 | The Reverend Doctor Cathy Northrup was born in Ft. Meade, MD, and was raised in a variety of places in the United State and Germany, as her father was in Counter Intelligence with the Army. She graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, with a double major in English and Religion. She graduated from Georgetown Law Center in Washington, DC, and practiced law with the Federal Reserve Board for a number of years before attending Union Theological Seminaryin Richmond, VA. She graduated from Union, and served several churches in North and South Carolina, at the same time obtaining her Doctor of Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Dr. Northrup is currently the Pastor/Head of Staff of First Presbyterian Church, Wichita, KS. She is married and has two black Labrador dogs who were rescued from abusive situations. You can contact Dr. Northrup at cnorthrup@firstpresbywichita.org or by phone at (316) 263-0248, ext. 26. |
Religion
2006-10-01 12:27:00
How can something be a sin for some and not for others?
QUESTION: My question is about sin. Some religions believe a certain action is a sin. Some do not. Some religions believe a certain action is a serious sin, some do not. Quite often, even clerics within a particular religion disagree about whether or not something is a sin, or a serious sin. How will one be judged when there are so many different interpretations?
ANSWER: Presbyterian Christians believe that judgment, final judgment about one's heart and soul, is up to God. We also believe, however, that the Bible shows us what sin is, and therefore we can discern generally between what is right behavior and what is wrong behavior. We do this discerning not to see who is "better" than each other, but to seek to live faithful and full lives of obedience to God; we believe God has shown us the "straight and narrow" way that leads to our best lives. This discerning is important most of all for our own behavior, but it also allows us to discern right and wrong for others as well. We are to be concerned about the "logs in our own eyes," for example, before we begin to point out "the specks in others' eyes." And, we are to be a forgiving people, just as we have been forgiven.
Sin is, generally, rebellion against God. There is a "Sin" with a capital "S" that describes the state of being human beings are in after the fall; then, there is a "sin" with a small "s" that describes specific behaviors. We agree on what Sin is, but we may in fact disagree about whether certain acts are sin or not. This can be on what some may consider "minor" issues, and it can be on what some may consider "major" issues. This can present difficulty, and it has presented difficulties for the PC (USA) denomination over the issue of homosexuality. Some believe homosexuality is something over which one has no choice, some believe even homosexual orientation is sinful, some believe it is only the behavior which is sinful, others believe it is only promiscuous homosexual behavior which is sinful. As a denomination, we are now in a place where our church's official position is that homosexuality is not God's intention for life, and those who are ordained, heterosexual or homosexual, must meet the standard of faithfulness in marriage and chastity in singleness. However, we have recently adopted a report that allows presbyteries to have some freedom in applying this and other standards. How this works out in the life of our denomination remains to be seen.
