I don't think the apple is the issue...

sin...
that's been the topic in my reformed doctrine class and in my bible study this past week. to be quite honest, i don't spend much time thinking about sin or confession, but after these past few days, i've been thinking about it a lot. my thoughts aren't necesarily nicely organized as of this moment, so i hope you can follow my train of thoughts.

when you were younger, or i guess even now, did you ever wonder what the world would be like without sin? i used to think about it all the time as a kid. i remember thinking of all the things that would be gone if sin were to vanish. i figured there would be no money because of the sins that come from that, there would be no weapons, no apples (well, because after all thats what started it all), no spiders (no deep reason for that one, i just didn't (and still don't) like spiders)...pretty much anything bad would vanish.
now, those were my thoughts as a kid, but i think most of us still have the same principles in our minds with what we think of a sinless world. we believe that in order for there to be no sin, all these things would no longer be in this world.
however, after these past few days of thinking and pondering, i've realized that the apple isn't really the issue. sin doesn't exist because of the apple... sin doesn't exist because of weapons or because of money, and certainly not because of spiders... sin doesn't exist because of our circumstances. sin exists because of us.
can you see where i am coming from?
let me repeat the last part a little... we don't sin because of the circumstances around us! the sin is in us... the sin is in me! i think that completely took my mind for a spin! realizing this kind of puts a whole new responsibility in me to own up to the fact that i am a sinner not because of apples, but because of me.
this connects to confession in a huge way. i think partly why i don't have a strong discipline in confession is because in my heart, i kind of believed that i really wasn't the one to blame. after all, i am in this corrupt world, right? if all this bad stuff were gone, i wouldn't be sinning, right? it's just my circumstances right now...
NO!
when i realized this, it hit home with me... confession is something i really need to take seriously because it is something that i am responsible for. there was a part in my bible study that said so often we, myself included, turn our confessions into excuses... i only did it because the apple looked so good... stop being a whimp, own up to it (i know, WAY easier said than done).
man, what an awakening this was for me.
there's much more, and i encourage yall to think about some of this stuff... it think it tends to be the part of christianity that gets over looked the most.

have a good day, and don't blame it on the apple :)