What is Sin?

Lately I've been reading "Lectures on Systematic Theology" by Charles Finney. Okay, that probably qualifies me as a nerd. Actually, I find it kind of interesting because Finney was one of the greatest evangelists the United States has ever seen. One of the things that he stresses in his writings is the importance of understanding what we have to do versus what God has to do.

While this could very easily slide into a Calvinist/Arminian debate, I think that it is really worth pondering. Finney was concerned with the matter of our will or the choices that we make. He would argue that sin is a choice. We choose to disobey what we know to be God's will. He would say that we sin by making a decision to live by our desires rather than God's will. Rather than choosing to live a life of loving God and others people choose to live selfishly.

Conversion and regeneration happen, according to Finney, when we choose (under the influence of the Holy Spirit), to live a life of loving God and others supremely, rather than living selfishly. As I understand him, he would say that someone who "prays a prayer to avoid going to heaven" has not really been converted, because they are still acting selfishly. True repentance occurs when change happens at the root of the problem. We need to choose to love God as the foundational principle of life because it is the right thing to do, rather than the emotional response or the future security it provides.

Finney was adamant that too many people are expecting God to do for them what he cannot possibly do: repent. God has given us the means and the opportunity to repent and return to a life of obedience, but he cannot do it for us. He would also argue that to believe that one is "secure" when living a life of sin is foolish. A person who is content with sin believing that "God will make everything okay" is headed in the wrong direction. God, according to Finney has done all he can to make things right...but they won't be right until we do what we must do: choose to obey. In fact, Finney would argue that a selfish Christian is a contradiction in terms. A true Christian, according to Finney, has chosen to live a life of "disinterested benevolence"... meaning that they have chosen to love God supremely and love others regardless of what they themselves get out of it because God and others are worth loving.

Its an interesting thought, and one that I will be studying more carefully in the weeks to come, but I would appreciate any feedback you could give me.