Missing the Mark?

"...It doesn't help that some Christians have tried to illustrate sin as an archery term.

'Sin is simply missing the mark,' they say. 'The same Greek word for sin is used as anarchery term, so we're all just 'target-missers.''

Well the same Greek word might be used, but the two concepts couldn't be further apart. When the Bible describes the nature of our rebellion against God, it paints an uglier picture than our simply missing a bull's eye (see Rom 3:10-18). Rather than aiming carefully at God's target, we turn our backs and shoot arrows everywhere else. Wanting to please ourselves, we ignore the true bull's eye and set our affections on seductive targets that cannot satisfy, sanctify, or save. We are not primarily target-missers; we are self-centered false-target worshippers..."

Randy Newman
Questioning Evangelism, p. 81