{"id":16878,"date":"2025-05-15T15:59:24","date_gmt":"2025-05-15T06:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/?post_type=lesson&#038;p=16878"},"modified":"2025-10-28T09:55:19","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:55:19","slug":"my-uchi-soto-lesson-4","status":"publish","type":"lesson","link":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/lesson\/my-uchi-soto-lesson-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Opening Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>According to the Bible, the world God created was \u201cvery good\u201d, but that seems true no longer. What would you say are the biggest problems in our world today?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What comes to mind when you hear the word \u201csin\u201d (in Japanese, <em>tsumi<\/em>)?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p>Last time we saw that God created human beings in (or, in the Japanese Bible [possibly a better translation of the Hebrew original], \u201cas\u201d) his \u201cimage\u201d. As the \u201cimage\u201d of God, humanity was made to reflect God\u2019s glory, to represent God to the world, and to relate to God in the \u201cvery good\u201d <em>uchi<\/em> fellowship established between God and human beings in paradise. God blessed the man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, with every good gift, and in return they were to love and serve (worship) God in joyful obedience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God gave the man only one prohibition in paradise:&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>And the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Lord<\/span> God commanded the man, saying, \u201cYou may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>Genesis 2:16-17<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why do you think God gave this command to Adam?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Human beings were also created to enjoy relationships with one another (man and woman), and God gave them authority over the rest of the creation. They were commissioned to extend God\u2019s <em>uchi<\/em> fellowship-circle out from the garden to the ends of the earth. Nothing and no-one was to be left outside<em> <\/em>(<em>soto<\/em>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So far, so good. But in Genesis chapter 3, the mood changes. One of God\u2019s creatures, it seems, has already turned his back on <em>uchi<\/em> fellowship with God, and has made himself an outlaw\/outsider. In outright rebellion against God, he comes in the form of a snake to tempt God\u2019s image-bearers to follow him outside&#8230;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Lord<\/span> God had made. He said to the woman, \u201cDid God actually say, \u2018You shall not eat of any tree in the garden\u2019?\u201d And the woman said to the serpent, \u201cWe may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, \u2018You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.\u2019&nbsp;\u201d But the serpent said to the woman, \u201cYou will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.\u201d So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>Genesis 3:1-6<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why did the woman eat the fruit?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What tactics did the serpent use to persuade her to eat it?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What was the man doing while the serpent spoke with the woman?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>What <em>should<\/em> he have done?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Genesis chapter 3 does not contain the word \u201csin\u201d. But it is clearly a story about sin. What do we learn about the Bible\u2019s understanding of \u201csin\u201d from this story?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In response to the sin of Adam and Eve, God punishes them and their descendants. As part of that punishment, they are sent or driven outside (<em>soto<\/em>) the garden paradise:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Then the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Lord<\/span> God said, \u201cBehold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever\u2014\u201d therefore the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Lord<\/span> God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim<sup><strong><a href=\"#footnote1\">1<\/a><\/strong><\/sup>  and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<cite>Genesis 3:22-24<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Why do you think God sent\/drove the man (and woman) out of the garden?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How is life different for the man and woman outside (<em>soto<\/em>) the garden?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Concluding Questions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Think again about how the Bible describes sin. Is this something you are familiar with personally? What about sin\u2019s effects on your life and the lives of others around you?<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How do you think God feels about human sin? And about your sin in particular?<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Later in the Old Testament, in Isaiah 51:3 (8<sup>th<\/sup> century B.C.), it says,&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>For the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Lord<\/span> comforts Zion [a poetic name for the city of Jerusalem];&nbsp;<br>he comforts all her waste places <br>and makes her wilderness like Eden,&nbsp;<br>her desert like the garden of the <span style=\"font-variant: small-caps;\">Lord<\/span>;&nbsp;<br>joy and gladness will be found in her,&nbsp;<br>thanksgiving and the voice of song.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This suggests that there may be a way back to paradise after all. We\u2019ll consider that possibility next time!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1.2rem\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/manga\/my-uchi-soto-lesson-4-manga\/\">View the Lesson 4 Manga<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:1.2rem\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Footnotes<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a id=\"footnote1\">[1]<\/a> <em>Cherubim<\/em> are heavenly messengers\/angels.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h5 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><em>The ESV Bible<\/em>. Crossway, 2001, www.esv.org\/.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":16815,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":true},"class_list":["post-16878","lesson","type-lesson","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"single_language_page":false,"og_url":"","og_type":"article","og_title":"","og_description":"","og_image":16815,"og_image_type":"","og_image_width":"","og_image_height":"","twitter_card":"","twitter_site":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lesson\/16878","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lesson"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/lesson"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16815"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/myuchisoto.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16878"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}