Watch Video Here for Context: http://vimeo.com/23162964
it seems some of the responses i am getting about my new video on the non-existence of sin needs some explanation, and rightly so. i am not saying sin does not exist, i am merely positing that sin exists solely on a systematic level. let me explain. the apostle paul in romans 7 speaks of one of the more well-known struggles he has with this thing called sin - and he says some pretty deep stuff: " what i do, i don't want to do, and what i don't want to do i do" but then he says something incredibly revealing - "it is not me, but the sin within me".
now travel back with me a few verse where paul begins talking of this thing called law. something he as a jew would have known a lot about. and then its as if he almost jumps from talking about the law to then talking about sin and then again an odd jump into his journal entry where he talks about his personal struggle with this thing called sin. in my opinion the reason why this area of scripture is so disjointed in content is because paul IS NOT talking about sin being about him but rather the sin is the law itself. the law is sin, the sin is law. and then the self-confession is about something more sinister than the orthodox view of sin itself. paul is stating that this thing called law, also known as sin, is somehow true of him. why? because he is a part of this thing called law. how? by upholding it. remember his story or vision of meeting jesus on the road to kill christians.
can we remove the word christian there and use 'human'. death is death no matter the label. so paul was killing other people in the name of religious cleansing. that is the law. the idea that we actually own an idea to the point that we feel justified to kill another (osama bin laden could also be entered here as an example). or the idea that our belief system tells us that we should injure, attack, judge or maim another human. this is not love.
so when paul begins saying things like he is the 'chief of sinners' he isn't saying he gets it wrong all of the time, but rather, that the system within him, this thing that is perverted by another thing called structure has somehow got a hold of him. he has become the ultimate progenitor of the system that isn't him but nonetheless is true of his behaviour. this is much like the movie 'the matrix' when neo comes to his senses and realizes that he was a part of the system, and in being a part of the system he was upholding it. but awareness is freedom. this is the moment the system begins to dissolve and crack. in this video, roy and i are talking about how we are meant to help dissolve this system. for all intense purposes, everytime you see the word sin in scripture think of systems in place or the word system all together. hope this helps.
