In many communities of Christ followers, there is the belief in the innate desire for a relationship with God. It was that way in the beginning. The second chapter of the book of Genesis describes the relationship between the Creator and the created. Man and woman walked in the garden together in complete love and in an unbroken relationship with God.[i] There was intimacy and peace, love and acceptance. It is the story of “the fatherly God who is near.”[ii] It was a place where all their needs were met.[iii] They were whole.
When Adam and Eve sinned by choosing to disobey God, that relationship with God was distorted. The eikon, the image of God in which humanity was created,[iv] was cracked. The perfect reflection of God was now a broken mirror and a separation of their relationship occurred.[v] The image of God was still present, but this distortion resulted in humanity no longer living as those made in the image of God,[vi] or reflecting his true nature and character. Humanity, once living in perfect happiness and union with God, finds itself helpless, afraid and hiding from God.
Pascal, in his Pensees X.148 states,
What else does this craving, and this helplessness, proclaim but that there was once in man a true happiness, of which all that now remains is the empty print and trace? This he tries in vain to fill with everything around him, seeking in things that are not there the help he cannot find in those that are, though none can help, since this infinite abyss can be filled only with an infinite and immutable object; in other words by God himself.[vii]
Humanity’s broken relationship with God results in the brokenness and helplessness of humankind.[viii] Consequently, we struggle to do the right things. Instead of doing what is right, we often do the destructive actions we do not want to do. We distort the facts at work, we tear people down with our words and we hurt people with how we express our anger. As people who long to follow Christ, we do not want to be dishonest and hurtful, but it always seems to be a struggle to do what we should and not do what we should not do. There are times we just cannot stop ourselves. There is an inner conflict; there is a desire to live righteous lives but an inability to do so because of the brokenness that results from sin.
Not only do we cause harm others, but we also live with the impact other people’s brokenness has upon us. Through no fault of our own, we often experience the wrath of others. People have their homes and possessions stolen from them because another person “needs” to support his drug habit. A co-worker berates you in the office because her husband beat her last night. A group of people so obsessed by a social or cultural injustice, perceived or real, force you to give away rights and freedoms so that those disadvantaged can have their fair share. No one is immune from the brokenness humanity has brought upon itself.
Sin, from the Greek hamartia, means to miss the mark.[ix] In Aristotle’s Poetics, the word is usually translated “tragic flaw” or “tragic mistake.”[x] Richard Rohr, expanding on the idea of “missing the mark,” states, “Sins are fixations that prevent the energy of life, God’s love, from flowing freely.”[xi] He views sin as self-erected barriers that cut people off from God and from their own authentic potential. Ron Martoia notes:
[W]hen we look at human sin, most of it swirls around our efforts to produce Garden [of Eden] type benefits and satisfactions that just can’t be duplicated outside that context. We could say that sin is a fundamental effort to experience something the Garden had for us in its original setting, but through brokenness we attempt to experience it in inappropriate ways. When we end up alienated from God and need restoration, we are seeking a return to the Garden that is available only when we are in relationship with the God of the Garden. We are in exile, seeking a return to our homeland.[xii]
In my opinion, sin is humanity trying to be like God. We are attempting to find wholeness, meaning, and life within themselves rather than looking to and being that perfect reflection of God. Sin is a result of us being at odds with God, competing for control and authority. Yet, we also have that inner longing for a restoration of that garden environment ever since the Fall occurred.[xiii] That inner yearning puts us at odds with God, and often times even at odds with ourselves.
NOTES
[i] Dietrich Bonhoeffer, John W. De Gruchy, and Douglas S. Bax, Creation and Fall a Theological Exposition of Genesis 1-3
[ii] Ibid., 72.
[iii] Tatha Wiley, Original Sin: Origins, Developments, Contemporary Meanings
[iv] Stanley Grenz, The Social God and the Relational Self: A Trinitarian Theology of the Imago Dei
[v] Charles Sherlock, The Doctrine of Humanity (Contours of Christian Theology)
[vi] Ibid.
[vii] Blaise Pascal and A. J. Krailsheimer, Pensees (Penguin Classics)
[viii] Ron Martoia, Static: Static: Tune out the “Christian Noise” and Experience the Real Message of Jesus
[ix] Ibid., 160.
[x] Ibid.
[xi] Richard Rohr, Andreas Ebert, and Peter Heinegg, The Enneagram: A Christian Perspective
[xii] Martoia, 170.
[xiii] Bonhoeffer, 113. See also Ron Martoia, Static: Tune out the “Christian Noise” and Experience the Real Message of Jesus (Carol Stream, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 2007). 118.
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