God is our greatest need in all our situation and problems. But we will learn from Lesson Two that this is very hard to meet this need. This is because Sin has separated us from God’s kindness and nearness and all His blessings. We are so entangled in Sin in this world that our spiritual life is continually ruined.

God is light. Sin is the only obstacle for us to live our lives in His light, and this is a bad thing about and for us. The Quran and the Bible both teach us clearly about this truth.

Prophetic Books

Isaiah 59: 2 : But your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear.

Al-Zabur  (Psalm)

Chapter 66 verse 18 : If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me:

Al-Injeel

1 John 1 : 10 : If we say that we have not sinned, we make him (God) a liar, and his word is not in us.

Al –Quran

Surah 2. Al-Baqara (The Cow) 81 verse : Nay, those who seek gain in evil, and are girt round by their sins,- they are companions of the Fire: Therein shall they abide (For ever).

From the above Quranic verse this could be understood “The wages of sin is death” ( Al-Injeel; Romans 6:23). What we gain through sin is ‘the wages’ that Satan gives. According to Surah Al-Baqara a sinner gets surrounded by sins. That’s how he/she gets down to hell for ever. But we know that God has created Mankind so that they might have right and intimate relationship with Him and enjoy heavenly joy for good. But because of his selfish desire man disobeys God. Bible has termed rebellion against God or Man’s waywardness variously, such as – sinning, disobedience, disobeying Gods laws etc.

Besides this, we also have to consider the question – which is more serious in God’s eyes ‘active rebellion against His will?’ Or ‘passive neutrality?’ Do you think that ‘passive neutrality’ is considered also as a Sin? Which is less grievous to you between ‘active rebellion’ and ‘passive neutrality’? If you deeply think about them, you will realize that in fact both are sinful. There is to neutral place between God and Satan. You have to choose either one or the other.

It is not that sin is a bad news for us, but it is a very bad news. This is because of the fact that it is sin, which keeps us alienated from God. And due to sin we have fear, hopelessness, we are dejected, guilty, fell meaninglessness, anxiety and insecure. When we actively lead life of sin we become so prone to danger that we behave in a dangerous manner ignorantly of it. If we disregard God we place ourselves in God’s place and we judge ourselves.

Most people do not seriously consider sin, but they put up with it in their hearts. In this way gradually lead their lives under sin. Again there are people who do not believe that man is sinful at all. Our outward look and behavior sometimes give the idea to other people that we are good people. But we need to face the question, “How is this realistic that we are sinless?”

What do the holy books teach us about this? Let us discuss:       

Prophetic Books

1 Kings 8 : 46  : for there is no man that sinneth not

Ezekiel 18 : 20  : The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Hosea 8 : 7  : For they have sown the wind, and they shall reap the whirlwind:

Al-Zabur  (Psalm)

Chapter 51 verse 5 : Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.

Chapter 130 verse 3 : If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?

Chapter 143 verse 2 : And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

Al-Injeel

Romans 3 : 10  : There is none righteous, no, not one

Romans 3 : 23  : For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Galatians 6 : 7  : Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

1 John 1 : 8  : If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

Al–Quran

Surah 51. Adh-Dhariyat (The Winnowing Winds) verses 59 – 60  : For the Wrong-doers, their portion is like unto the portion of their fellows (of earlier generations): then let them not ask Me to hasten (that portion)! Woe, then, to the Unbelievers, on account of that Day of theirs which they have been promised!

Surah 29. Al-‘Ankabut (The Spider) verse 40  : Each one of them We seized for his crime: of them, against some We sent a violent tornado (with showers of stones); some were caught by a (mighty) Blast; some We caused the earth to swallow up; and some We drowned (in the waters): It was not Allah Who injured (or oppressed) them:” They injured (and oppressed) their own souls.

The gradual increase of sin and many things concerning their judgment are described in the above-mentioned to verses of the Al-Quran. It is understood from Sura Adh-Dhariyat 59-60 verses that those who are evil and do evil deeds will be punished, though God will not hurry it up for them to be punished. But He will begin to punish as a terrible day will come. In the same way it is understood from Sura Al-‘Ankabut 40 verse that those who live in sin will have to be accountable for sin.

It is understood also from these verses that God will punish some by stoning and some by pestilence. Some others he will cast into the pit and yet others He will drown. Here God speaks about sin and sinners. We believe in our hearts that God is holy. He is so holy that He cannot put up with sin at the least. We are not sinners only by ourselves living in a world full of sin but we are sinful right from our ancestor Hazrat Adam. We are entangled in sin in any way. But when each one of us will have to stand before the judgment seat of God He will not forget judging us rightly and surely He will punish sin. Those who are living in sin will have to have the punishment for their sin.

