Growing up, I remember discussions in church about sin

In these general discussions, two types of sin were always talked about:

Sins of commission where a person commits an act which is sinful.

Sins of omission where a person is aware of a good or right act which he or she should do, but fails to do so.

However, in some churches, there was another type of sin that also became heavily discussed.

Sins of Invention

I would like to define the term “Sins of Invention” as a concept where a person who doesn’t like a certain concept, music, clothes, new toy, new styles, etc. or who can not afford a certain material possession gets very ‘creative and imaginative’ by twisting scriptures to interpret those things as ’sinful’ and that ‘it will send you to hell’.

There were certain times in the year where the ’sins of invention’ would ’suddenly appear’ on the scene.

Christmas, your birthday, time to buy a new car, wanting a bigger house, or when everyone is either talking about some concept, trend, or starting to wear a new style of clothes.

It was nothing to see poor pastors who couldn’t afford to buy their children the most popular toy try to alleviate his guilt of not procuring the toy by self-rationalizing and preaching from the pulpit that the toy was sinful and would send you to hell. By doing this, the parents within the church would not buy the toy and it would ‘make the playing field’ level (call it a quazi form of ‘pentecostal socialism’) by not having to hear the resentment of their children at Christmas time when they didn’t get the toy but some kid in the church did get the toy.

It was nothing to see foreign missionaries on their annual furlough to use the ‘ungreatful selfish people’ speeches to make people feel guilty about wanting / procuring something nice when instead they could give the money to the missionary ‘for the Lord’s work’.

It was nothing to see certain people ‘look’ and ‘act’ poor because they really believed in the concept of ‘the poorer, the purer’.

If those tactics didn’t work, then either the ‘vanity’ card, the ‘you’re greedy and selfish’ card, or the ‘(insert object here) will become your idol’ tactics were used.

Believe it or not….

(1): The tactics usually worked

or

(2): You procured those things and showed them off and some pre-mature destruction happened to them (walkman prematurely blew up, new car was wrecked, that members only jacket got ripped two weeks after you bought it).

Then you found out that some of your fellow church people prayed to God for “God to destroy” those things (usually after they ask to borrow them (‘brother’) and you told them they couldn’t borrow it and receiving the “it belongs to God and not you speeches”) because those people were jealous and resentful that you had those things and they did not, were convinced that you gave those things ‘more attention than God’, or were convinced that the only way you could procure those things was by not paying your tithes and God needed to ‘put you in your place’.

God broke the rewind switch off his walkman….. God showed him…. Hallelujah, ronda-konda-shonda…. He’ll learn next time that if he’s got extra money to spend, he’ll put it in the offering plate instead of buying that car stereo…. He should have paid his tithes…. That is what he gets for thinking he’s better than us, God knocked his pride away….

by Christmastime next year, your belief to option “2″ was voided and you now believe in option ‘1′.

or

(3): You procured those things but never told anyone you had them and pray that God wasn’t angry with you and that those things would not somehow self-destruct

—–

And option three was what I usually did……..
with a ton of ‘guilt’ stirring deep within me…….

and all this time, all it really was was disguised legalism wrapped up into a ‘Christianized’ form of ‘tribal superstitions’. Get that nice pair of New Balance shoes when the shoes at Wal-Mart will do…. God’s gonna ’strike you’… Get ready for the lightning……..

I decided that this Christmas, I was going to refuse to allow the ‘guilt’ feelings from even starting up in my head. For many years, I never asked for much in the way of possessions except for functional stuff like needed clothes because I did experience the ‘guilt’ (from fellow pentecostals) of receiving nice things and/or lots of things. My parents were (and still are) very good to me and I usually got more (without going overboard) than just clothes usually getting some stuff related to my hobby of computers (in fact, as I look back in retrospect, my parents have really taught me more about the correct ways of God than the pentecostals ever did). I used to try to make myself ‘humbled’ (through self-humiliation) by trying to tell myself that ‘I didn’t deserve all this nice stuff because I said that dirty word / I was rude to this person…..’ or ‘I got too much stuff and what is ‘God got up his sleeve’ to ’show me who is the boss and humble me’?

Worse was when that Christmas present didn’t work or that nice shirt was too small, you start thinking and telling yourself…

Maybe God didn’t want me to have that present… I’ll take it back for a refund, put the money in the offering plate, and God’s forgiveness and repentance will finally come upon me (for having too much or something too nice for I must have gotten vain lately) and his wrath will be removed from me and ‘cancel out’ the wrath squad from acting out the wrath….

and when I did put the money in the plate…

whew!!!!!! and a couple of long and deep breaths followed and my shoulders got looser

the pressure, judgment, fear, anxiety, hysteria, guilt, and wrath is off of me….

relax!!!!!!

FOR NOW

I can relax now and not worry about failing my English test tomorrow even though I studied very hard. I can finally sleep at night in peace without worrying if I am going to miss the rapture. I can now go for a drive and not fear getting in a car accident and dying and forgetting to confess something and be in eternal torment…

If you’re gonna judge me… do it now!. Let’s get it over with and move on……. Don’t make me wait or don’t ’sneak’ the judgment on me when I least expect it.

That was what I used to think especially around Christmas and around my birthday….

—–

However, this Christmas was a key turning point. I refused to feel guilty about what I gave to others (or not give them) and I refused to feel guilty about what I received from others.

I accepted those gifts with true humility and gratitude from my loved ones and I realized that after all this time, it was the love radiating from those loved ones that showed itself via giving and as they did not feel guilty or grudgingly about giving, I shouldn’t feel guilty about receiving. They wanted me to have those gifts and wanted to see me happy and well.

You know, God works in the same exact way. He wants to give gifts to His children that can never be taken back and he wants His children happy and taken cared of. He doesn’t skimp and go ‘on the cheap’ (like alot of pentecostals do) nor does he overindulge and go way overboard (like alot of word of faith people do). He gives you exactly what you really need with an overflow and balance of blessings attached to the things he has given.

That’s Love. That’s Grace… That’s God…