This whole separation theory also figures predominantly in the crucifixion when supposedly God turns his face away from Jesus. I think that that nothing could be further from the truth. God (Father, Son, & Spirit) bore the full brunt of our sin, in the face. He faced the sin of the world at the cross and is totally with us in our present sin. If we take the time to read the whole Psalm that Jesus references on the cross, we see that the first line is a statement of feeling separation but that the reality is the continuing presence of God in the midst of our pain.

God deals with our sin, not by separating himself from us, but by loving us through the process of sin, despair, and reconciliation. When my dog was bad we used to open the door and express our displeasure by commanding “OUT!”. God however, welcomes us into his lap in the midst of our sin. There is no shame, just love and gentle transformation.

Love is able to transform us but shame and separation keeps us enslaved to performance standards where we fear being sent out to the dog house. Does God send us to the dog house when we sin? I don’t think so.

Joh 3:19 This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but men loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.
Joh 3:20 Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that his deeds will be exposed.
Joh 3:21 But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what he has done has been done through God.”

The temptation of sin leads us in to darkness. God is light and if we choose the darkness over the light we will flee from God. So our sin does lead towards separation, but not in the sense that God is leaving us.

Great questions.

Peace,
Jamie

Yes. He lived in the far country away from his father.

and

No. The father wanted the relationship that the son initially did not and was always welcoming his return.

I think the issue with this is we generally put the burden of the separating on God. We understand ‘holiness’ as God’s rigid standards not to associate with the riffraff. We contrast holiness with his love–putting these two in opposition.

God’s holiness is God’s love. God sent his son into this world, and sent the Spirit into this world. The Holy Spirit. God seeks after us, runs after us. Going to us where we are at.

Sin separates us only as much as we are seeking an identity apart from God. Sin is an attempt to falsely satisfy or define our identity. We are the ones doing the separating. We take God’s gift of life–our inheritance–and run off to the far country, spoiling our inheritance. Even if we think we have lost all, we are welcomed back.

But, we have to be at the point where we no longer insist on the separation. We have to accept God’s gracious gift of presence and life. He is welcoming. We are refusing.

So we are separate. It is a judgment we foolishly apply to ourselves, and so suffer the consequences of separateness in our dogged insistence to continue to attempt to define ourselves apart from God. If we do not participate with he who is life, we encounter death. Judgment comes, though not because God wanted it this way, he was always running after us–we looked away.

If we are participants with God sin still has this effect–grieving the Spirit who is the presence of God’s life with us. We feel the weight of our attempts to define ourselves apart from God, and we feel the taste, again, of the separateness that we are pursuing. God lets us turn away, though he is always seeking and pursuing our return.

“Death’ literally means ’separation’. One never ceases to exist. Thus, I conclude; Life is conscious existance in intimate communion with God. Death is conscious existance separated from intimacy with God.

What is the cause of that separation? “Sin”.
It is a basic and fundamental doctrine of Christian orthodoxy according to scripture from Genesis (2:17) to Revelation (20:14).

If I make my bed in hell – He is there (Psalm 139:8)

I probably won’t sense Him there however. In fact – I’ll probably think He’s a million miles away from me – but He’s not – He’s right there next to us all the time.

That’s what faith is all about – I’m pretty far from perfect – and I do some pretty stupid things – and most of the time – I can’t see Him very well – and yet I believe that He’s bigger than all my sin – and that He is right there – even in the middle of all of my humanness and insanity. It’s Him who bridged (bridges) the sin gap between us – It’s Him who enables and empowers me to stand before Him – blameless. (Jude 1:24)

So does sin really separate us? B.C. YES Thru faith in Jesus Christ? NO.

My last name is Randall – my son is Brad Randall, his behaviour (and quite often mine) sometimes upsets the relationship of father and son BUT he will always be a Randall.