Q. Could you tell me what sin is and why we need to be saved from it? I’m 10 years old.
Answer:
Good question! I’ll bet lots of adults will read your question, too.
Missing the Mark
Sin just means “missing the mark.” It’s like shooting an arrow at a target and missing it. We miss the mark when we fail to keep any of God’s Ten Commandments. I’ll bet you know the Ten Commandments.
They are:
- You must have no other gods but me.
- You must not make idols & bow down or worship them.
- Observe the Sabbath day.
- Honor your father and mother.
- Don’t murder.
- You must not commit adultery.
- Don’t steal.
- Don’t lie about your neighbor.
- You must not want your neighbor’s wife.
- You must not want your neighbor’s house or land or other things he owns.
(The Ten Commandments come from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 5, verses 7 through 21).
That part is easy.
SIN-Positive
But, did you know that things you can’t help can be sinful too? For instance, the “wages of sin is death.” That partly means we all inherit a genetic trait that causes us to die. We are sin-infected or “sin positive.” Our DNA isn’t working the way it was originally supposed to and is causing us all to die. That is “missing the mark” too. But, we can’t help that, can we?
Psalm 8
Another problem is that as it stands right now none of us can live or survive outside of our planet without lots of help. We need space suits and rocket ships to leave earth. If we didn’t use space suits and rocket ships we would die.
Living in Outer Space?
Yet, God wants us to be fit for heaven so that we can go places (probably without needing assistance) and be with him. Psalm 8 tells us that we were meant to have dominion over the works of God’s hands – like the moon and stars. To have “dominion” over something means that we rule it and have stewardship over it. We control it, take care of it and manage it.
But, how can we do that right now? Can you visit the moon without help? Can you breathe without air? Where will you find food? Are there bathrooms there?
A New Space Age for Christians
The apostle Paul tells us that someday we will have bodies that are suitable for outer space and God’s special heaven. (See 1 Corinthians chapter 15 to find these passages).
The “Real” Outer Space
Remember, the “heavens and earth” we see in the bible refer to the real outer space, all those stars and other things we observe from our universe – just like when God created the real heavens and the earth in Genesis 1:1.
A Special Space-City?
Then, there is something like a “space city” described in chapter 21 of the book of Revelation. This is God’s special city that he makes just for us. He calls it the “New Jerusalem.” To imagine this just think of the “cloud cities” in Star Wars or the traveling space-city Atlantis in season 3 of Stargate Atlantis.
Cool!
“Tweaking” our DNA
But, for us to survive and thrive in a future new heavens and earth and the New Jerusalem, we need to be saved from sins we do like swearing or stealing. Then, we also need to be saved from sin that infects our bodies with death and disease – our “sin positive” sickness. The Lord Jesus will probably change our DNA somehow to accomplish this.
Anyway, no one on earth can solve the problem of death yet. But, God will solve this problem if we trust him. He does this for us when we believe that Jesus Christ is our Lord who died for our sins instead of us.
Awesome!
__________________________________
Author Valorie Emilio holds an M.A. in History from UCLA and a Certificate in Persecuted Church Ministries from Oklahoma Wesleyan University.