Upvote:0
From a neutral, Bible-based perspective.
The fact that the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are still offended at sins is visible in verses like the following:
1 John 3:20-22 NIV
If our hearts condemn us, we know that God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything...
And what's happenning (from the point of view brought forward in your question) with the removal of world's sin once for all time through the sacirifce two millenia ago, can be summarized as follows.
Since the verses about the removal of world's are in the Bible, it is truth, no need to explain why. Now, lets hypothesize for a moment that truth is a quantum concept. To try to prove it, lets consider how an electron is a quantum particle, which goes through truth/false gates as it travels. Light is also a quantum concept, and Christ compares himself to light. And most importantly, the Bible speaks of how we must believe the truth, for it to start to work in our lives, see John 1:12. How does this particular verse helps the entertained hypothesis? It helps it because in quantum mechanics there is an observer, whose presence changes quantum object from being non-tangible (wave) into being tangible (particle), tangible here referring to that "activeness" the truth starts to have on those who received it. These things give the hypothesis significant strength.
And so it is quite fair to say that though it is true that Christ had already atoned for everyone's sin, yet those that seek salvation must still receive that truth first, by believing in it, by becoming observers/witnesses to it.
This outlook also explains how someone already a Christian can commit something evil and fall into an at least temporary disfavor with God like in 1 Corinthians 5:4-5 NIV:
So when you are assembled and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, 5 hand this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved on the day of the Lord.
To elaborate and clarify, it should be said that since truth is either inside or outside of us, our sin can simply cast it out from within ourselves, and we would need to try to recieve the truth again, once we mend the holes it created, so that truth doesn't spill out from us again like wine from a broken bottle. To clarify, sin is really just guilt:
Romans 14:14 NIV
I am convinced, being fully persuaded in the Lord Jesus, that nothing is unclean in itself...
Leviticus 5:2-3 Brenton Septuagint
That soul which shall touch any unclean thing, or carcase, or that which is unclean being taken of beasts, or the dead bodies of abominable reptiles which are unclean, or carcases of unclean cattle, or should touch the uncleanness of a man, or whatever kind, which he may touch and be defiled by, and it should have escaped him, but afterwards he should know, βthen he shall have transgressed.
To further elaborate on the nature of guilt, since it is directly important in understanding the interplay between truth and sin, it should be noted that if we don't deal with it quickly enough, it can harm our salvation and areas of life under God's blessing, according to the symbolism of different places in the Bible. For example, guilt, like hot coals, burns a hole in our wineskin and causes the wine (the Holy Spirit / the truth) to flow out. The connection between the wineskin parable and the hot coals may seem far-fetched, yet we do not know what had caused the need for a patch on the wineskin in the first place, and it can be seen how hot coals are portrayed as weapons of spiritual destruction in Psalm 140:10 NIV:
May burning coals fall on them; may they be thrown into the fire, into miry pits, never to rise.
This delayed action motif is likewise symbolized in how manna would rot if left for too long, which would cause Moses (the symbol for God) to become angry. To elaborate on the latter symbolism, the "manna of guilt" is sometimes given to us by God to help us grow spiritually, to change and improve, but if we neglect it, it can become a problem to us, which is an interpretation that well fits with the Bible and the outlook on truth given here.
Upvote:0
I am reminded of Revelation 3:
14 And to the angel of the church at Laodicea write thus: A message to thee from the Truth, the faithful and unerring witness, the source from which Godβs creation began: 15 I know of thy doings, and find thee neither cold nor hot; cold or hot, I would thou wert one or the other. 16 Being what thou art, lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, thou wilt make me vomit thee out of my mouth.
And yet, if you keep reading, you'll see that God appears to pity them for their religious apathy and spiritual ignorance.
It does seem that the Catholic Church holds that sin still offends God. Hence, for example, St. Faustina Kowalska reports that Jesus taught her to pray "for the sake of [Jesus'] sorrowful passion, have mercy on us and on the whole world" to keep God's wrath from us, and she reports that we are to take advantage of God's mercy in Jesus before He returns (soon?!) as the Just Judge. For more information, see the Divine Mercy website.
Upvote:2
Jesus was most offended by hypocrisy. People who practiced the sins they condemned in others.
When we accept Jesus as our savior, our past sins are forgiven, are future sins are not recorded. (Romans 6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you for ye are not under the law, but under grace.) Romans 5:13, sin is not imputed where there is no law. Impute means to record in our account; the one we present God on the day we stand before him.
Remember the parable of the unforgiving servant? Matthew 18:15. The servant owed the king a huge sum, and was forgiven. Was he forgiven? Yes he was. Are we forgiven? Yes we are. But then something happened. That servant was owed a small sum and demanded that the debtor pay up, or be thrown in jail. The servant did not forgive his debtor. Subsequently, the unforgiving servant was thrown in jail. Jesus is clear that it could happen to us.
Matthew 7:1 Judge not that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you again.
When we sin against God (and remember, as you have done it unto the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto me), in order to measure out the judgment, he needs to wait until we pass judgment on someone who offends us in that way. So, he sends someone our way to offend us in the way we have offended him. Then, he measures to us accordingly.
The moral of the story is, when you mete out judgment, make sure you would be happy to have that measured unto you again.