Our culture seems largely allergic to the notion of sin. It is not popular to talk about sin and its consequences. Perhaps this is the fruit of overly harsh preaching in times past which focused on hellfire and brimstone. I will hear old timers often speak of fiery sermons they would hear as children, with the average quality of preaching having mellowed out and grown gentler over time. In the 18th century a very influential sermon was given by a Congregationalist preacher titled Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. I think the title adequately conveys the general tone of the sermon. Nowadays sermons and homilies tend to focus more on the tender love and mercy of God which for most has been a welcomed shift. However, I sometimes wonder if the pendulum has swung too far. Of course God is loving and merciful and we certainly should not see ourselves merely as miserable sinners in the hands of an angry God. But I wonder if the culture has overreacted to the point where many have lost a proper notion of sin. I think we have. With this overreaction misconceptions and faulty understandings regarding the nature of sin have become rather prevalent. And even though many may misunderstand sin it is still just as dangerous and detrimental as it always has been. Perceptions may change but reality doesn’t. This is why we need to recover a proper understanding of the nature of sin, God’s justice, and His mercy.
Two specific popular misconceptions of sin which I want to discuss are really two extremes in opposite directions. I see an impoverished and deficient notion of sin as well as an exaggerated understanding of sin. Let’s look at each of them.
Those who hold the impoverished notion of sin would say something like this: “as long as I am not causing any apparent harm or offense to anyone, I am not sinning. As long as I don’t harm or steal from anyone, I’m ok.” It is true that sin causes harm. Sin is an offense. But the problem here is that many misunderstand precisely what it means to cause harm. The litmus test for causing harm is simply reduced to asking “is this person offended or not?” Because the notion of true harm has been impoverished, so has the notion of sin. There are actions that may not appear to harm anyone which are certainly injurious. Some actions may even feel good and yet cause great harm. Fornication is harmful to persons even though its participants may not seem to be harmed in any way. We must remember that our souls can be harmed even if we don’t feel it or see it.
Then some will exaggerate sin and see it as more than an action. To commit a sin requires action in thought, word, or deed. Some think that if a person has certain tendencies or temptations that they are automatically sinners. However, sin is only committed when these tendencies or temptations are acted upon. Here is an example of what I mean. Suppose you have someone who has struggled with drunkenness and they have successfully struggled to the point of sustained sobriety. They find themselves at a wedding reception and they desperately want that glass of bourbon. And yet they stay strong and don’t act on these desires. They have not sinned. Regarding those who might experience homosexual tendencies or gender dysphoria, they are not automatically sinful because of these inclinations. Sin is an action, not a feeling. Jesus Himself experienced temptation but He committed no sin through His actions.
So what exactly is sin? The Catechism of the Catholic Church says “Sin is an offense against reason, truth, and right conscience; it is failure in genuine love for God and neighbor caused by a perverse attachment to certain goods. It wounds the nature of man… Sin sets itself against God's love for us and turns our hearts away from it” (CCC, 1849-1850). So, whether an action appears to cause harm or not is not what determines an action to be sinful. Keep in mind that an action may cause harm to our souls without any apparent harm done to our bodies. Sin is an offense against God and a fault against reason which consequently harms human nature. We know what is sinful by believing in what God has revealed to be true and by our reasoning. With this understanding, let’s look at why homosexual acts and transgenderism – two primary issues in the LGBTQ movement – are sinful.
First, what does Scripture say about these issues? Here are a couple of quotes:
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10).
“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’” (Matthew 19:4-5).
These quotes from Scripture just scratch the surface. There are many more places in Scripture which clearly condemn homosexual acts as sinful, and Genesis is very clear that God created humanity in His image and likeness as being male and female.
However, it is not only Scripture which tells us that homosexual acts and transgenderism are sinful. If you were to quote these passages to someone they might say “who cares? I don’t care what the Bible says.” And so it’s important that we understand by our reasoning why homosexual acts and transgenderism are morally wrong.
From reason we know that homosexual acts and transgenderism are wrong because they are incongruent with and contrary to our human nature, creatures composed of body and soul. The Catechism of the Catholic Church says that “homosexual acts are intrinsically disordered. They are contrary to the natural law. They close the sexual act to the gift of life.” (CCC, 2357). From reason we know that there are certain actions that are good and certain actions that are bad for the human person. You do not need the Bible to understand that murder, the taking of an innocent human life, is wrong. This intrinsic sense of what is right and wrong, natural law, is inscribed in our nature. It allows us to determine the moral quality of an action. To know if something is good for the human person, we need to know the purpose and end of human nature and all of its parts.
If we do not use things according to their purpose, it causes harm. For example, if you use a chisel to open a can of paint you cause harm to the chisel. You are not using it for its purpose. However, there is no moral quality to a chisel. A chisel cannot commit any right or wrong action. Because we are moral beings, there is a moral quality to our actions. When we commit actions that are contrary to the purpose of our nature, it hurts us on more than a physical or psychological level. It hurts our souls. When we use our sexual faculties other than what they were created for – the procreation of children and the unity of the married couple – we may not always see physical harm but it certainly causes harm to our souls. Another example would be that of bulimia. Here there is a misuse of food and the digestive faculties. The purpose of eating is the nourishment of the body. If you eat but then eject what you have eaten, you misuse this faculty and it causes harm to the person. The same is true with our sexual faculties.
This is why the Church says that homosexual acts are disordered. They are not properly ordered to the purpose and end of our sexual faculties. They misuse the sexual faculties for some other end, namely pleasure. And with transgenderism, the body is viewed merely as something that can be manipulated without moral consequence. Again, if we do not treat our bodies in accord with their nature we sin and cause harm to our souls and potentially our bodies. But you must first understand what it means to be human in order to understand that there are proper ends and purposes to the human body and all of its parts.
We must call sin for what it is and acknowledge that it causes grave harm to the human person. Sin leads to a disintegration of the person. Sin disrupts our harmony with God and others. Therefore, it is an act of good will to call out sin because we want others to live healthy and holy lives. It is not bigotry. It is not hatred. We want others to understand and live out the purpose for which they were created. Failure to do so is a failure to love.
People have forgotten who they are. Notice that LGBTQ activists and proponents are quick to make their sexual tendencies the core of their identity. There is a strong desire to label oneself according to one’s inclinations and to proclaim it to the world. This is a sad reduction of one’s identity. We are not identified by our inclinations and desires. Our identity is not rooted in whatever label society demands we place on ourselves. We are identified by the love of God. We are beloved sons and daughters of a God who created us and loves us as His own.
We are all broken and in need of redemption. We are all sinners and are called to receive the mercy of God through repentance. This is true for you, this is true for every activist, and this is true for anyone who might fall under one of the LGBTQ categories. Everyone is called to holiness. The good news is that no one is too far gone from receiving the mercy of God. Yes, God is eternally just and there are standards to which all are called. But when we fail to live up to these standards and purpose for which we were created, there is hope in His mercy. We need only ask for His mercy and repent. He is not a God who desires our misery and delights in spoiling our fun. Rather, He is a generous and loving Father who desires to heal us from the disease of sin. The remedy to our broken condition has been created by Jesus. But the decision to take the medicine is placed in our hands.