This is a pretty hard concept to understand to be false without some knowledge of the Bible and what it says about salvation. For someone who do not know much about the bible this statement is very reasonable. But to those who do, this statement can be summed up in one scripture. Ephesians 2:8-9 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

I would have to say that this topic, along with many other topics of this kind, has to be seen with this view: God IS love BUT, God is JUST. If God were ONLY love then we would get everything, even that which might come to harm us. But if God were ONLY just then we would all get what we deserve–a conscious,eternal torment in hell. I am glad God is the essence of the perfect combination.

I was sitting in the atrium of my school cafeteria today and couldn’t help but overhear a conversation this girl was having with one of her friends. She was telling him about her older step-brother being gay. As she told the story, she went through all of her childhood with him and the kind of relationship that they had and so on. I could tell by the tone of her voice that she really didn’t like the relationship that they had now, after he had told the family that he was gay. She described it as though his sin had somehow distanced her and her family from him. I could tell that she was hurt and that she still really cared for her brother even through all that had happened. She went on to say that his birthday was coming up and that she was writing him a letter and sending him a present, hoping that this would be the start of fixing their relationship.

From the story, I gathered that she lived in a Christian home because she kept saying “I know what my brother is doing is sin. I won’t tell him otherwise. But I also will not condemn him because of it. I will show him love.” This statement: “I will show him love” really caught my attention. It was almost as if she was saying ‘I will show him love and through love I will show him truth.’ In this moment, I felt like my spirit man grew up a little bit. I felt that in that moment God was showing me something. And here is my attempt of putting my finger on it.

Sin is a wretched, nasty, vile, thing. It is something that we all struggle with and journey to overcome. Sometimes we think that if we just forget about sin, this is the best way of dealing with it. But we cannot forget about sin. It plays such an important role in our everyday lives as Christians. It is the reason for the fall of mankind. It is the reason for our daily repentance. And dare I say, it is the reason for our salvation. Without sin there is no need for salvation. No need for a savior because there would be nothing to be saved from.

The bible addresses sin. From the fall in Genesis to Jesus’ coming in Revelation chapter 22. But what the bible has to say about sin and the world’s spin on what the bible says about sin is two different things. In society, sin is broken up and thought of on different levels. This sin is worse than that sin and therefore this sinner is worse than that sinner. But this is not true to the Bible. The Bible does not put degrees on sin in the sense that one sin is worse than the other EXCEPT, the sin of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31). This is the only sin that is unforgivable. With this in mind, think back to the story that the girl was telling– How the sin of her brother distanced him from her and her family. Why? Because they did what most would do. They put a degree on sin. When in God’s eyes his sin of being a homosexual is no worse than lying.

This brings us, I believe, to a very gray area in the church today: the balance between ‘forgiveness’ and ‘love.’ The Bible calls us to love. To, in a sense, show the compassion of Christ. And the Bible also tells us to forgive. But nowhere in the Bible does it say to condemn someone for their sin (Luke 6:31). So where do we as Christians draw the line? First, I believe that this is so much bigger and that there is so much more to this than I can get to in this post so I will try to keep it simple.

I believe that the answer lies within this truth in context of the Bible: God is love (1 John 4:8) but, God is just. We are called to be fishers of men. To catch them but not clean them. God will change their hearts and minds we just have to help them to get in the position for God to do so. John 1:10-13.