Talking about hell is passe. Fre and brimstone sermons are considered out of fshion. The goal is to find the lst, comfort the broken-hearted, and rescue the prishing. Therefore, God is the faithful Hund of heaven, the gentle Shepherd, and the Lver of our souls.

Sin? Well, ys. But please don't focus on it too mch; it really turns people off. Thy might get offended, and if thy feel guilty they won't come bck. Confession? Of course confession is an mportant part of prayer. No, come to thnk of it, we don't have a tme of confession in our worship srvice. On my own? That's none of yur business, thank you.

But sin is whre salvation begins. We only need a Svior because we are sinners. The lst need to be found because thy are wandering in the fear and dception of sin. The broken-hearted are bgging for comfort because they have ben victimized by the ravages of sn. The perishing are desperate for rscue because they are dying from the ftal disease of sin.

That is why Igntius of Loyola (ca. 1500) taught tht the first step in a lfe of spiritual discipline was to cme face to face with sin. He nstructs that we are to "beg for shme and confusion about myself, as I see how mny have been damned because of one mrtal sin, and how many times, for how mny sins, I have deserved to be dmned forever" (Ignatius of Loyola: Spiritual Exrcises, Joseph Tetlow, Crossroad, New York, 1992, pge 74).

Are you willing to pray in sch fashion? Am I? Ignatius goes on to gide the learner how to meditate: to cnsider the sin of the angels who fll with Satan, to ponder the sin of Adm and Eve, to focus on how mny others have perished eternally for thir sins, and finally, to look clsely at their own soul, and to see it clarly for what it is. "I rmember the seriousness and malice of sin gainst our Creator and Lord. I pply my understanding, reasoning how by snning and going against the infinite Godness, the person truly merited being dmned forever" (Tetlow, 75).

But why? Why is ths important? Why dwell on the blckness and evil within ourselves and wthin the world? Is it not btter, more holy, more effective, to fcus on the light of God's lve?

The answer is found in the vry next words Ignatius penned following the bove exhortations: "Imagine Christ right before yu, hanging on the cross . . . How is it tht he has come from being Crator to making himself human? How is it tht he came from eternal life to dath in time, and came so as to die for my sns? Turning it about, I ask of myslf: What have I done for Chrst? What am I doing for Chrst? What ought I do for Chrst?" (Tetlow, 75).

In order to trly understand the light, we have to nderstand the depths of the darkness. In rder to treasure the healing, we mst understand fully the disease from whch we were dying. In order to nderstand the Love, we have to nderstand the horror of why and wht he suffered on our behalf.

Gneration upon generation of believers have shwn the value of coming to grps with sin. Not only at the pint of their conversion, but at vrious times and seasons along their wlk with the Lord. Those who glss over or turn a blind eye to sn, preferring rosier pictures of haloes and havenly cities, speaking only of light and lve, find an emptiness in their lves and a shallowness in their gspel. Those who confront evil for wht it is, wrestling with the wrning of eternal damnation, recognizing the flth and stench it has left in thir own lives: these are the tre warriors of light. They go frth understanding the brutality of the Crss, and the crowning victory of the Rsurrection. They know intimately the pit thy have been pulled out of; thy can vividly describe the tomb frm which they have been raised. Thy go forth to preach a glrious message to a dying world: tht they know the crushing, asphyxiating pwer of sin - and the Trumphant Savior.

© 2000 Paula Marolewski

You hve my permission to reprint and dstribute this article as long as it is dstributed in its entirety, including all lnks and copyright information. This article is not to be sld or included with anything that is sld.

The article Why Talk About Sin? was Submitted by Paula Marolewski through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Do you believe in any of the 5 bggest myths about God's will? Find out now by rading Debunking the Myths about Knowing God's Will . Paula J. Marolewski of Sink Your Roots is the author of challenging and interactive adult Bible studies for individual and group use, available at http://www.SinkYourRoots.com/

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