It's not the way you think - 1

There are few words in the Christian vocabulary that offend as easily as the word "sinner." This is partly our fault, partly misunderstanding.

The problem is that we tend to think of the word sinner as one that describes someone who is vile, violent, physically or sexually or completely immoral. It is also that we have a tendency to imagine is someone who revels in evil.

And it hardly helps that some people who call themselves imagine that they are better than others, often in an obnoxious way and there are also people who are not Christians who just assume that if anyone makes any moral judgment at all, they are assuming superiority.

It does not help, either, that the natural way to interpret the word "sinner" in English is one who sins, while it is in fact, only the consequence of being one.

An easier way to see it is by analogy. A cow isn't a cow because it moos and gives milk. It moos and gives milk because it is a cow. So, a sinner is not a sinner because he or she sins but sins because he or she is a sinner.

Simply put, a sinner is someone who is isolated from God. The effect of this is that he or she becomes his or her own god and so is at enmity with God's plan for them and the lives of those around them. This does not require a hostility toward God, only a separation from Him.

But because God has given man a will, the effect of man's isolation is a world where much evil can exist because humans are seeking their own interests, without caring for the needs of those they disagree with or who annoy them or are in their way.

Of course, being one's own god is a heady and intoxicating. It also creates an atmosphere of mistrust which is also transferred to God himself. In this intoxicated state we become incapable of coming to God without His aid.

Next: a closer look.