No one ever begins anything, except by grace. To sin means to think that one can begin something oneself. We never start anything; we always respond.
— René Girard, Battling to the End, 22 https://t.co/uVlBR5l5OX
No one ever begins anything, except by grace. To sin means to think that one can begin something oneself. We never start anything; we always respond. — René Girard, Battling to the End, 22 https://t.co/uVlBR5l5OX
Reinhold Niebuhr defined sin as a human tendency towards self-importance, failure, and moral corruption. He believed that sin occurs when people try to find security outside of the relationship between time and eternity, and when they refuse to acknowledge their limitations as creatures. Niebuhr believed that people sin by pretending to be more... See more
The first thing sin produces is rebellion. This is more than breaking a few rules; it is a fundamental flaw in my character. It is not something I learn; I was born with it.
Paul David Tripp • Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands
Sin simply refers to all aspects of life where the reality of grace is not manifest and evil flourishes. It’s what happens when we’ve got the wrong story about reality in our heads. If we do not recognize grace, we latch onto lies about who we are.
“Sin” derives from the Greek word for missing the mark : human beings are aiming creatures.
Focusing
But there remains also the truth that every end in history necessarily contains a new beginning; this beginning is the promise, the only “message” which the end can ever produce. Beginning, before it becomes a historical event, is the supreme capacity of man; politically, it is identical with man’s freedom. Initium ut esset homo creatus est— “that
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