Sin Is Real and Repentance Is Necessary

Isn't sin just a construct of ancient religious leaders to try to control people?

Before explaining why I believe sin is real and repentance is necessary, I should define what I mean by sin and repentance. 

Sin Defined

First, sin is any action, desire, or intention that puts me out of alignment with God. God is the perfect Being. By His very nature, His every action, desire, thought, and intention is perfect. He is in perfect harmony with the universe and its laws and with Himself. He possesses no contradictions in His character or attributes. He never changes or deviates, because to change would either degrade His perfection or admit that He was not perfect before the change.

Because He is perfectly aligned with the universe and its laws, He knows how to be perfectly happy. Because I am His beloved child, He wants me to be as happy as He is. So, He has revealed the secret of being happy. We call that secret happiness formula the commandments. 

God first introduced commandments to Adam and Eve. Their posterity carried on the commandments through the Patriarchs down to Moses. Because the enslaved Israelites had completely lost the commandments, God revealed them anew through Moses in what are identified as the Ten Commandments. These are the most basic, fundamental guidelines for living a happy life.

The people of Israel struggled individually and as a society for centuries to live by these ten simple rules. Then God sent His Son, Jesus Christ, to reiterate the Ten Commandments and to elevate them with the higher laws of the Gospel of Christ.

Therefore, the most obvious sins are those actions that deviate from the commandments. In addition, Jesus taught that our thoughts and desires are as important as our actions. Therefore, to think, desire, or act contrary to the commandments and laws of the Gospel puts me out of alignment with God's plan for my happiness. This is sin.

Repentance Defined

Second, repentance is the act of aligning myself with God's way of living and His will for me. To repent means literally to turn back. If I have turned away from God by even a small degree, then I repent when I  turn back to Him and follow His plan again. If sinning is not so much about breaking a rule as it is about getting out of harmony with God, then repenting is not so much about following prescribed steps of contrition and restitution as it is about getting myself back in harmony with God.

Of course, to be in harmony with God, I need to be in harmony with the people around me. That may mean confessing, apologizing, restoring, repaying, and earning renewed trust. When I am realigned with people I have offended or hurt, I can then align myself with God. 

Because God is loving and merciful, and because He knows I'm a flawed human, He has made provision for me to make mistakes and then overcome them. Making mistakes and then fixing them is called learning. The laws of the universe demand justice in the form of punishment. But God has tempered justice with mercy through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus took my punishment through His atonement, so God could offer me forgiveness and as many chances as I need to start over and try again.

Forgiveness, however, is not free and unconditional. God will not forgive me while I'm in a state of misalignment. He will not save me in my sins. But He will save me from my sins when I put those sins away and align myself again with Him. 

Conclusion

Therefore, sin is real because God is real, and His godly ways are the only ways to become like Him, which is His goal for me. I sin when I turn away from His goal and follow my own lesser goals, that is, when I try to be happy in some other way than the way God is happy.

Repentance is therefore necessary to bring myself back in alignment with God's goal. When I repent, He forgives. Without His forgiveness, I would be lost forever. But because He forgives, I can learn and grow without being eternally condemned.

I choose to believe sin is real and repentance is necessary because my experience has taught me that lasting happiness is found in following God's plan.