Who gets to decide what sin is?

I'm preparing for an exercise I'm going to be doing with someone this summer.  I'm going to be asking her, every time we meet, to share the gospel with me from scripture.  (Not that she has to go chapter and verses through the Bible on every point, but that she can verbally reference where she can back up the key points of scripture.)  To make it even more exciting, as we progress through the summer, I will start asking questions & raising objections as she shares.

By the way, I don't do this with random people I have lunch with.  Don't be afraid of me.  She's leaving for overseas mission in the fall and she's agreed to go through this exercise.

So I started making a list of possible/common objections someone might have while hearing the gospel.

One of the biggies is the issue of sin.  I mean, what is 'sin'?  Is there such a thing as sin?

Many would probably say no, at least initially.  You may feel it's sin, but I don't.  So for me, its' not.  If you want to feel guilty about it and avoid it, y'know, whatever floats your boat.

But then we have the Biggies.  Throw murder on the table.  Rape.  Abuse.  Ok, those are sins.  We all agree those are sins.  It's like we sin by majority vote any more.  Is this a sin?  Not sure? Post a poll on Facebook.  If less than 50% of the people think it's a sin, you're good!  Go to, my friend!  Wouldn't that just drag us all down into the muck really fast.

Clearly we need to drop the percentage, then it would be fine.

I was reading an article that brought it back to the root question:  Is there a God?

If there's a God, then that God gets to decide what sin is.  Right?  Because God is God.  God is all-knowing, all-powerful, completely just, completely holy as well as completely loving.  It's God's call.

If you don't believe there is a God, you're home free.  Then you believe there's no sin.  There are behaviors and acts that are acceptable in society, and ones that aren't.  If you get caught you'll be punished.  If you don't get caught, whoo-hoo!  Really, that's what it comes down to.  There's no should or shouldn't, there's only 'we, as a society, have decided we don't want X behavior, so you will be punished' or not.  If 51% of society (ok, with the joy of lobbying and political action groups, do you really think we need that high of a percentage?) decides that grinding up children for dog food is acceptable because puppies are cute, well, that's the new rule.  Push the boundaries where you will, just get more people to agree with you.

If however, you believe there is a God, then God determines what sin is.  And if you don't follow the guidelines set forth, there are consequences, which are also determined by God.

Of course, then you can just go God-shopping:  This God fits the best with how I will be most happy living, therefore, this one is God.  That one's not.  He's strict.  Clashes with my preferred life, leave him on the rack.  Which really in the end is just self-worship right?  You are worshiping the God that fits your thinking and lifestyle.  Your thinking and lifestyle just built a God! Go you!  You've had a productive day, go get a Starbucks.

This generally isn't exactly how it happens, I don't think.  Except maybe by those who go on a big self-search in adolescence or mid-life.  But what does happen (it seems to me anyway) winds up in the same place.

A person is raised in a religion, or with a particular concept of "God".  But as they get older, or as society changes, they drop off pieces of "God" that don't fit them anymore, and keep the pieces they are still comfortable with.  Then they find parts of a life philosophy, or beliefs of a "good" prominent person, and add those pieces in.  They wind up with a Swiss-cheese amalgam "God" that they have trouble really pinning down when it comes specifics on right and wrong and what your life should really look like to please Him. Except that it's strikingly similar to what their life looks like, but maybe a little bit better.  You know, to keep them humble and give them something to work toward.

There are some parts of my God that are tough.  Things that I wish weren't quite the way they are.  Sometimes I wish holiness wasn't His standard, because that's really a high standard.  But I'm not willing to kid myself on who God is and try to rebuild Him to please me.  I'll take Him or leave Him as He is... and I choose to take Him.  So He gets to decide what sin is.

We can't start with which rules we like better.  We have to start with Is there a God?  And if so, who is He?