God Was Never Mad at YOU: Unmasking the Lies of Separation and Identity in Modern Faith

In this episode, Dan Minor critically examines the commonly misunderstood concept of "sin" in Christian theology, emphasizing its original Greek meaning and its implications for identity and spirituality.

1. The Greek Word "Hamartia":
    
   • The term "hamartia," commonly translated as "sin," originates from Greek, meaning "without form" or "without identity."
   • Modern Christian culture often misrepresents sin as merely wrongful behavior, whereas the original meaning pertains to a disconnection from one's true identity as a creation in God's image. 
2. Misuse of "Sin" in Religious Contexts: 
   • The concept of sin has frequently been weaponized to shame and exclude marginalized groups, such as the LGBTQ+ community, rather than fostering understanding and inclusion.
   • Many pastors and religious leaders focus on superficial actions (e.g., drinking, smoking) while ignoring deeper issues of identity and connection to God.
3. The Lies of Separation and Identity: 
   • Dan identifies two fundamental lies rooted in the story of Adam and Eve:
   • The lie of separation, suggesting that humans are separated from God.
   • The lie of identity, implying that humans must earn God's love or strive to become like God, despite already being made in God's image.
   • These lies perpetuate feelings of unworthiness and alienation, which harm individuals and communities.
4. The Harm of Performance-Based Religion: 
   • Many churches create a performance-based model of faith, demanding conformity and stripping away individuality to fit into predefined norms.
   • This approach contradicts the inclusive and loving nature of God, as it enforces a caste system of "who's in and who's out."
5. Redefining Sin as an Identity Issue: 
   • Sin is not about moral failings or "missing the mark" (a later interpretation), but rather about losing sight of one's divine identity.
   • Embracing one's true form and individuality aligns with God’s creation and love, rather than conforming to restrictive religious expectations.
6. A Call to Reclaim Identity and Reject Harmful Theology:

• Dan encourages listeners to reject shame-based teachings and the pressure to perform for acceptance.
• Instead, he advocates for a journey of self-discovery and embracing the unique identity God has given each person.

Key Takeaway: The episode challenges traditional interpretations of sin and calls for a shift away from judgmental, exclusionary practices in Christianity. It emphasizes embracing one's inherent worth, rejecting the lies of separation and identity, and fostering an inclusive, authentic connection with God.

This episode concludes with a motivational message to live authentically and resist the pressures of harmful religious systems.

Transcript

Harvest Sarasota (00:00.276)
nothing makes people of faith more angry than messing with this word that I'm getting ready to mess with for the next eight to 10 minutes. Let me begin with a question. How do you know the meaning of the Greek word hamarthia? It's fine if you don't know it, but hamarthia, H-A-M-A-R-T-I-A. This isn't a vocabulary quiz, but think about it, hamarthia. Hamarthia is

One of the most frequently used words in Christianity is to harm, shame, demean people, make people feel less than, and yet many that are using it, including pastors and religious leaders, are very far removed from understanding its original meaning. Ha-martia is actually the Greek word used in the New Testament for, drum roll please, sin. And it's a word we hear a lot about in religious circles, right?

Well, you can love the sinner, but you have to hate their sin. That's always the BS people throughout there when it comes to marginalized communities like the LGBTQ community. No, no, that's ridiculous because you don't even know what sin means. But the way that we have beat people up with the idea of sin is ridiculous. It's shameful, especially in modern Christian culture.

But surprisingly, many people don't really know the depth of what this word means. So if I asked you, for instance, about the Greek words for love, many of you listening or watching would probably list several words like agapi or philia or eros, or I forget the other ones, it starts with an ST, that's all I remember. But when it comes to sin, we don't know the Greek word for it. We throw the term around,

without truly grasping its actual meaning. Now, why is this a big deal? Well, it's because the way we understand sin or rather misunderstand it shapes how we treat one another. We establish a caste system within the church, who's in and who's out. And based on our understanding or misunderstanding of the word, it is in its original form has actually nothing to do with behavior.

