Treating Sin

At the start of Elder Dale G. Renlund's talk Our Good Shepherd, he drew a few parallels that can teach us important things about sin and Jesus' attitude toward it and us. As you might have guessed by the title of his talk, Elder Renlund compared Jesus to a good shepherd and us to His sheep. The unique part of his analogy is in his comparing sin to a disease, using ideas from Victor Hugo's Les Misérables to explore how a shepherd might react to an ill or blemished sheep.

As Elder Renlund put it:

As the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ views disease in His sheep as a condition that needs treatment, care, and compassion. This shepherd, our Good Shepherd, finds joy in seeing His diseased sheep progress toward healing.

Our Good Shepherd loves His sheep, diseased though we are. And mostly because of His love for us, He hates sin because it is harmful to us. Yet, even though we are sinful, He doesn't hate us. He hates the sin, but loves the sinner. He hates the disease, but loves His sheep. His joy is to help us become free from sin, to be cured and healed, so we can return into our Heavenly Father's presence.

I'm not sure if I've ever thought of sin this way, but it offers an interesting perspective into the nature of sin and why Jesus wants us to be rid of it. Our sins are much like a disease, infecting and weakening our souls. No wonder Jesus would rush to our aid to help us be rid of it.