If there is no recognized sin, is there a need for our Savior?

I know this is a deep question. And it can go in many different directions.

For one, there will always be one recognized sin by individuals who do not believe in sin and that sin is intolerance. Most morel relativists would argue that intolerance is morally unacceptable.

In reality, even if one were to hold that there is no such thing as sin or that morality is subjective, it does not make it so.

Then there is the theological concept of culpability. If every single human being on the planet were convinced that there was no such thing as sin, would there be a need for our Savior?

For the record, I believe in sin. I believe I am a sinner and “I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers and sisters, that I have greatly sinned through my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to do; through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore I ask blessed Mary ever-Virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to Pray for me to the Lord our God.”

Oh my Jesus, my Savior, I praise You, I bless You, I adore You, I give You thanks for Your great glory. “Lord Jesus Christ, the Only Begotten Son. Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father: You Who take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.
You Who take away the sins of the world, receive our Prayer. You are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us. For You alone are the Holy One. You alone are the Lord. You alone are the Most High Jesus Christ; with the Holy Spirit
in the glory of God the Father. Amen.”

“Toleration is a gift,” wrote Richard Brookhiser in his biography of James Madison (New York: Basic Books, 2011). In other words, it’s something the more powerful give to the less powerful. Whether intolerance is considered a sin depends on who is tolerating whom. I think that a lot of people who are demanding tolerance actually want whatever sin they are committing to be legal and approved. I’ve often heard that people are against judgment, but in my experience a lot of people do want to be judged: they want to be judged innocent.

These are two very good points you have made and I agree with you.

Fulton J. Sheen said, “Broadmindedness, when it means indifference to right and wrong, eventually ends in a hatred of what is right.”

G.K. Chesterton said, “Tolerance is the virtue of the man without convictions.”

I tend to be a passive person when it comes to what others choose to do in their own lives, but I speak out about the truth. For instance, I speak out about the evils of abortion, but if I find out someone I know personally has had an abortion, my heart breaks for this individual. I do not view them as evil.

If someone is repentive of their sin, then mercy and grace abounds. We ought not condone or celebrate someone’s sins to make them feel better about living as they did. Nor can we live holy lives without Christ. We can live good lives, but without Him, what is good? And if the good we do does not glorify God, but just our own pride or out of force, then our good is vain.

I think that’s a really important question. Romans 2:12-16 is the response I would offer:

12 All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. 13 For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. 14 When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. 15 They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.

The Holy Bible: New Revised Standard Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1989), Ro 2:12–16.

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