2013 Term 1 Week 6 - Why do we sin? - Part C - Control

We sin because we want to be in control. This flows on from trust. We don't trust God's plan is good so we make our own. We don't want to trust God because that requires vulnerability, which is scary. And God has made it clear that we will not be rescued from pain, nor be showered with relief/pleasure until Jesus returns. This is too long for us, so we think we can do it better. We also like the idea of being in control as it helps us to avoid facing the fear of living in a broken world.

Control is an attempt to live life without vulnerability.
Control is a commitment to avoid needing others and God.
Control is an attempt to dodge the curse (Gen 3).

2013 Term 1 Week 5 - Why do we sin? - Part B - Trust

We sin because we don't trust God or his plan. And so we try to "improve" God's plan.
Example = Abram (Gen 15-16)

The most important thing to us is pain. The second most is relief/pleasure. If God's plan doesn't deal with those things we look for an alternative. Jesus' life was not a success when considered by this criteria. We think we can do better than Jesus, though we would rarely own up to it.

Either God is unable to give us what we need or we don't realise what we need. Let's start considering what the gospel is based on. What Jesus does and says rather than what we think it should be about.