We think that God is a God of love. He is! But we get to thinking that He loves us so much He will forgive us of anything. That is only partly true. God will forgive us — if we are trying to live for Him (1 John 1:7). As a society we have developed a very unhealthy casual approach to sin.In 1973, the world-renowned psychiatrist Karl Menninger wrote a book entitled: “Whatever Became of Sin?” In his book he projected the day would come when the word “sin” would no longer be part of our vocabulary. He speculated that the explanation of sin and wrongdoing would be replaced by rationalizations that excused individual accountability.His forecast was that the term “sin” would be replaced with words like illness, disorder, dysfunction, syndrome, etc. The human problem of sin would be excused as a product of biochemistry, environment, experience, and trauma. Also he predicted that even crime would go unpunished as criminal activity would be justified and minimized as the result of some medical abnormality for which one could not be held responsible.So the day would come when practically everyone would be considered sick and their bad conduct pardonable. There would not be any liability for human error, choice, and willful conduct.The problem is the Bible still is quite plain about the existence and dangers of sin.In Romans, Paul had been dealing with eating of meat. Paul concludes neither position has to do with salvation, so both are permissible and acceptable to God. But then the chapter ends with these words of warning. “The faith that you have, keep before God. Blessed is the one who does not condemn himself with what he approves. Now the one who doubts, if he should eat, has been condemned because it is not of faith; so everything that is not of faith is sin” (Rom. 14:22-23).There are several lists of sins in the Bible that show us that some things are always wrong. But here in Romans 14, Paul indicates that sin also includes matters of conscience—our attitudes and our thoughts. So when we allow confusion in our minds about what is right and what is wrong, that’s when we get into trouble.But back to our text in Romans 14. It says that “whatever is not from faith is sin.” So if we are doing something just to go along, even though we are convinced ...
