Judges 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Defining sin is a difficult issue for people who do not believe in God or the devil. The concept of good vs evil is conceptualized for them by authority or society. That authority might be parents who are not perfect and the saying “Do as I say and not as I do” came into common use.

I began this blog with Judges 17:6 because even those who do not believe in God or the devil can recognize that someone will insist to declare what is right and hold others accountable. Men who were kings were of two types, just and unjust. Who you might fall under influenced your opinions on life but not necessarily on sin. History has some fine examples about the separation of powers. If you are a student of history your ideas about what sin is will be even more confused.

This leaves us with societies influence on behavior. This is what we call morally acceptable behavior and that which is not acceptable. If you look at society’s moral scale they tend to swing from one extreme to the other. Victorian morality tends to be overly restrictive and tries to control the general populace by shame and harsh penal laws. A free society will eventually emerge out of rebellion to authority and seize power. They change the laws and allow anyone to do what is right in their own mind. Nearly everything is acceptable as long as they don’t present themselves as a threat to the power of authority.

Fluctuating morality doesn’t address sin because sin will either hide behind closed doors or flaunt itself in the streets. Morality dictated by society is not a valid standard by which we should define sin, as it changes constantly.

Sin can only be defined by One who is consistent and is not swayed by human emotions and desires.

Sin only exists because God says don’t and we disobey. If you do not believe in God you are lawless. If you are lawless, it doesn’t matter what you call sin.

Ephesians 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:

That is my past. I am so far removed from that life that in some ways I have lost touch with how unrepentant sinners think. I have a new mindset, a new way of looking at things. I have the Spirit of Truth leading me, so much so, that lies are drowned out.

What did I think back then when I heard “Repent you sinner!” It was so long ago, I am not sure about anything I might have thought in those moments. Do I know how sinners think now when they hear a call to repentance? Why I would try an approach like this to a stranger?

Do they know what it means to repent? For that matter do I? If we are to engage the lost in a conversation about salvation, we should know what we are talking about. We should not only understand the depths of the word in a biblical aspect but also how it might be perceived by someone who has never considered the issues of salvation.

Any rational conversation with those who do not know Christ should begin with an agreement of terms and conditions. We need to understand how they perceive our words and clear up any contradictions in usage. That takes time and commitment on both side. Street evangelism doesn’t have that kind of time.

If you are going to try and invoke repentance for a sinner, don’t you have to agree about sin? How do you define sin? How do they define sin? I can tell you from experience that my definition of sin is not accepted by the majority of faithful Christians. I must not invoke my person belief where other Christians will refute my definition. This only confuses the lost about what is right.