Quite the bulk of this forum seems to be about what’s a sin and what isn’t. Instead of people focusing on Jesus they get tied up in scrupulosity and chasing the devil that they forget what God has planned for them.
So my question is: SHOULD IT be a sin for people to obsess over sins? Their desire to avoid sin is a truly noble one, and, in many cases, shows an intimate desire to do the will of God and avoid offending Him. However, they let what is a sin and what isn’t one plague their minds, and then once they slip up they often find themselves wallowing in self pity, and often times bounded by those sins.
This is a rhetorical question by the way.
Great question!! One that gives pause for consideration.
For me the answer needs to be no and this is why…
To say that obsessing over sins is a sin would only create another thing for scrupulous types to obsess over. It becomes self defeating.
One would have to define at what point “concern” becomes “worry” becomes “obsessing” and for those suffering from scrupulocity this can be difficult/impossible thing to do.
So on a very practical level, it is nearly impossible to define this as a sin.
Now from another view, such obsessing already is a “sin” though not in a “formal” sense.
The Hebrew and Greek terms that we translate as “Sin” are:
Chata’ (Hebrew)
to sin, miss, miss the way, go wrong, incur guilt, forfeit, purify from uncleanness
Hamartano, (Greek)
To be without a share in; to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honor; to do or go wrong; to wander from the law of God, violate God’s law, sin
It’s fairly easy to see that, “incurring guilt” or “violating the law of God”, is a sin for these things are generally written out for us. But what about the meanings underlined; to err, to miss the mark, to miss the way, to go wrong? These require that we know what the “Mark” or “the way” is. So this becomes a matter of focus.
Think of any sport that requires hitting a target, Archery, Pitching a baseball, kicking a soccer ball. In each of these things consider what the focus is. The focus is on the target, not on the things that are not target. A person shooting an arrow is not interested in what is NOT the target, but only on what IS the target. The same is true for a pitcher or a soccer player. The goal is the goal is the goal and whatever is NOT the goal is unimportant and to be avoided.
The problem with those who obsess about sin, and even to some degree to those who “merely” worry about it is that they are not focusing on the goal, but on what is NOT the goal. How well do you think a pitcher would do if he was constantly thinking about all the places he should NOT throw the ball? Obviously he would not do well at all. Only by focusing on the target, and honing his skills at hitting the target does he improve. If he misses on this pitch, he makes adjustment so he hits it on the next pitch. The focus cannot be on the mistake made, but on the adjustment and the next pitch. The focus must remain the same - on the target.
Christ tells us not to worry. He also tells us to strive to enter the narrow gate. He is telling us to focus on the goal.
He describes the right road as narrow and the wrong road as wide. He is telling us that the target, the area of our focus, is specific and we need to focus on our goal so that we choose the right path.
Knowledge of what sin is, is a good thing. “Following the rules”, is fine from the standpoint of training and discipline. But it is our focus, our ability to keep our eye on the target, that is important.
Peace
James
