Christian Living

---

It makes me wonder why most of our liturgy and rituals give importance to the aspect of sin neglecting the great love of God. I do not know much about other denominations; but in the Catholic Church the rituals focus more on the concept of sin and than on the love of the Father. I am not blaming the Church but I would request to think of the need of the love concept in the liturgy as well as the living of the normal life.

More importance to sin

The liturgical year begins with Advent, with the message of St. John the Baptist, calling us to repent and prepare the way for the coming of our Lord. The Gospel readings of the season reminds us the words repentance for sins, “John began to baptize in the desert; he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”(Mark 1:4) In the Lent also the messages say that the kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe in the gospel. They tell us to come back to the teaching of Love leaving our ways that led us against our own conscience and God. Does it mean that we should dwell more on the sins and deplore all the time?

The Gospel of Jesus gives more importance to love

Jesus preached the message of love rather than weeping over the sins. Of course, we must be sorry for our sins; but it should inspire us to live a constructive life of love.

Messages should focus on love

Many of my friends have pointed out that the messages during these seasons are about sin making us feel upset or frighten with the narrations of hell and punishments. I found many of the youngsters feeling very much upset over this kind of sermons and messages. The basic teaching of Christ was building up a person to live up to his or her conscience in loving harmony with others.

Church began with Love

Christianity was known as the congregation of love in the early days

The life of the early Christians was a life of love. “All the believers lived together and shared all their belongings and shared all their belongings. They would sell their property and all they had and distribute the proceeds to others according to their need. Each day they met together in the Temple area; they broke bread in their homes; they shared their food with great joy and simplicity of heart; they praised God and won the people’s favor.”(Acts 2:44-47) I wonder what kind of Christian life ours is!

Later importance of sin concept

During the later centuries, the concept of sin led to the emergence of a new spirituality based on fear of God; a fear of punishment in the life after death swept over the community. The basic organizational aspects of the church also became a matter enlisted in the category of sin. Prayers also gave repeated importance to sin. The sermons during services gave new interpretations to sin. The one who made people realize sin and touched the hearts of the people emotionally was considered as the best preacher. Even the Charismatic preachers stressed that all were born sinners.

Drawbacks of the sin concept in reality

“Too much stress on sin” has actually caused failure in spirituality. The scientific developments and liberal interpretations of the Holy Bible have slowly reduced the fear about sin among the people. Consequently, people are losing their faith and are engaged in destructive criticisms.

Lord Jesus calls us for a life of love

The core of the message of Jesus is LOVE. He suggests a path of love and forgiveness; a positive life of embracing one another. It is a life of loving ‘enemies and paying for the persecutors. It is not a life of mere Sunday ceremonies and running after wealth on the other days. It is a life of love lived every second immersed in the love of God and others.

Let us turn to the divine positive energy

God lives in us; among us. If we want to feel the love of God in us and the Kingdom of God present among us, we have to move closer towards the positive divine energy within us and among us all. Positive energy is the divine power that motivates everyone to grow above all differences. Making aware of this positive divine energy may be the new approach of parents, teachers, elders, preachers and ministers. We need to give more importance to the unfathomable love of God rather than looking at the negative side of sins.

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE