Sin and Its Consequences

Well, a book about "sin" might not be too compelling these days given that the subject hardly ever appears in day-to-day conversations-perhaps only in theological settings, and even there, the subject is rather rare these days as well. But one might find this Sin and Its Consequences-A Biblical Timeline a satisfying exception to this commonplace reaction, for it uses the theme as a vehicle to take the reader on a fascinating journey through the entire Bible, from the first sin recorded there and its devastating results to the death of sin and the banishment of its worldly chieftain and his minions. Yes, it does consider most of the sins recorded in the Old and New Testaments and how God dealt with them-this to help explain what Moses meant when he wrote, "The Lord is slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but by no means clearing the guilty" (Numbers 14:18). That is, the book helps to understand just what the implications of "by no means clearing the guilty" might be and how it is relevant to how we live and think today. The story line follows God's dealings with His images from Adam and Eve to the end-times as recorded by Saint John in his book of Revelation. There is much linking and contextual material, including numerous images and discussion of the geopolitical settings related to the scripture which carries the main story line. The book deviates from canonical scripture to present in two add-on excursuses the author's views on why God arranged the creation of His first two images, Adam and Eve, just the way He did and on what the fallen world to which they were banished was and is like. Also presented are the author's noncanonical views on what Saint John saw in the seven thunders of chapter 10 of his apocalyptic journal. The views expressed there are the result of many years of thinking about what Saint John might have seen and heard as those thunders sounded and why he was told to "seal up what the seven thunders have said, and do not write it down" (Revelation 10:4). The purpose in addressing this issue is to somehow bring the notion of what God might consider as the most egregious sins of modern times to the reader's mind and, perhaps, compel her or him to think about the subject as well. After all, this business of sin is no small matter. It doesn't have to be morbid either, but Jeremy Taylor expressed it well when he wrote: No sin is small. It is a sin against an infinite God and may have consequences immeasurable. No grain of sand is small in the mechanism of a watch. Finally, in addition to all of this, the book is a testimony or witness of the author to his faith as a Christian. To this engineer, the good news of what God has done in Jesus Christ is beyond a matter of faith-it is so logical and so beautiful and so like God, that it just must be fact-why, how else could His fallen images be made perfect as he is perfect, righteous as He is righteous, sinless as He is sinless except by the perfection and righteousness and sinlessness of Christ imputed to us by faith and so make the believer a fit citizen of the Kingdom?