No, it hasn't even begun for you

The point is, you've got to see that you are odious in the sight of God.

Sin = cool in the minds of fallen human beings.

No. Sin is odious. I.e. you are odious.

"Well here's my sin, I give too much money away to people."

"My sin is I ride my motorcycle too much and don't spend enough time with my wife. I look cool on my motorcycle."

"I've been a sinner all my life. It's gotten me a lot of girls, but I know it's wrong, and I need to change my ways."

People don't know what sin is.

Again, if you are a Christian and you still have a good or cool image of yourself...it hasn't even begun for you. You're still dead asleep in the Kingdom of Satan.

You need to somehow see the reality which is that you are purely odious to God.

You're not bad boy cool. You are public masturbator uncool. Your original and active sin makes you uncool. Not cool. As uncool as the music teacher caught by the janitor masturbating in the stairwell. Yes. That guy. That is you in God's eyes. And the janitor goes to the administration and the music teacher ends up in a mug shot in the local newspaper. Ah oh. There's goes the positive self-image. Unless the music teacher descends into total self-deception fantasy land.

What does the music teacher have to face up to? The fact that he's a sinner. And that sin is odious. Not cool. Odious. Sin may not be odious to your fellow human beings ("Hey, he was having sex with that attractive married woman. Oh, yes, it's wrong, but, hey, he's a stud I guess!"), but it is public masturbation level odious in God's eyes.

I actually give up. These two posts were inspired by listening to two rather shallow and self-satisfied internet-famous pastor types; smug and totally un-self-aware. There really is no way to explain to such types how ridiculous they are and how asleep to their own situation they are.

I'll just repeat: if you are a Christian and you still have a rather positive or cool image of yourself...it hasn't even begun for you.