The Mechanism of Sin: Satan's Process

Why do people sin? It's obvious if one looks at the true definition of sin! "Sin is the acceptance of pleasures beyond God's provisions and the corruption of what is from God." God does provide pleasure! Not all pleasure is bad. What are the pleasures which God provides? Joy, hope, peace, faith, love, friendship, beauty, gratification, and several more. Even having our hunger and thirst satisfied and our health are basic pleasures provided by God!

Let's take a short review course in sin:

Genesis 3:5 "(The serpent speaking) 'For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' 6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

The "shiny objects" which hypnotized Eve were knowledge (eyes opened), esteem (be as gods), reason (knowing good and evil), appetite (food), beauty (pleasant to eyes) and wisdom (make one wise). The fruits of the tree provided those temptations. Eve had yet to overtly sin. Then "she took there of, and did eat". The sin was consummated. Then because she appeared not to have died (as God had warned Adam Genesis Chapter 2), Adam, tempted by Eve "did eat" and with that both had overtly sinned.

My premise in the past has been that their first sin was even "being there" where they were warned by God that there would be temptation. Rather than standing under "The Tree of Life", they stood under "The Tree of Forbidden Fruit" (my nomenclature).  I may have been wrong before, but let's look:

Matthew 26:41 "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

Jesus said "enter not into temptation". We think of "sin" being the act of sinning and for being tempted, we're not in rebellion. Jesus was tempted, but he did that to demonstrate his humanity, his divinity and his obedience. Jesus voluntarily faced temptation and defeated it because he is God! Believing that we can do the same and defeat Satan is having too much esteem for ourselves. We are making our "self" as God.

Jesus warned us about going where we will be tempted. For instance most men will have temptation if they were to go to a strip club. After yielding to temptation, sin is inevitable because we're not God! Therefore, "enter not into temptation" is a command of Jesus. When we go where humans aren't to go, we meet strange dark forces who tug us toward death. If we are to ward off evil, we stay away from the unholy ground where temptation roams!

Now back to Adam and Eve. They entered into temptation by being under the forbidden tree. It was The Word who warned them about that tree (don't eat of it or you will die) and it's the same Word who said "enter not into temptation". Being under the forbidden tree was entering into temptation. This, I still believe, that there was disobedience in the hearts of Adam and Eve before they overtly sinned!

Sinning is pleasurable. Adam and Eve sinned for pleasurable things: esteem, wisdom, beauty, etc. and so do we! We know that God is the author of sexual desire and emotions. He gave us that to multiply to populate the earth. Although sexual pleasure is of God, the abuse of pleasure is sin. Sexual pleasure outside the divinely ordained institution of marriage is sin, whether dreaming about it or doing it with another!

There are sins of "doing wrong things" and "abusing right things". Both categories are sins. Likewise, "failing to do right things" are sins and "causing others to do wrong things" are sins. Face it, most things humans face are sinful! It's easy for us to sin because temptation, unholy ground, is at most places. That's why I like church. It should be a sanctuary since it's holy ground, but sinners bring temptation and actual sins right in onto holy ground.

Let's look at the mechanism of sin. I have two charts to demonstrate:

Figure #1: The Mechanism of Sin

Not shown is "temptation". Maybe it should be. I believe it would be part of the "planning" stage. The chart has as the x-coordinate "time" and as the y-coordinate "self-satisfaction". Although Figure #1 is for Christians, non-Christians whose household has been exposed to the Holy Spirit, also exhibits these same emotions.

James 1:14 "But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my beloved brethren."

Christians still sin. James is speaking to "brethren" (other Christians). Yes, even Christians are tempted, even Christians lust, even Christians are enticed and even Christians still sin. As a result of living a life of sin, yes, even Christians can die spiritually. We have security in our hope of salvation as long as "Jesus' Life Matters".

