Talk of sin can leave people demoralised rather than healed. In some church settings, sin has sounded like shame, illness, depravity or permanent failure. That can be spiritually damaging. It can make people feel trapped.
But we still need a way to speak honestly about harm.
Our world is wounded by human foolishness and violence. We see it in racism, classism, sexism, colonial oppression, environmental destruction, greed and contempt. We see it in ourselves too: in fear, defensiveness, resentment, avoidance and the many ways we fail to love well.
So perhaps one way to think about sin is as misalignment.
The Greek word hamartia is often explained as “missing the mark”. Something is awry. We are out of step: with ourselves, with one another, with the earth, and with God.
Lately, I have been helped by different voices.
The Gospel of Mary Magdalene speaks of the soul becoming disordered and estranged from the good. Sin is not simply breaking rules. It is losing touch with the root of goodness.
Søren Kierkegaard, in The Sickness Unto Death, describes despair as the self misrelated to itself. In simpler terms, we become anxious, clenched, defensive, hidden. We forget that life is gift.
Liberation theology widens the picture. Sin is not only personal. It can be social and structural. It can be built into systems that divide people, exploit labour, dispossess communities, racialise bodies, erase cultures and make poverty seem normal.
Colonialism is sin in this sense: a deep misrelation between peoples, land, power, history and truth. White supremacy, manifest destiny, the erasure of Indigenous cultures, and the destruction of Country are not merely “issues”. They reveal a spiritual disorder made visible in history.
These are some thoughts I am finding helpful.
They suggest that the gospel answers misalignment with reconciliation. Jesus shows us a human life healed and whole: open to God, generous toward others, free for mercy. In Christ, we are realigned to love.
Reconciliation may also mean reconnection: to cultural memory and practice, to family, to shared meals, to meaningful work, to rest – to more responsible and accountable ways of life.
