There is a belief sometimes taught within Judaism that “sin” is basically misdirected passion.
In other words, passion itself is neither good nor evil–passion is simply strong desire, strong feeling. What makes it good or evil is how it is directed.
A good example of this is the human sex drive. When it is directed in God’s prescribed manner (marriage) it is good and holy; when released in other contexts, however, it is sin. But the sexual impulse itself is not sin; without it, none of us would be here. The sin (or lack thereof) is in how it is directed.
Thus, the belief is that we should not squelch our passions or “tame” them, for our passions are inherent in us, placed there by God. The idea is simply that we live our life unto God and direct our passions toward His purposes.
How does this idea hold up in the light of Scripture? Does it have merit?
Wayward Son
Musician. Composer. Recovering perfectionist. Minister-in-transition. Lover of puns. Hijacker of rock song references. Questioner of the status quo.
I'm not really a rebel. Just a sincere Christ-follower with a thirst for significance that gets me into trouble. My quest has taken me over the fence of institutional Christianity. Here are some of my random thoughts along the way. Read along, join in the conversation. Just be nice.
View all posts by Wayward Son →
Jeff…hmmmmmmm…..
I believe there is some truth to this,…. here goes. This is basically similar to Paul saying, everything is lawful, but not everything is profitable. Some “sins” are cultural rather than Biblical. For instance, alcohol is not inherently evil – but drunkenness is a no-no.
However, smoking cigs is definitely a sin, ’cause tobacco tastes soo much better when you roll the leaves up whole and wrap them in a thin layer of a thin Conneticut-shade grown variety leaf,(wink).
Getting back on track…to use your example – of course sex isn’t sin, but fornication is. The point being – the thing itself is not evil, but it’s place in our life definitely can be.
Lest we carry it too far though – there are some things that don’t follow suit, such as lying – unless we get cute and define lies as the absence of truth…. but that’s a philosophical discussion for another day perhaps.
Great post! Got me thinking. I give it a thumbs up.
Jeff,
I agree with this completely. And for an interesting take on a part of it, see my blog friend Chris’s recent post on being lukewarm.
The concept of misdirected passion works well in the example of sex. But, I’m not sure it is true when applied to other situations. I guess it depends on how we define passion.
Some people are passionate about making tons of money and obtaining as much status as possible. Is it just misdirected passion? Maybe so. Or maybe it could be described us lust. Lust for prestige, lust for nice things… or maybe it could be motivated by envy (which might be a type of passion). So, these things are already sins at the heart level (without necessitating any acting out of them – in order to misdirect them and therefore label them ‘sin’).
In answer to your question, I’m not sure. 🙂 Not much of a conclusive answer, I know.
When I think of sin I always think of James 4:17..
“Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.”
Some sin can be of passion but some are simply based on doing or not doing something. Maybe apathy (the absence of passion) is a sin?
Like others have pretty much said, it can be taken way too far by, for instance, watching a movie with blood & guts (no sex) is Ok, but is it beneficial? Or is it sin? A passion for what exactly…violent movies? The sex part I totally agree with. The cigarettes…well no you do not want to do that because it's very harmful to your body, and God tells you to treat your body like the temple of the Holy Spirit. But, then overeating is very harmful, so that is sin too then. Hmmmmm. Misdirected passion…I think it applies to a very narrow set of cirumstances really. Passion for food, sex, yes. But what about computer game playing, exercise, dogs, writing, painting? All could become misdirected, especially if it becomes an obsession. Beautiful Godly art can be great, ugly violent art could be a sin, I guess. But, even a passion to paint beautiful Godly art can become sin if it becomes obsessive, an idol, put before God. Is that what he's thinking? All things are permissible , but not all things are profitable? Hmmmm, ,what DOES that really mean? It has to be in the context of what it is that you are doing and what the Bible says about that particular thing. Misdirected passion sounds a little flakey to me…you could really play around with it and end up in sin easily. It makes you think
I have read that a lot of our sin is essentially taking something that God has created and using it the wrong way. All of our appetites are given to us by God. It’s when we satisfy them in ways that are contrary to God’s will that we sin.
Thanks everyone, for the great thoughts about this. The intent was to make us think, and it’s obvious from the comments we are mulling this over.
Rather than answer everyone individually in this repsonse, I’ve chosen to post my response in my latest blog entry. So if you haven’t been there yet…feel free. 🙂