Sin Collage

sIn :

a meditation on the mystery of

e e e evil , & the beauty

of redemp t ion.

Kirk Jordan 

.

“ Sin complicates things”   

Jim Tracy

Certain new theologians dispute original sin, which is the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved. Some followers of the Reverend R.J.Campbell, in their almost too fastidious spirituality, admit divine sinlessness, which they cannot see even in their dreams. But they essentially deny human sin, which they can see in the street. The strongest saints and the strongest skeptics alike took positive evil as the starting-point of their argument. If it be true (as it certainly is) that a man can feel exquisite happiness in skinning a cat, then the religious philosopher can only draw one of two deductions. He must either deny the existence of God, as all atheists do; or he must deny the present union between God and man, as all Christians do. The new theologians seem to think it a highly rationalistic solution to deny the cat.

G.K. Chesterton - Orthodoxy (chapter 2, the Maniac.)

Works of art require some education in the beholder, before they can be thoroughly appreciated. We do not expect that the uninstructed should at once perceive the varied excellence of a painting from some master hand; we do not imagine that the superlative glories of the harmonies of the Princes of Song will enrapture the ears of clownish listeners. The must be something tin the man himself, before he can understand the wonders either of nature or of art…

By reasons of failures in our character and faults in our life, we are not capable of understanding all the separate beauties, and the united perfection of the Character of Christ, or of God his Father. Were we ourselves as pure as the angels in heaven, were we once what our race was in the Garden of Eden, immaculate and perfect, it is quite certain that we should have a far nobler idea of the character of God than we can possibly attain unto in our fallen state. But you cannot fail to notice that men, thought the alienation of their natures, are continually misrepresenting God, because they cannot appreciate his perfection.

C. H. Spurgeon: Spurgeon's gems

--

Prelude to Space

So Man, grown vigorous now,

Holds himself ripe to breed,

Daily devises how To ejaculate his seed

And boldly fertilize

The black womb of unconsenting skies

Some now alive expect

(I am told) to see the large,

Steel member grow erect,

Turgid with fierce charge

Of our whole planet's skill,

Courage, wealth, knowledge, concentrated will;

Straining with our lust to stamp

Our Likeness on the abyss--

Bombs, gallows, Belsen camp, Pox, polio,

Thais' kiss Or Judas', Moloch's fires

And Torquemada's (son's resemble sires).

Shall we, when the grim shape

Roars upward, dance and sing?

Yes: if we honor rape,

If we take pride to fling

So bountifully on space T

he sperm of our long woes, our large disgrace.

CS. Lewis - Poems

Our earth we now lament to see

with floods of wickedness overflowed,

with violence, wrong, and cruelty,

one wide-extended field of blood,

where men like fiends each other tear

In all the hellish rage of war.

As listed on Abaddon's side,

they mangle their own flesh, and slay;

Tophet is moved, and opens wide

Its mouth for its enormous prey;

and myriads sink beneath the grave,

and plunge into the flaming wave.

Oh might the universal Friend

this havoc of his creatures see!

Bid our natural discord end, d

eclare us reconciled in thee!

Write kindness on our inward parts

and chase the murderer form our hearts!

Who now against each other rise,

the nations of the earth constrain to follow peace,

and prize the blessings of thy righteous reign

the joys of unity to prove,

the paradise of perfect love.

Charles Wesley 1758 

all-fall-mall :

How great the Fall

Yes,

how great the Fall.

Was anything forgotten,

was anything left whole --

Oh, itch on bite

The mortal rite

Weed and wheat confused

My memory’s abused

By the things I’ve been.

Jordan 

From sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Point 6

There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell fire, if it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men, a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell fire. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out, they would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them. The souls of the wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea, Isa. 57:20. For the present, God restrains their wickedness by his mighty power, as he does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying, "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further;" but if God should withdraw that restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul; it is destructive in its nature; and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury; and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God's restraints, whereas if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature; and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone.

Lies

Elton John - Lies Lyrics

Some lie about who they love
Some lie about the truth
Some lie to save their lives
Some lie about their youth
Some lie about age and beauty
The conquest of sex
Most lie about the night before
A woman lies for a party dress
I've lied for a stolen moment
I've lied for one more clue
I've lied about most everything
But I never lied to you
And we lie, lie, lie on a streetcar named desire
Oh we lie, lie, lie for that sweet bird of youth
I could be great like Tennessee Williams
If I could only hear something that sounds like the truth
Some lie in the face of death
Some lie about their fame
Some kneel and lie to God
Some lie about their name
Some lie in words and speeches
With every living breath
The young lie with their guitars
The old lie for a little respect
I've lied to lie with danger
I've lied for a drug or two
I've lied about most everything
But I never lied to you
I've lied for a stolen moment
I've lied for one more clue
I've lied about most everything
But I never lied to you.

What does it cost to be a true Christian?

“It will cost a man his sins. He must be willing to give up every habit and practice which is wrong in God’s sight. He must set his face against it, quarrel with it, break off from it, fight with it, crucify it, and labor to keep it under, whatever the world around him may say or think. He must do this honestly and fairly. There must be no separate truce with any special sin which he loves. He must count all sins as his deadly enemies, and hate every false way. Whether little or great, whether open or secret, all his sins must be thoroughly renounced. Let us set down that item second in our account. To be a Christian it will cost a man his sins.”

~ J.C. Ryle