This blog is mainly a blog that puts forth ideas. It is not about my life all the time. However, sometimes you will find postings about what I have been doing. It is mainly to motivate Christ centered thought.

Sunday, October 09, 2005

Sin and Guilt from Psalm 51 and Freshman

TWOT

Sin- The basic meaning is, “To miss a mark or a way”. Verbally examples of men using a slingshot are used and are told not to “miss the mark”. The verb also indicates not meeting the expectations of civil law. Also there is a idea within personal relationships in Genesis 43:9 “bear the blame”, 44:32 “bear the blame before my father forever”. Also bear the blame can be translated “guilt”. Leviticus 4:2 portray sin as, “sin unintentionally” giving the meaning of “gives less than is due, a failure of full duty.” Further Semantic range is failure to, “respect the full rights and interest of another person is involved, or of God as well. (Gen 20:9, Jud 11:27, II Chr 6:22, Ex 10:16, and I Sam 2:25)” Sin also has an idea of “strong opposition” (Gen 42:22, I Sam 19:4, Job 2:10, Neh 9:29). Sin also speaks to a person less than acceptable to God. Sin conveys the idea of an absolute standard that things are measured by.

NIDOTTE

Sin- the semantic range is “miss, sin, commit a sin, bear loss, make a sin offering, purify, miss the mark, cause to sin, miss oneself purify oneself, guilt, punishment of sin, adj/nom. Sinful sinner, punishment of sin” The common use of sin and guilt convey missing the mark. Sin in the Old Testament is normally described as being against God or His word. It is also used to show one who misses the mark with the example of a slingshot. Sin against God with the use of awon is used 231 times in the Old Testament. The word transgression normally references sins that normally reference political violations. Guilt is frequently used with sins against a neighbor. Three important themes of sin in the Old Testament are, “(a) sin and human responsibility, (b) sin and exile/ wandering, being alienated from God, and (c) sin and God’s grace.” “Psalm 51:5, the psalmist recognizes his own sinful nature as dated from the point of conception.” The Psalms and Proverbs stress the reality and power of sin. They fully hold a person accountable for his actions. Sin and suffering are connected in Proverbs, as sin is pregnant with consequences evident in the actions.

Use of Sin in Psalm 51

Ps 51:2 “iniquity” The author seems to be communicating that he has talking of a personal sense of guilt and sin that has been committed. “Sin” later on in the verse seems to be the psalmist asking for a sense of reconciliation because of sin here is being used as a violation of God’s rule.
Ps 51:3 “Transgression” is used by the author to let us know that he has done things that are even against the laws of the land and that it is evident to him. The “sin” at the end of the verse seems to be referencing back to transgression and that this missing the mark is ever before him. His failure is evident.
Ps 51:4 “sinned” seems to be communicating the way that the psalmist has broken the law of the Lord since it is directed towards him as the ones who he has fallen in front of.
Ps 51:5 “iniquity” & “sin” are being used to communicate the sinful nature of the psalmist that he has within him since he came into existence.
Ps 51:9 “sin” & “iniquity” Sin seems to be communicating the missing of the mark that he has done. Iniquity seems to be talking about violation of the Leviticus law.
Ps 51:13 “transgressors” has the effect of those that miss the mark and violate the law of God. “Sinners” carries with it the idea of those that are missing the mark and violating God’s absolute law.



Non Christian Song “Freshman” by Verve Pipe

The song “Freshman” uses the term guilt in the first stanza to convey emotional distress because of the suicide of a broken hearted girl. The writer recognizes that someone is to be held responsible for the death and he and his friends do not want to take this burden. In the third stanza he acknowledges a departure from a standard. His view of sin did not see the end result of sin however, now reality has brought it into his framework and has connected death with sin. The final stanza shows that the writer sees his need for being cleansed from his sins. He merely chooses to bury his sin and chooses not to deal with it. He acknowledges the guilt that will not leave and the lack of relationships connected with the sin. The final line shows that he missed the mark in that he fell through the ice when he tried not to slip. Despite the reality of sin to the author his solution is to deny it and ignore it. As he says he cannot be held responsible.

Contrast Biblical/ Non- Christian

As previously mentioned in the two sections above the semantic use of sin seems to be very similar. Both have a sense of guilt that communicates brokenness in relationships. Both seem to have the idea of falling short of a standard. While the Psalmist identifies that this standard is one set up by God. Verve Pipe does not accredit the standard to anyone. Both see sin as a reality that is clearly seen in their lives. The main difference is the reaction to sin. The psalmist is taking his sin to God and dealing with it by allowing God to cover his sins. Verve Pipe wants to ignore it and pretend like it does not exist. This is what creates the problem for Verve Pipe. He is unable to have this practically happen in his life because sin manifested itself in the death of a friend. While the Psalmist is able to be reconciled and have his sins forgiven this is not an option for Verve Pipe since they do not recognize God as judge or their need to have their sin forgiven by the Lord.

Practical Implication
The psalmist tells us the practical implications of holding to his view of sin. His view shows us that forgiveness is possible. He is able to be reconciled to God and able to bring a pleasing sacrifice once more to the Lord. Praise is born out of his developed view of grace that has grown as he sees how sinful he is. This same sinfulness is evident in my own life. As the Psalmist is moved to praise the Lord when he has gained forgiveness so I am in my own life. Some of the times that I praise the Lord the most is when God shows me how sinful I am and causes me to see how deep the love of Lord must be to cause Him to die for me on the cross. Seeing the tremendous wrong yet being willing to accept God’s rules and idea of justice brings one to repentance and draws one into a right standing before God. This is the joy of forgiveness that is seen in the view of Sin with the psalmist. It says sin is nasty and disgusting but the Lord is able to make me clean and remove this grime from me. Praise the Lord!
Verve Pipe’s view of sin is one that merely creates human methods of coping. It says if I ignore the fact there is a problem it will eventually go away and things will be all right. The problem can never be reconciled but I can emotionally get over it. There is no future hope of never sinning or present hope of being able to be forgiven of sin and having guilt removed and the relationship restored.

American Culture

The American culture has chosen the later view of sin. They do not want to deal with sin and remove it from their life. They simply want to feel better with their life. They want a coping method that will help them be able to sleep at the end of the day. The idea of acknowledging sin and repenting of the sin before a Holy God is not what the culture of America wants to do. In fact to point out a standard is to be a wicked sinner in our culture. It is to be a person who is mean and intolerant. Intolerance is given as the virtue of the day because it says you’re not okay and I am not okay but we will not point out these things to each other. This is because they do not want to be confronted with their sin since they might feel the need to have it reconciled and they have no way of doing this apart from God. The implications are practically that people continue to sin and when those sins result in bad lives they do not understand why because sin is not suppose to have consequences. A good book to read about this is “Life at the Bottom” by Theodore Dalrymple.

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