Harvest Sarasota (02:25.026)
Like, you know, I grew up, you can't drink, smoke or cuss. That was the big thing. Now I'm shameful to report that I do all three. Well, I smoke a cigar every now and then, not much more than that. But, you know, we grew up with, was a very just, know, just morality looked like these very basic things in no premarital sex, don't drink, don't cuss, don't smoke. Meanwhile, you know, people could treat one another

hatefully say hateful words from the pulpit, et cetera, and nobody seemed to care or call them out. So much comes to mind from my upbringing in Christian fundamentalism, charismatic, Pentecostal, non-denominational, whatever it was. But sin is fundamentally an identity issue, and it is something that does not change our standing with God. So for a moment, take your mind and just for a moment,

stay open. Let's go and figure out and break down the word hamar t in the Greek. It's made up of two parts, ha, ha meaning without, and meros meaning form or identity. So at its core, sin actually means without form or without identity. This changes everything. Sin is not about the actions we take or the mistakes we make. Sin is about forgetting

or not recognizing who we truly are.

basically that were made in the image of God. And so I want to take us back to the beginning, to Genesis, because the two lies that most of us still today are dealing with, that are struggling with, the two lies that we deal with today, that we embrace, that dramatically affects our own internal feeling that we can connect to the divine or the creator is

Harvest Sarasota (04:25.07)
They're not new lies. They go back all the way to Genesis and they actually start with a story of Adam and Eve. So we've all heard the tale. You know, the serpent tells Eve to eat from the tree and that doing it will make her like God. And so a couple of things as we read this, number one, the serpent is acting like or talking like God is not around. Separation, that God is not there. The serpent's talking to Adam and Eve like,

Hey, listen, the reason, or Eve at this time, the reason God doesn't want you, as if God's not there listening. So the first lie right off the bat is that we are separated from God. And I want to tell you this, nothing separates us from God, nothing. Not who you love, not who you vote for, not any of the things that we use in this crazy Christian nationalist environment. None of that stuff separates you from God. The second lie is this. You have the lie of separation and then you have the lie of identity. And that's because

What did the serpent to leave? Hey, the reason God doesn't want you to eat from this tree is because God knows it will make you like God. It will make you become like God. And ultimately, and Adam were already made in the image of God. So the lie was, if you eat this, you'll become like God, and they already were like God. They were already created in the image of God. That's the second lie that we embrace. It's the lie of identity.

It's the lie that you have to do something in order to be loved by God, to be included by God, to be like God or in the image of God. And the truth is, is nothing we can do can change God's proximity to us or change that we are made in the image of God. So get those things out of your mind. And I think that

The real issue wasn't in the case of Adam and Eve about the act of eating the fruit, but it was the fact that they forgot who they already were. They believed the lie that they were separated from God and that they needed to do something to become more like Him. This really was the first identity crisis and we have been struggling with this ever since. We continue to believe the lies that were separated from God and we're hearing it from pulpits and we're being told, you know, the old bait and switch that we're not good enough, we're not worthy and we're not loved.

Harvest Sarasota (06:52.526)
Not the day that we go to the altar and say the sinner's prayer and do all that stuff. I don't know if you did that, but we grew up with that, right? I did at least, and I did at least 10 times, and that's because I wasn't convinced after the fact, based on the way that I was treated or the sermons or the messages I heard, that it was good enough, that it actually secured the deal for me. But it doesn't even require any of that nonsense.

And I'm going say this to you, I'm going to go out on a limb here and I want to be careful but not so careful because this is my thing and sometimes we got to call bullshit bullshit. And in this case, the bullshit that we're seeing today in churches is that some churches and church leaders act more like the serpent than they do God.

