Is it a sin…?

Whenever a sentence starts with those four words, I’ve learned to prepare myself for at least a few of the following background conditions:

1. The student has already had an argument or disagreement with a peer or their parent about the sinfulness of the act or behavior in discussion.
2. The student is bored and wants to talk about something else.
3. The student is hoping I’ll agree with them and validate their position, or condone their behavior.
4. Moralism is in the student’s mental background radiation, so if it IS a sin… someone’s going to Hell.
5. A simple yes or no will probably ignore the underlying issue.
6. This is probably not going to be a question that the Christian community has agreed upon a unanimous answer.

With these things in mind, and with lesson plans to push through, my answer is often, “Depends,” or “Maybe,” followed by “and we can talk about that when we have an open discussion/question day.”

“But Mr. Seals… it is question day.”

“Oh yeah.”

What is Sin?

If we are going to condemn something as sin, then we need to be on the same page about what exactly IS a sin.

If the class is filled with Bible nerds who piddle with enjoyment at the mention of Hebrew or Greek, then we can talk about hamartia, hata, missing the mark, trespass, and the like. However, I have found that such a class rarely, if ever, exists at the High School level, so fun word studies and context can be saved for the side conversation later with my 3 kindred nerds.

If we look at the Biblical Metanarrative (or the big overarching story of human history) we see that sin is always a departure from God’s good plan for the world. Whether it’s the eating of the forbidden fruit, cheating on Calculus homework, watching porn, or exploiting workers in vulnerable contexts, all of these are evil because they are a departure, perversion, or outright defiance against God’s good plan for a world of love, trust, justice, and beauty. Sin is much like darkness (probably why Biblical authors used that metaphor). Darkness isn’t really a thing… it’s the absence of a thing. Light. C.S. Lewis points out the difference between goodness and badness, pointing out that a person can be good for goodness sake, but evil requires goodness, because “Badness is only spoiled goodness” [1].

Sin is the absence or perversion of good.

So, to the student with the sin question, I’d ask back, “Does that act/behavior/attitude/deed ‘spoil’ goodness in some way? If so, what good thing is being ruined?”

What’s with the Law?

If the student was really looking for condemnation of some sort, they might often say “Doesn’t the Bible say that you shouldn’t do _____?”

“Where?”

“I dunno, somewhere in Leviticus I think.”

I love the Torah, and I think all 613 mitzvah are wonderful in their own, fun, special kind of way. And I don’t think that we (as many Christians do) ought to essentially remove them from the canon by ignoring them. But at the same time, I like cotton/polyester blends. And shellfish. And I don’t know a rabbi that would be willing to look at the mold on my north-facing wall.

Walt Russell brilliantly points out that for those of us who are in Christ, the Law/Torah is not regulatory, but is revelatory [2]. The law is a brilliant teacher that gives a glimpse of the heart of God. This is in line with how Paul talks about the law being our disciplinarian tutor slave, that ruled over us temporarily until we grew up as heirs (see Galatians 4). So, if the Law shows us God’s heart, let’s look at the goodness, beauty, love, and justice that exists in God, and be sure not to spoil it.

Field gleaning? God wants to combat greed and encourage generosity to the unfortunate.

Tattoos? God wants our bodies to be used to worship Him, not idols or the dead.

Mold issues? God wants us to live healthy lives, free from preventable environmental hazards.

Sleeping with your father’s wife? Gross.

 

Looking for the exception.

If the student was really looking for validation, and has sufficient boldness to continue asking questions, prepare yourself for several “what if…?” follow-ups. If this is the case, there will likely not be a satisfactory answer that you can provide. See if you can determine the original question by its follow-up:

• “What if you’re committed but not married yet because you are saving up for the wedding?”
• “What if you felt like you were in danger?”
• “What if my parents are wrong though?

Even if students aren’t looking for you to condone a behavior, they could just be practicing their exception-finding skills. This isn’t just an angsty teen thing either. It’s an important part of our development of critical thinking skills to consider the exceptions to every rule or broad statement (or maybe I just never grew out of being an angsty teen). If this is the case, I have found that it is often a good learning experience for everyone to continue pulling the “good thing being spoiled” thread or the “God’s heart behind the law” thread and discuss the best way to deal with the alleged exceptions.

But it will be hard to discern if we are just enabling rationalization junkies or building critical thinkers if we don’t know our students well.

We need to know our students well enough

to see the question behind the question,

to coach them toward the “good thing”

and to keep from spoiling it.

 

[1] C.S. Lewis – Mere Christianity

[2] Walt Russell – Playing With Fire