Many people think that there is nothing as punishment for sin as such. If one does some good work in lieu of his / her sin or does such good works superceding the bad one or work of merit she / he will not have the punishment that would be due for his / her sin. To these people God has this to say:

Al –Quran

Surah 30. Ar-Rum (The Romans, The Byzantines) 10 verse : In the long run evil in the extreme will be the End of those who do evil; for that they rejected the Signs of Allah, and held them up to ridicule.

Surah 2. Al-Baqara (The Cow) 30 verse  : Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: “I will create a vicegerent on earth.” They said: “Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?” He said: “I know what ye know not.”

God had told the angels before He created Eden the heavenly garden that He was going to appoint one who would represent Him or earth; he is Man. At this the angels exclaimed, “what!”  “But Man would destroy the earth through his sin.”

Surah 2. Al-Baqara (The Cow) 36 verse  : Then did Satan make them (Hazrat Adam & Eve) slip from the (garden), and get them out of the state (of felicity) in which they had been. We said: “Get ye down, all (ye people), with enmity between yourselves. On earth will be your dwelling-place and your means of livelihood – for a time.”

Surah 7. Al-A’raf (The Heights) 22-23 verses : So by deceit he brought about their fall: when they tasted of the tree, their shame became manifest to them, and they began to sew together the leaves of the garden over their bodies. And their Lord called unto them: “Did I not forbid you that tree, and tell you that Satan was an avowed enemy unto you?” They said: “Our Lord! We have wronged our own souls: If thou forgive us not and bestow not upon us Thy Mercy, we shall certainly be lost.”

We can learn from the above-mentioned verses that Man can do no good work that can save him from sin. They said that we are sinners and if God did not save us would have been punished. Many religious teachers do not talk about original sin. But the Quran and the Bible clearly tells us about it. The Holy scriptures say that it is not that we are sinners only because we do bad deeds in this world, but we are sinners because we have inherited our sinful nature right from our first parents Hazrat Adam and Hazrat Eve, who first sinned.

Al –Quran

Surah 20. Ta Ha (Ta-ha) 121 verse : thus did Adam disobey his Lord, and allow himself to be seduced.

Surah 14. Ibrahim (Abraham) 34 verse : Verily, man is given up to injustice and ingratitude.

Surah 33. Al-Ahzab (The Clans, The Coalition, The Combined Forces) 72 verse : He (Man) was indeed unjust and foolish;

Al-Injeel; Romans 3 : 23 in the new testament has similarity to the teaching of the above – mentioned three verses- “All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God.”

Al-Quran has further to say,

Surah 3. Al ‘Imran (The Family Of ‘Imran, The House Of ‘Imran) 11 verse : (Their plight will be) no better than that of the people of Pharaoh, and their predecessors: They denied our Signs, and Allah called them to account for their sins. For Allah is strict in punishment.

Surah 35. Fatir (The Angels, Orignator) 10 verse : Those that lay Plots of Evil,- for them is a Penalty terrible; and the plotting of such will be void (of result).

Surah 16. An-Nahl (The Bee) 34 verse : But the evil results of their deeds overtook them, and that very (Wrath) at which they had scoffed hemmed them in.

It could be understood from these verses that man gets the wages of his sin. If anyone wants to entrap another parson he / she get himself / herself entrapped by the same trap. One needs to find out one’s own sins. When your sins are brought to light, you will know gradually that you commit the same sin again and again.

Surah 45. Al-Jathiyya (Crouching) 7 – 8 verses : Woe to each sinful dealer in Falsehoods: He hears the Signs of Allah rehearsed to him, yet is obstinate and lofty (in sin), as if he had not heard them: then announce to him a Penalty Grievous!

Surah 2. Al-Baqara (The Cow) 276 verse  : Allah will deprive usury of all blessing, but will give increase for deeds of charity: For He loveth not creatures ungrateful and wicked.

If we discuss the above verses we will realise that sin is a reality. We cannot ignore it. We have to find the way to get redeemed from sin by accepting this hard reality of sin in this world of ours. Often we consider only our external actions as sins and try to keep us away from them. But we should know also that it is more important for us to keep our hearts clean then that.

Hazrat Isa Mashee (Jesus Christ) said in Matthew 23: 25-28 in the Injeel, “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also. Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness. Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.”

Therefore, until one can realises the sinful condition in his / her heart she/he cannot truly understand sin. Unless one rightly understands what sin is one cannot realise the need for salvation from the bondage of sin.

If you are asked this question – “Are you a sinner?” May be you are ready in your heart to accept the truth that you are a sinner in God’s sight. If you really understand the truth that you are a sinner do you think that you can save yourself from sin by means of any good work or by any other way on your part?

We will deal with this question in Part Three. Before we do that please fill up the annexed Questionnaire and then send it back by clicking Submit button after answering the questions. By that time you will have finished Lesson-Two for which we congratulate you. May God bless you! Amen.