Harvest Sarasota (07:38.67)
They do. And let me explain to you how and why. Simple for me. They bait people with this idea of God loves and includes everybody and salvation is a free gift. And once you confess through your mouth and believe in your heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, you shall be saved and your life is going to be beautiful and wonderful and butterflies and you're going to be blessed and money is going to flow your way and the favor of God is going to come your way. all of this stuff, know, glory is going to follow you and goodness and mercy.

And then as soon as somebody takes the bait or bites from the apple that we are serving them as a modern church, then creeps in all of the performative stuff that we put on people. They have to perform to belong, that we perform in order to be included in the community. They have to learn how to say God the right way. They have to learn how to fit in to get rid of all the things that make us unique and different. so,

That might be someone who's a queer person. It's like, you can't do that anymore. You can't be that anymore. You have to be more like us. It might be somebody who's a person of color or somebody with a different background of faith or somebody that connects to God a different way. We have people in our congregation here locally that the best way they connect to God is in nature. so back in the day, we'd say they're new age. That's not true. God is everywhere. The infinite beauty of a universal Christ is everywhere. And so why are we so scared?

of people who connect to God differently than we do or like a different style of music or God forbid vote a certain way. I hate to break the news to you, but God is not a Republican. God is not a Democrat. you know, these political candidates and out there and political leaders are not chosen by God. That's again, that's BS. That's not true. God hasn't anointed anyone to win an election. And so we need to

kind of reset from these lies that we've been told that ultimately continue to make us believe that we're separated from God, that we've never had real good connection with God, and this lie of separation and this lie of identity are the most pervasive damaging beliefs that still exist today. So, if sin is an identity issue, what does that mean for us? It means that when we act out of a warped sense of who we are,

Harvest Sarasota (10:02.552)
when we forget our identity as children of God, that's when quote unquote sin creeps in. Not because of our behavior, but because of how we see ourselves. And I want to tell you this, churches who don't allow people to be themselves and demand that they conform or not have their original form are literally putting a blanket of sin on their own people. And

Let me give you an example of how this misunderstanding has played out in modern religious settings. Many churches still focus on actions. And so the word hamarthia got adopted in the ancient Greek by the archery community. And that word became a word they used for meaning missing the mark. So you might have heard sin means missing the mark, but it's an original form. It doesn't even miss that. It doesn't even mean that. And so we have to...

kind of go back to the etymology of the word and realize that it never, the original meaning didn't even mean missing the mark as we often say it. But let's say it does mean missing the mark. It's like ridiculous that we would expect an archer to hit the bullseye every time, right? If an archer misses the mark, does that make them any less of an archer? Of course not. Yet in Christianity, we treat people as if, or evangelicalism especially,

as if their value is tied to how many times or how often they hit the bullseye, how perfect they are. Instead of reminding them of, you hit a seven, you hit an eight, you hit a three, you missed the board all completely. That's okay, right? That's fine. Our inherent worth is not tied to how perfect we are. So give yourself a break, let yourself off the hook, and let's leave this time that we've spent together.

Maybe you're on your way to work or just getting ready to go to sleep. Hope that didn't put you to sleep. But let's leave this realizing that the word hamarthia that was translated into sin actually means without form. And the best thing you can do, not the worst thing as the church often tells us, the best thing you can do is find out what your form is, who you are, who

Harvest Sarasota (12:25.772)
you were created to be. That's the best thing you can do and then pursue it. And any people that are trying to harm, shame, demean you, any people that are trying to put you back into a box so that they feel more comfortable with you, know, tell them, I'm sorry, but I'm not living this life for you. I promise you, you're good with God. You have not been separated from God. You absolutely have not changed your identity because of a mistake or an error.

That's not what it means to sin. It really just means without form. So take shape, take form, believe in the unique person that God created you to be, and don't listen to the lies of the church out there that would love more than anything else but to tell you that you're not good enough or that you have somehow separated yourself from God. It's not true. It is absolutely not true. Hey, have a great day. We'll see you soon.