Sin is a form of religious adultery

WELL, no rest for the wicked chirped the cheery staff angel from hell to his colleague from heaven. The 30-second Kit-Kat break was up and they had to go back to work through the two sets of sliding doors.

The glimpse inside fuels the imagination - there's just the slightest suggestion that hell might be more exciting than heaven.

The images are more powerful than we realise - they are rooted in mankind's most basic beliefs about where the good times are to be found.

The idea goes something like this: heaven is definitely light blue with about 50 metres visibility in a sort of golden fog.

There is this eerie stringed classical music with a slightly cavernous feel to it and the occasional choral bit thrown in.

Angels float by stiffly like cardboard cutouts, waving a slow hello. Basically heaven is kind of boring - like a big version of church but only worse.

Hell, on the other hand, is like a good night in a pub. Red lights, lots of singing and laughter. Good company and lots of craic. A bit naughty perhaps, but nice all the same.

The sad thing is that we have got the pictures almost completely reversed in exactly the same way as Adam was deceived into believing the wrong things about the two trees in Eden.

Hell is the final breakdown of all relationships where the selfish have nothing left to take.

The eeriness is because of the total isolation, alienation, loss, crying and endless sorrow. No one sings at all in hell.

Heaven has much more in common with a good night in a pub, only much better.

It is the place of real relationships, where the singing is great, the band is terrific and there is lots of laughter, no crying or sorrow at all.

So what is sin? It's a bit of hell on earth. Sin is what makes men in pubs stare into the bottom of their glasses to hide the disappointment and pain.

Sin is what makes lonely women sit at home and cry. Sin is what makes people fight for their own rights but ignore the rights of others.

Sin is what makes self-righteous people invent rules that Jesus never taught so that they will make those outside their own group look bad.

Sin is what makes joyless and stony-faced people assemble for spiritless religious services.

All sins are just natural consequences of the basic original sin and are based on having made the same stupid choice.

It is this: do I believe that life is found in God and that he has both everything that I ever needed and more than I imagined - the goodies.

Or will I look for life somewhere else, believing that God is trying to keep the goodies away from me?

Sin is not just about breaking the rules. It is about refusing a relationship with God. Sin is a form of spiritual adultery - sleeping with the enemy - and the offspring of the illicit relationship is always the same, bitterness, conflict, disappointment and death.

True religion, on the other hand, is a bit of heaven on earth.

Worship services should be better than any pub, more powerful than Riverdance, full of laughter and fun.

People should be singing songs about how brilliant God is and about how he has forgiven them the most unimaginable sins and has given them new life.

It should overflow onto the streets, in gentle waves of healing and blessing, washing away cursing and condemnation.

The great message of Jesus was that he had come to bind up the broken- hearted and set prisoners free to comfort and provide for those who grieve, to rebuild ruined cities and to give people a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.

The Bible calls this deal the 'New Agreement.'

You can say yes to it any day you like. Even if you are in a pub.

Copyright 1998 MGN LTD
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