Sin – The Origins

Sin and Curse are synonymous in the bible, in order to understand generational curses we must first understand generational sins. A biblical definition of sin would be the inability or the failure to love the lord your God with all your heart, soul (idolatry) and failing to love your neighbor as yourself.

Sin defined in the New Testament is purely relational i.e. the kind of relationship we have and maintain foremost with God, and the relationship we maintain with ourselves/neighbor’s, in that order. The New Testament unlike the old describes sin as the condition of the heart, and therefore has a higher standard than the Old Testament. There is no distinction between the intention to sin, and the sin itself. For example:

1 John 3:15 Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him.

Mathew 5:28 But I tell you, everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart

The sinful condition in our hearts’, in the bible is called uncleanness which in the old and in the new testament has one effect, it separates us from God.

Unclean

When Jesus was asked what makes a man unclean, after observing the Pharisees maintaining physical rituals like washing hands as a way to observe old testament righteousness. He responded

But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these things defile a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, and slander. These are what defile a man, but eating with unwashed hands does not defile him. Mathew 15:19-21

The New Testament raises the bar, and calls sin our intentions and or our motives. The bible goes on to explain in a more comprehensive list, what the manifestations or fruits of the sinful condition in our hearts are

The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Galatians 5:19-21

In this blog we will focus on the theme that sin is a condition of the heart i.e. hate, fear, unbelieve, lust, jealousy, pride, greed, anger, idolatry, guilt, self-righteousness, hypocrisy rebellion and laziness. The fruits of sin are immorality, discord, slander, fits of rage,  unforgiveness, adultery,  murder, theft, false testimony, pornography, masturbation, conman-ship, manipulation and witchcraft e.t.c. To effectively deal with sin, heart issues have to be understood and addressed, true repentance can only come from resolving the real heart issues.

The author and perfecter of all sin is the devil, since the days of Eve, the enemy of our souls has perfected the art of deceiving the sons of God. He uses, deception as the primary tool to draw us into sin.

“The devil has no power apart from the power we give him through our sinful desires”

Sin is a Virus – That Separates us From God

There has been an outstanding debate regarding how people acquire habits good or bad, the question is put across as nature versus nurture. Well, the bible has a clear answer and that is both, but our environment more than anything else greatly influences who we become.

There are three distinct ways we acquire sin

1. If we are of sound mind we willfully acquire new sin
2. When we are children or not of sound mind we pick up this sins from our care givers
3. We are born predisposed to sin through our DNA

The Cycle of Sin – Acquiring New Sin

But each one is tempted when by his own evil desires he is lured away and enticed. Then after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is fully grown, gives birth to death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. James 1:14-16

Sin just like faith grows like a mustard seed and it is first conceived in our hearts. If left unchecked, it grows and destroys an individual and the generation that come after them, the wages of sin is death.The stages of acquiring sin are as below, most times there is a slight deviation.

The Physical Process

Curiosity -> An Experiment -> A habit -> Compulsion-> Addiction->Bondage->Demon Possession->Death

Below I give some illustrations

Scenario 1

Tom a God loving praise and worship leader was one day surfing the net, when a bikini model pop up appeared on his screen. Normally, he would ignore but that day was different, he had not had sex with his wife for 3 weeks because of a financial disagreement. The last one week, Tom had started noticing the girls in the office, his head turned when he saw a short dress. Tom for years has struggled and successfully waged war on this lustful thoughts but today there is something else at play he is vulnerable, he is having a low day after a client payment did not come through. He needs to feel good, to escape the financial realities facing him, when he gets home. A debate rage’s inside him, he can barely remember the purity sermon from his youth pastor

Tom clicks the enlarge  button. He tells himself that he just wants to see if the white model has an African ‘ass’, that would be something new he thinks to himself, 5 minutes later he has opened 6 other images looking for the perfect African figure. The alluring deception of sin! True to its sinful nature porn provides Tom with a temporary escape from his problems that day, and the next, as curiosity turns to habit then addiction, until the one day he forgets to delete his browser history and wife finds out.

After confessing his sin, Tom’s wife gives him the last chance.

But Tom without the tools to deal with the real root heart issues and an unforgiving bitter wife, finds himself back at it but this time he uses the office PC. No one knows, one year into his porn addiction he no longer feels guilt or remorse. But his colleagues have noticed something different about Tom, He is a flirt.. he notices every skirt, every perfume, every sitting position of the new intern. A strange thing also happens, single women are all of a sudden attracted to him.

 The good man brings good things out of the good treasure of his heart, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil treasure of his heart. For out of the overflow of the heart, Luke 6:45

Garbage in garbage out, sin tolerated for a long time manifests itself in an affair. At this stage, Tom is in bondage there is a demonic urge and voice that torments him to constantly think about women. At night he is tormented by dreams of sex, by day he is constantly chasing women.

Eventually this habit will lead to the death of his marriage.

Scenario 2

Jane is the chairman of the estate committee, she has been married to Sam for 9 years. One day as she is searching for a cooking recipe she comes across the receipts from an online casino, this is the third time she has caught him red handed, they have tried everything counseling praying and deliverance.

This time she decides to take another approach, advice she had received from one of her girl friends years ago. It was simple, don’t be too nice make a scene, don’t let him off the hook. Jane tries this advice, that night when Sam comes home she is all fired up, and she puts Sam in his place..curse words tantrums and a few broken glasses, as she feigns her displeasure. This strategy works perfectly, Sam profusely apologizes and never does it again. Jane that night has learned something, she can control people through anger and tantrums.

The first time she used anger, it was forced, but overtime she learns to use this new tool to make her arrant husband comply.. it becomes easier and believable overtime, before long he is washing dishes and changing dippers. Something strange starts to happen, people around her including her children start to withdraw, they have noticed she easily gets angry. She lashes out at anyone who does not do things her way, the habit is now a bondage. During one of her anger tantrums which she can’t seem to control, it turns into a physical altercation that leaves her husband with 3 stitches from a stab wound, this leads to the death of her reputation.