As I mentioned below, it's time to talk about sin. I hope to explore this in a manner that is ultimatly respectful and grounded in our heavenly Father's view of sin. But, let's begin with a few words... authentic and inauthentic. These words float around the emrgent environment as if they were inflated with endless amounts of hellium. I don't like it when words become "hip" and "relevant", because when they do they seem to lose their weight a bit. Like they have left the earth and now exist on the moon and no longer are effected by gravity in a manner that is real to our own lives. They become abstract and ultimately become "useless". The reason I reasonate with postmodernism is because true postmoderns are poets at heart. Words are not cheap or to be used in a way that postitutes their intent. Jesus was the ultimate fulfillment of postmodern holdings, "I AM the Alpha and the Omega." Grasp this for eternity, He is proclaiming that language is about HIM, describing Him, pondering Him, praising HIM, being saturated in HIM, and on and on. Have we thought on the reality that language was and is designed to express God himself. He is saying to us, "I AM the Alpha and the Omega and everything in between. Every word is connected to Me and a day will come when an assessment of those who uttered words will be given". When we gossip we assault Him, when we talk in a useless manner, we belittle His creation, when we yell at our children we tell Jesus to remove the children from His knee. So as I venture into this dialog, know that I am not attempting to be emergent or postmodern for the sake of being emergent or postmodern, I am merely trying to frame the discussion in a manner that appreciates the power of discussion and the weight it has on eternity.
Back to authentic, inauthentic, sin and our heavenly Father. Let's begin with authentic. What I mean in this context is the authentic self. Much of this will be influenced by what Scripture has to say about this true Self. When I say the true or authentic self, I am framing out of my understanding of Ephesians 1, "He chose us before the foundations of the world." I propose that our authentic / true Self has always existed in the mind of God. Our Father has known us before the existence of time and but for a breath in eternity we find ourselves in conflict and confusion regarding the possibility of being inauthentic. Don't we all connect with this "unsettling" that something is a bit awry within us; always attempting to readjust and "re" present ourselves to others, so that we may feel more "authentic". My concern is that the emergent dialog leads us on another rabbit trail away from our true Selves. After reading "The Screwtape Letters", by C.S. Lewis, I began to appreciate the power of the false Self, and how it is a master at distracting us from living out of our true Self. Lewis does a masterful job of describing how the demons numb us into inauthenticity through the use of the mondane and the trivial. Our eternal true Self cries out from our inauthentic self-construct and says, "Listen, this is not it, don't settle, push on, be courageous." Our authentic Self is eternally aware that it is created in the very likeness of Jesus. You and I, traversing time, space and a few dimmensions carrying the spiritual D.N.A. of Jesus himself. This is the true You, the true Me, reflecting in still waters the very image of Jesus. He is the definition of authentic, and we are never more authentic (sin-free) than when we are living out the HE in us.
So what does this have to do with Sin?.... Stay tuned and / or enter your thoughts in via the comments.
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