Point

Theological debates are a fascinating thing to me. We get very worked up sometimes on what's often a rather trivial thing. Should Communion be taken every Sunday or once a month? Is an earing offensive in men? If it is (according to Leviticus) wouldn't be offensive in women to? Is there one person God has chosen for you? And what about Fred? Sorry about that, it's a rather obscure reference that probably no one else will understand.

I am not necessarily saying such debates are un-ethical, just that they often miss the point. The point of Christianity isn't all the theological understanding of God. The point is love. That's the basic underlying point to EVERY piece of Christianity. What is a right action? An action in the vein of Christ's love. What is sin? As many theological pieces as I've read, the best I've come up with is that sin is the absence of love.

Really, I think that's all sin really is. Why is lust sin? Because it's a denial of love, focusing on the other person as they relate to your own selfish desire. Why is lying sin? Because it's a denial of loves honesty. This definition of sin works the best in my mind because it relates how things can sometimes be rather relativistic to a human perspective. Something that may be perfectly fine for you, because it doesn't involve a denial of love can be very wrong for me because for me to do it involves denying love.

Now, of course, I'm using the word love here as in aggape (I think that's the greek word). That is, God's love. English is hampered by the difference between love not expressed but in it's contextual use. I actually made myself look like and idiot and a heathen because of that distinction. In a bible study someone was trying to say that romance is our expression of God's love (or something like that). Now the problem is, I think that crosses two different definitions of love. God aggape's me, one eros's their wife, two very different things. And I think to equate the two cheapens God's love.

Anywho, have a lesson, and now I'm rambling all over the place.