There is a new catch phrase that is becoming popular in evangelicalism. It is a phrase that I have little use for, “sinful habits”. This phrase usually refers to sins committed by churchgoers that have repeated the “sinner’s prayer”, and thus are considered among the redeemed. The underlying thought is that, now that you’ve been saved, you need to develop better habits as opposed to the sinful ones. This approach tends to lend credence to the modern “therapy” gospel, ie. “Now that you have said the prayer and gotten yourself saved, let’s deal with your sin”. A deadly approach to be sure.
Reducing sin to being merely a “habit” implicitly denies man’s sinful nature. If sin is caused by bad habits, then I have the power to overcome sin by developing good habits. The problem with this approach is that man is born wicked. Sin is not merely a habit, but it is rooted in human nature. Or to put the problem in more biblical terms, man is dead in sin, and cannot be saved through therapy. This is so expressly taught by David during his own repentance.
“Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalms 51:5)
“The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies. They have venom like the venom of a serpent, like the deaf adder that stops its ear, so that it does not hear the voice of charmers or of the cunning enchanter.” (Psalms 58:3-5)
The deceptive part about this approach to religion is that, in some cases, it may well seem to work in overcoming a particular sin. An alcoholic, for example, may enroll in the therapy of Alcoholics Anonymous and succeed in defeating alcohol. However, this kind of work does nothing to purge the sinfulness from man’s innermost being. Developing “good habits” does nothing to place a sinner among the citizenship of Zion, anymore than reciting the useless “sinner’s prayer”. Telling sinner’s to overcome “sinful habits” is tantamount to telling dry bones to put flesh on themselves and live.
