Sin, an Exposition.

After a lengthy conversation with my wife, I started questioning my definition of sin.  You see, my typical concept of sin is any action/behavior that separates one from God.  There's numerous sins laid out in the Bible, along with abominations, ten commandments, the seven deadly sins, etc....  We, as a society, have even laid out what is considered sinful or not and much of it differs amongst Christians.  Is divorce an abomination as defined Biblically?  Is is still ok to have slaves?  What about what does it truly and honestly mean for a man to be the head of their household?  I'm, actually, not about to attempt to answer those questions.  In the words of Bill Leonard, "but I digress."  I started to think about my previously mentioned definition of sin, I still think it's a good definition, but falls short under my own scrutiny.  Then I also remembered this quote from my theology instructor:  "Working with the poor is tough because they smell of our sin." --E. Frank Tupper.  Which, in turn, made me think.

I feel that humanity is made in the image of God, Imago Dei.  This is what separates us from all the rest of creation.  If we all have this inherent divine image, then why isn't sin also anything that crushes/diminishes/belittles the Imago Dei in others?  Actually, I think it is.  That's why poor people smell of our sin.  It's not only actions that can hurt the spirit of others, it's inaction.  It's laws, lack of laws, doing the wrong thing, sitting silent and not doing what ought to be done.  It's denying humanity to others because a portion of that humanity is the shared divine.  It's sin.  By all means, this isn't truly an "exposition."  It's a thought that sprouted into an idea, and needed to be placed outside of my imagination.