I heard a quotation that I thought was attributed to John Wesley and I wanted to find it. I have the works of Wesley on disk. I did a search and the words just were not there. Finally I did an on line search and found that it was actually from his mother, Susanna. It was an awesome definition of sin.
“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.”Most people tend to think of sin as a list of things like telling lies, stealing, murder and such. If you are a liberal who is confused enough to think you are a Christian the list would include voting for Donald Trump. Most of us have a legalistic view that keeps us from living life to its fullest.
Letter to John Wesley, June 8, 1725 from his mother Susanna
I like what Susanna Wesley had to say. Many sins are cut and dried. Adultery is a sin. Drunkenness is a sin. Also not taking a Sabbath is a sin. There are also many activities and actions we can take that are either good or bad depending on our motive or whether we exercise moderation. While sex is a divine blessing in marriage, withholding affection from you spouse for petty reasons is not. There is a big difference between a social drink and drinking to excess. Enjoying a good meal is just a few portions away from gluttony.
The Christian life is full of nuance. Live it to the full and sin not.
homo unius libri
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Comments are welcome. Feel free to agree or disagree but keep it clean, courteous and short. I heard some shorthand on a podcast: TLDR, Too long, didn't read.