Answer # 1...

I know why we don't have these conversations often...they are difficult and go deep into struggling with who God is and who we are.  It's much more convenient, and easier, to decide what "we" think based on our experience and who we think God should be.  Truth is, that's not always who God reveals Godself to be.  What is revealed about God very often calls us to a humility that is most uncomfortable and a life that is most challenging...which leads us right back to a humility that is most uncomfortable.

I have to say, though, that exploring this deeply and really struggling with the issues this semester, I find myself (for the first time, yes...) willing to fully accept my utter sinfulness and that has put me in a most interesting place of peace and confidence.  I invite your feedback and conversation with these questions.

One caveat.  I am still learning the language.  You know how when you learn a new skill or get a new insight that you feel it more completely than you can say it?  The saying is taking some practice, but I've decided that if we wait until I am completely practiced in saying it, it might be well past the point I am able to blog!

So question #1 is:
How many sins does it take to be a sinner?

Answer:  1

This is certainly the easiest question (all the more reason to start there!).  Every one of us who took the test got this one.  How many sins does it take to be a sinner?  One.  How many have you committed?  ummmmmm......

But my question, then, is the question of original sin.  Are we born sinful?  or good in God's image?  And I believe we are born good, however, we are born into a thick, inescapable mire of sinful society.  (Think politics on steroids...)  And we cannot escape it on our own, no matter how hard we try.

In fact, the very irony of trying becomes our undoing.  We decide we are not going to commit our pet sin...insert yours here.  We have to try hard not to commit that sin...after all, it is our favorite.  And we really do want to be good people...so we try even harder not to commit that sin.  And immediately, as we are focused on our sin, we have forgotten our God.  We are so focused on the law that we forget the lawgiver.  And that, is itself, a sin.  Darn...hear that sucking sound?  That's our "goodness" circling the drain...

I had this picture of a newborn, loving family, determined to do everything in their power to nurture this child...to preserve the "goodness" with which the child was born.  And bringing the child home from the hospital, dressed in a precious little outfit...the kind that makes intelligent people speak in high-pitched, sugary, cooing sounds...the shoes that come with that little outfit are made in a sweat shop in a third world country, or perhaps sold in a small business that can't hire full-time people because they can't afford benefits, or perhaps sold in a mega-big-box-store whose deliberate business practice builds profits on the backs of underpaid workers.  I don' t think wearing the shoes makes this newborn an immediate sinner, but the sucking sound never goes away...it's just a matter of time.

So, how many sins does it take to be a sinner?  One.  And how many have you committed?  And with that recognition, we immediately need answers to the next questions...coming soon...