The Problem is Sin

Dear Judah and my future grandchildren,

As you grow up there will be many around you who tell you that all of life’s problems are due to something in the environment in the world.  They will point to many different things whether it be racism, economic disparity, religion, capitalism, or many other causes.  It is truly important that you understand that all those problems are merely symptoms of a larger and more pervasive disease/problem.  That problem is sin.  

When God created Adam and Eve, they were made to be dependent on Him for their lives.  Everything they thought, said and did came through a perfect life giving connection with God, His power and His wisdom.  They couldn’t think, say or do anything that was in the smallest way wrong.  Everything that was in them and came out of them was perfect and perfectly in harmony with everyone and everything around them.  Most of all everything in them was in harmony with God.  They were flourishing in the uttermost sense.  It is important to note that this flourishing was directly connected to and caused by that perfect connection with God.  Without that connection nothing would work the way it should.

That is exactly what happened when Adam sinned.  He cut off the ability to God’s power and wisdom to be at work in him, and everyone after him.  The results of this are far more damaging than anything else in the world.  If a perfect connection/relationship with God was required for life and even the smallest thought or act of flourishing, then the loss of that connection would actually bring decay and ultimately death.

This is the main point of the first 11 chapters of Genesis.  It tells how God created a perfect world where everything was very good.  Then Adam sinned.  He and Eve were separated from God’s presence and barred from the Garden of Eden, specifically because the Tree of Life was there.  After that first sin, we are told about how Adam’s and Eve’s lives will be difficult.  We hear the story of Cain killing Abel, with God first telling Cain that he must master the sin in his heart.  We are told of Lamech, who married two women, in a violation of the original institution of marriage.  We are told of Lamech’s boasting of increased violence.  We are then told the story of Noah, at which point God has reached the end of His patience.  He destroys the whole world because men’s hearts are always evil.

Please understand that all this evil started in the most perfect environment ever.  There is nothing that could have been improved.  Yet Adam still chose to sin, as would any of us done as well.  Left on its own, all of humanity will eventually get to the point of unbelievable violence and death.  It may be hard to believe but that is truly what a heart disconnected from God wants.

So how do we get out of this situation?  After we finally admit to ourselves that we and everyone around us is part of the problem and that the problem is way worse than some system around us?  The first step is to understand that God knows we are in this situation and is doing something about it even now.

The story of the Ark doesn’t end with the destruction of the world.  It ends with Noah building an altar and worshiping God.  God responds:

Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar.  And when the Lord smelled the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done.  While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

This seems to be the point of the story.  God seems to be letting us know that if He destroyed the world and started with the most righteous man He could find, that the world would still ultimately descend back into decay, chaos and death.  And yet God wants us to know that He is merciful with us, not treating us as our sins deserve.

Noah knew this and his grateful heart caused him to worship God.  That desire to worship was a desire for that connection with God that Adam lost and for which God created humanity.   Yet, Noah was still sinful, as we learn later in the story.  So what was Noah to do?  What does God want?  Merely for us to trust Him to take care of our sin problem.  The rest of the Bible from Genesis 12 onward is the story of God providing a solution for our sin, namely Christ.

Don’t ever forget that all the promises of God find their fulfillment in Christ.

Never forget that,
Grandpa