The Sad Demise of Sin

We had a sense of sin when I grew up. The fences were up and we knew where they were. Even at Harvard they knew what sin was. As you will note from this excerpt from Harvard Magazine, circa 1963:

"Dean of students Robert Watson criticizes lax undergraduate attitudes toward parietal rules, insisting that Harvard 'must be concerned that its students do not set an example for the relaxation of morals among youth....fornication must also be understood as an offense punishable by the University on the same grounds as thievery, cheating, and lying.'" 

Ah for the good old days!

For those of you who've never heard of parietal rules, they are the rules governing men's and women's dorms-- when you had to be in and when the men had to be out. How quaint. Today at least two dozen schools, including Brown, the University of Pennsylvania, Oberlin, Clark University, Cal Tech, and Stanford, allow students to share a room with anyone of any gender they want to.

Bring Back Real Sin!

I know this doesn't have much of a chance as a slogan on college campuses, but Nana thinks it's a good idea.  We knew what sin was at BYU when I went there. 


Here am I in my prom hair in 1966. (No, I didn't use a bicycle pump to get it like that)

But we all knew exactly what sin was back then.  We were all concentrating very hard on not giving in to the lusts of the flesh. We never thought to use the excuse, "That's just the way I am. That's the real me." Sure sex is natural but we also knew the natural man and the natural coed were enemies to God.  We fought back and "chose eternal life, according to the will of his holy spirit, and [did] not choose death, according to the will of the flesh and the evil which is therein, which giveth the spirit of the devil power to captivate, to lead you down to hell, that he may rule over you in his own kingdom" (2Nephi2:28-29)  

Sin Today

Of course the world does have its own brand of Sin today-- even though they've pretty much abandoned the lusts of the flesh. Here's the current list, brought to you by the World Council of Great and Spacious Churches:

1. The sin of social injustice
2. The sin of intolerance
3. The sin of judgmentalism
4. The sin of not recycling
5. The sin of smoking

Things have definitely changed from the Middle Ages.  Then you got a convenient, concise list of Seven Deadly Sins.  Easy to memorize if not always easy to comply with. They are, or were:

Now that's a list of sins a person can sink their teeth into.  I think we should make them into wall art in Relief Society.  Nana thinks these are things kids need to know.

When all else fails there are the Ten Commandments and Galatians 5:19-21 with its list that includes fornication, lasciviousness,and reveling.

They just don't teach this stuff in churches anymore.  

Case in point:

One of my FAVORITE MAGAZINES(!)is "Touchstone, A Journal of Mere Christianity."  This is from their latest issue in a fascinating article called "Wise Blood" by Marilyn Prever.

"My husband and I used to help with marriage preparation for our parish, and we found that many of the couples were cohabiting. Some of them felt guilty about it, but many felt that they were not only innocent but virtuous, because living together saved money, and not only that, but they were being especially "responsible" because the woman was on the birth control pill. They thought God must be very pleased with them. Where do you begin to unravel such a tangle of errors? We did our best in the brief time we had and were surprised to find how many couples were open to the truth ("Why didn't somebody tell us before?"), but others had to find out the hard way that God doesn't just want us to have good intentions, he wants us to keep his Commandments."

How should we decide what things are sin and what things are not sin? God's word decides and we as Christians are to agree with God's word, not rewrite it.

So

Nana wants to know...

How are you going to repent if you don't know you're sinning?

What if they gave an Atonement and No One Came?

"Oh no thank you.  God loves me just the way I am.  I suggest you go feed the hungry.  Have a nice day."

The gospel of Jesus Christ is for sinners. That's all of us--just so you don't go getting a big head. The Doctrine and Covenants says we "are called to cry repentance to this people." We are apparently living in a culture that doesn't want to hear it. They want acceptance. No thanks on the redemption.

Well, take it from Nana, who has lived a lot longer than you have. Being stuck with yourself just the way you are is hell. I'll take redemption.