? If we are all so sinful, how can there still be many good things being created by humans? 

This is an interesting question. I don't think i've thought about this much. I more think of why do good things happen to bad people? or why does bad stuff happen to good people? All of these questions are answered generally by the same answer: God's common grace. God has given each existing human being the same common grace, which enables us to develop, grow, create, and imagine beauty, truth, love, and the good in life. It doesn't matter if you are a christian or not, God has given the same gift to everyone. 

Why would he do that though? What is it about humans that makes God give us such a gift? It is himself. Originally, humans were made in God's image. This is called Imago Dei. God loves the Imago Dei inside of us, and he blesses us because of it. He loves us because we carry His thumbprint. Common grace is the greatest gift that God can give us as humans (apart from salvation). 

Since we've been given such a mighty gift, what are we suppose to do with it? How can i incorporate common grace into my christian walk? First, we must recognize the place that common grace has within a believer's life. Common grace is a great gift and tool, yet it isn't the best. God's saving grace (salvation) is what sets a christian apart from a non-believer who lives a good life. We are called to spot the common grace in everyday life, point it out, and point that back to Jesus. When we do this we glorify the common grace and the saving grace, thus bringing the point of the Gospel full circle. 

When you listen to a secular song that is extremely well written or speaks of the good in life, that brings glory to God! You CAN say that a secular song is good! Go watch a movie and recognize the fact that the dignity of Imago Dei is reflected in one of the characters! We must become masters of finding life in life if we want to have a good impact on culture. 

This theme of actively finding the good in culture and fostering it can be considered the jewish concept of Shalom. N.T. Wright puts it as "...putting the whole creation to rights." Its the way that the world was meant to be. We have to point out the good in life. Once we begin to effectively do this, cultural impact will increase. 

...Jeez. I know that that was an extremely rough explanation of what Scott Kauffmann meant to say, but i feel as though thats the best i could do. Also, its readily obvious that this is my first blog. *sigh* Looks as though this is the first one of many more mediocre blogs! :-)