When we are tempted, lust for what we're tempted with, ensues. The upward slope of Figure #1 is the planning stage. We think of what we're about to do. This exposure to lust is the "high" sinners feel when they anticipate the fruits of sin (and there are many on that tree). Eve anticipated Epicurean delights, wisdom and other pleasures. This stage is the drumbeats to excite your idol. Your "self" begins to feel excited!

Then lust gives way to sin. This is shown as the vertical arrow in Figure #1. The thrill of sinning waxes high as the sin is done. Your idol is on LSD! However, the remembrance of the sin continues to wax even higher. Most people reach a peak of pleasure afterward while the memories of "reward" are high. Your idol is transcendent!

After a period of time, the memories are no longer fresh and the flesh misses the excitement and lingers for more. The person is no longer satisfied reliving the event because it's only a blur. Pleasure wanes. Also, the Holy Spirit uses his check-valve to convict the sinner of his sin. That valve is guilt. For the person exposed to the word, guilt accelerates the waning of pleasure, and at a certain point, guilt replaces pleasurable thoughts. Thereafter, there is no excitement to be had. Your idol begins to topple!

After a period of time, just as the pleasure did, guilt wanes. We forget our sin. It seems as if it never happened, but it did.  Because we fail to respond to guilt, we don't feel remorse, don't repent and finally the guilt is snuffed out. Your idol is put back on its pedestal. Unless we repent, we are more prone to sin again because the guilt is forgotten, while the memory of the pleasure incurred with the act of sinning is still filed away in the mind under "Things which excite my god, the self".

Acts 8:22 "Repent therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven thee."

If we sincerely repent, then God forgives us. Our "hearts" (or desires) turn to God and away from sinning. We're less likely to sin again because we don't want to disappoint God. He clears our mind by his Spirit.

However, for those who don't repent the process continues. Temptation not only leads to sin, but one sin leads to another. The emotional high that your god (you) has experienced, unless you repent, is remembered and missed! Now let's look at Figure #2:

Figure #2: Sinning Without Guilt

This is the same chart, but with multiple sins shown: sin 1, sin 2, sin 3 ... sin n. Each time, as pleasure waxes we anticipate (lust after) what we're about to do (A1, A2, A3 ... An). The sinning we do leads to a peak level. Even if we sin more, we're never satisfied with the amount of pleasure. The sinning person; without guilt, sorrow and repentance; is doomed. Like a dope addict they can never consummate their pleasure and they always need more "dope" to endeavor to stay high. 

The "dope" of habitual sin is an addiction. Those who gamble always want more. Those who drink booze always want more, those who fornicate always need more and so on. Sin is mankind's addiction and it leads to death, just as Jesus said. Dope kills and sin is our idol's dope. It's ironic that we are our own idol and it's "we the people" who destroy our own idols!

Even with repeated sinning, pleasure wanes. Just as the drug addict can never get enough, neither can the sinner. His god cannot be appeased, is unhappy and demands more. It gets to the point where the sinning goes on even though there is no pleasure in it. Your idol is subdued. You become a slave to your own "self"! There is one way to freedom, but most sinners never get there, because they are dulled to the tool of the Holy Spirit. When sinners cease to feel guilty, necessary for sorrow and repentance, they become reprobate. They are no longer sensitive to God, and cannot be corrected!

Romans 1:28 "And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers..."

The fruits of the forbidden fruit are endless! This is a partial list, and those who live a life of unrighteousness are reprobate; they damn their own god, the self, and because their hearts are calloused and fail to respond to correction, they relinquish all pretenses of righteousness.  Romans 1:27 uses as an example, homosexuality. They may be reprobate and as such, doomed. I pray not, but my desire is that they not chance it. The stakes are high!

That's the mechanism of sin. It's Satan's M.O. for killing your soul. All men sin and deserve death, but because God loves us he died in our place to cure this Satanic disease. The prognosis is good. Even if we sin, we don't have to die because of God's grace. All those sins (S1...Sn), Jesus took on his own shoulders and died for them all. We only need to accept that his blood washed away the addiction of sin!