TEXT
Genesis 3:1-8
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
“How frustrating it is to be like God, to create something and then give up control of what you have created, to want something to turn out as perfectly as you pictured it in your mind and then see how far short the reality falls from your original intention.” –Rabbi Harold Kushner
” It is clear that all humans (other than Jesus) do in fact perform acts which constitute a refusal of the vocation to be genuinely, God-reflectingly human, and which therefore “miss the mark” of that lovely, fully human life which is not only glorifying to God in itself but which reflects that glory powerfully and creatively into the world.” –N.T. Wright
“Sin is about relationships, not about rules. We are meant to reflect God, and if we are to do that, there must be an unobstructed connection in our relationship to God." “We are beings created for relationships, seeking and longing for restored relations with God and one another. But our curve has disabled our relational capacity; we focus on ourselves when we should be seeking the good in others. Because of our innate relational nature, Matt Jenson says sin should be understood “as a violation, perversion and refusal of those relationships,” and thus we struggle for a purpose, trying anything and everything to “feel right.” We see in Genesis that when humanity chooses to embrace sin, there are cosmic and eternal consequences. But we distance ourselves from the relational dynamic of the story of Genesis by lifting the facts up and out of the narrative, focusing on propositions, and in doing so we distort the truth and miss the monumental impact of the relational fracture between God and man. If we fail to see sin as a splinter that severs a relationship that was robust, healthy, and whole, then we are able to minimize sin. Sin is relational. In order to sin against God, we must first be in relationship with him.” - The Gospel According to Jesus
“It is a sign of uncommon spiritual depth that finally recognizes the horror of its own sinnership. Another manifestation of the church’s going deeper will be the church reawakening to the human condition, even to the church’s own sinnership. Christians will then be less quick to identify sin in others than to stand aghast at the breadth and penetration of their own depravity.” –Victor Sheperd, Seasons of Grace, p. 101
“Sinning is not about doing bad things or forgetting to do good things; being sinful means that we are warped in a way that fractures all of our relationships.” –Gospel According to Jesus
“Frequently, this text is treated as though it were an explanation of how evil came into the world. But the Old Testament is never interested in such an abstract issue. In fact, the narrative gives no explanation for evil. There is no hint that the serpent is the embodiment of principle of evil. The Old Testament characteristically is more existential. It is not concerned with origins but with faithful responses and effective coping.” –Walter Brueggeman
“Man with all his shrewdness is as stupid about understanding by himself the mysteries of God, as an ass is incapable of understanding musical harmony.” –John Calvin
"If we embrace the idea that humans are not originally sinful but rather originally blessed and endowed with the ability to choose good over evil, then how we live our lives must change. We must be held accountable for the wrongs we do. The defense of “I’m only human” never has been an adequate excuse. Rather, when humans choose the evil over the good, the accusation should be: “How could you do this? After all, you’re human, you’re created in the image of God?” We must hold ourselves to a high standard, living as those who reflect the Divine in the world.” –Matthew Fox from Original Blessing