Becoming a Monster Pt. 1: How Sin Dehumanizes Us

Monsters have been part of human storytelling since the beginning. From the start, it was campfire tales of bad things happening to people at the hands of a monster coming to get them. Then, eventually, it worked its way into cinema. I’m thinking of the adaptations of Dracula, Wolfman, and Frankenstein to the screen. Even more, we’ve created new monsters. Freddy Kruger invading our dreams, and Jason terrorizing campers, to name a few.

Here is what I have observed from these make-believe characters. These monsters all have human-like features but are not like the rest of us. They take a different shape, form, and behavior. Some are blatantly nonhuman. Others, you aren’t sure until their behaviors reveal their true intentions. The worst kind of monsters look nothing like a human. They resemble some form of an animal other than homo sapiens. People love these stories and movies. We have been entertained for centuries with tales of monsters in the dark.

Where Do Monsters Come From?

Have you ever considered how these ideas of monsters enter our imaginations? Where does this kind of storytelling come from?

Here is what I believe. Deep-seated in our imagination is a firmly rooted biblical principle. When fully unleashed, our actions move us further away from looking like humans, not unlike the monsters we see on the screen.

Here is an example. In Genesis 4:19–24, we are introduced to Lamech. What feels like a throwaway side story has profound implications for our conversation. This seemingly incidental narrative holds significant depth for our discussion. Lamech a progeny of Cain, is initially described as marrying two women, thereby introducing the concept of polygamy into the text –an inauspicious beginning. The narrative further unfolds by naming his wives, Adah and Zillah. Prompting us to ponder the significance of their names. Adah means “Ornament, Pleasure or Beauty,” and Zillah means “shade or shadow.” Lamech is introduced to us as someone who sees women as property. People who exist to provide pleasure and exist in his shadow. What is the connecting thought in the text? The statement “Lamech took.” It sounds like Genesis 3. They “saw” and “took” in Genesis 3:6. What is devastating is that we see Lamech’s still existing today.

The narrative of Lamech extends into Genesis 4:23 and 24, where he proclaims to his wives, Adah and Zillah, that he has killed a man for offending him. This revelation is crucial as it sheds light on Lamech’s character, illustrating him as an embodiment of the most egregious aspects of nature. He lives for his own pleasure at the expense of the humans made in God’s image. He very well may be the first monster.

Like the monsters we read about in books and see on screen, when evil is on full display in the life of a person like Lamech, we can’t imagine them looking human. They become the ugliest embodiments of humans.

The Biblical Vision for Sin

Sin is the thing that, if left unchecked, will ultimately lead to your dehumanization.

If we follow Jesus and his kingdom’s ethics, which make us more human, then sin moves us in the opposite direction. Which is to become less human.

This talk of being a human may be new to you. I believe to be human is to walk in the image bearing identity, and overseer vocation God designed for us.

In Genesis 1:26, Day 6, God creates humans. They are unique and separate from the other animals. They are assigned an image-bearing identity and the job of overseeing. See Genesis 1:27 and Genesis 1:28. The new humans were to partner with God in the ruling of his created world. But this new partnership doesn’t last. The humans don’t trust God and, through the deception of a serpent, choose to move in their own direction. This results in the separation from God and his presence. It also brings natural consequences like death and human depravity. The rest of Genesis 4–11 is a tragedy, where humans choose their own way instead of trusting God, which eventually leads to death.

The decline of human existence stems from our propensity to inflict suffering on one another. God once sought to reset the course of humanity, yet not long after, we find ourselves grappling with the same issues. Time and again, humans prioritize their own good over the good that God defines.

If the choices we make can move us further away from God, and God made us good humans at the start, one can conclude that any movement away from God is a movement away from what he created us to be. Humans. To become human, we must surrender to the creator, made possible through his Son, Jesus Christ. Every time I resist my own definition of good. Trusting God by following the perfect image of the creator, Jesus. I move toward becoming more human.

So, back to sin. Let me repeat our working definition of sin.

Sin is the thing that, if left unchecked, will ultimately lead to your dehumanization.

This is to say, the actions I take now and over time lead me to a place where I am no longer the human God desires.

Rethinking Sin

Sin, in our Western world, has become completely misunderstood, losing its true destructive power and impact. There are two sides to sin. The first is a spiritual reality, force, and power. It exists to lead God’s creation into decay. This force, call it evil, Satan, or demons, works against God to distort and twist the beauty of His good creation. The Biblical writer Paul named this power in Ephesians 6:12. He called it “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” This power is at work today. It wants to distract, twist, and manipulate us, to turn us away from our true selves and calling. However, in all this evil spiritual influence, we still have a choice. This first spiritual force can’t make you do anything. It simply presents you with options. Think of that serpent in the garden.

This leads to the second part of Sin: the choices that one makes that lead us away from becoming fully human. Before I unpack this idea, let’s first review how people talk about sin. We’ll see the ways we have missed the mark on this subject.

If asking the everyday Christian the question, what is sin? You likely get a list of morally bad things to stay away from. This applies to our internal thoughts, like greed, hate, or lust, and to our external actions, watching porn, stealing, or physically harming one another. These and other “bad” things, which tend to be a sociological agreement, are to be avoided.

Conversations about the nature of sin often begin with an examination of the prohibitions laid out by figures such as the Apostle Paul, who candidly addressed behaviors leading to sin and death. The Old Testament also offers an extensive catalog of such actions. Yet, to distill sin into a mere checklist of transgressions is to risk living a life preoccupied with sin management. This approach invariably gives rise to feelings of guilt and shame, as it is based on the premise that despite our most diligent efforts to curb our wrongdoings, we just keep sinning.

There has to be a better way. Fortunately for us, there is.

Trusting Jesus

If we think of sin as the thing that will lead us away from the full human life God has for us. It becomes less about managing every little decision that might lead me to hell. To make choices every day, through the lens of Christ and his Kingdom, to become more of the human God desires me to be.

When I choose to trust God, and make every decision through the lens of his good and perfect Kingdom. I become more human and less of a monster. When I resist God and his Kingdom, making decisions that are not aligned with his Kingdom, I become something else — something nonhuman, maybe even a monster.

More on this in Pt.2