A comment in another thread made me want to ask this to the Christians on this forum.

What is sin?

Do you sin every day?

Do you believe thoughts can be sins?

Do you think that you have to act on thoughts for them to become sins?

Are some sins worse than others?

Are there some things that you consider sins that most people don't? Are there some things that you don't think are sins that other people do?(Hopefully, those two questions made sense)

Paul said that he was the worst sinner in 1 Timothy 1:15. Do you agree? How could he be the worst sinner?

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I found this article on sin and wondered how some of our resident Christians felt about what it says

http://www.odfellowship.org/2015/02/20/i...er-i-know/

Quote:While I factually know that a certain person has killed thousands of people and some of the motive behind it, when we are talking about sin against God on a heart level, I may have killed tens upon tens of thousands. On the heart level you can kill people multiple times and in multiple ways. On this level, my sin skyrockets into heights I can’t even see. And it goes way beyond just anger and murder. Just try to think about every idle word, every lust, every deed shirked, every opportunity not seized, every person ignored, or even not loved well, every Bible lesson I taught but did not live out, every impulse of greed. There is just no way to calculate the immensity of heart sin. So that serial killer has nothing on me. All I know is that he killed and raped lots of people. That is bad, but it is just a drop in the bucket compared to me. I can’t know his heart level sin. It might be really bad, but I will never know. What I do know, or at least what I know with guilt-searing accuracy, is all the sin that has happened in my heart.

If you are religious, do you agree with this writer? Do you believe that anger against another person is the same thing as raping and killing that same person?

Ill just say this sin doesn't exist. Sin brought to you by the same people who bought you, racism, slavery, and gratuitous amounts of violence.
Sin is such a broad concept with a system of black and white it is not even fair.

That christianity can you make you feel you are worse than a serial rapist just for having thoughts or not living your life to "perfection"... What an evil establishment.

(March 18, 2015 at 2:12 pm)Nope Wrote: A comment in another thread made me want to ask this to the Christians on this forum.

What is sin?

Anything not in the Expressed Will of God. (Expressed Will= The Law or the Way of God.)

Quote:Do you sin every day?

I like everyone else is a Slave to sin, so Yes.

Quote:Do you believe thoughts can be sins?

Yes

Quote:Do you think that you have to act on thoughts for them to become sins?

No

Quote: Are some sins worse than others?

Think of the worst sin. God sees all of them as you see the worst sin in your sin grading system.

That said He hates some sins more than others, but in the end they are get the same 'Death.'

Quote:Are there some things that you consider sins that most people don't?

Homosexuality, Killing unborn babies, Not disiplining Children, Not helping someone when you can/See a Need, but rather blame someone else for the need.

Quote:Are there some things that you don't think are sins that other people do?(Hopefully, those two questions made sense)

I cuss alot, the words have no meaning to me, while I understand other assign great meaning to them. So for their sake i try not to.

Quote:Paul said that he was the worst sinner in 1 Timothy 1:15. Do you agree?

No I think I probably am. If not me then it is someone who runs or own their own business.

Quote:How could he be the worst sinner?

Because he was in a unique position to know the mind and direct will of God, yet I am sure he was well aware that he chose to serve his master sin instead.. Or so say Paul himself in Romans 7.

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I found this article on sin and wondered how some of our resident Christians felt about what it says

http://www.odfellowship.org/2015/02/20/i...er-i-know/

Quote:While I factually know that a certain person has killed thousands of people and some of the motive behind it, when we are talking about sin against God on a heart level, I may have killed tens upon tens of thousands. On the heart level you can kill people multiple times and in multiple ways. On this level, my sin skyrockets into heights I can’t even see. And it goes way beyond just anger and murder. Just try to think about every idle word, every lust, every deed shirked, every opportunity not seized, every person ignored, or even not loved well, every Bible lesson I taught but did not live out, every impulse of greed. There is just no way to calculate the immensity of heart sin. So that serial killer has nothing on me. All I know is that he killed and raped lots of people. That is bad, but it is just a drop in the bucket compared to me. I can’t know his heart level sin. It might be really bad, but I will never know. What I do know, or at least what I know with guilt-searing accuracy, is all the sin that has happened in my heart.

Quote:If you are religious, do you agree with this writer? Do you believe that anger against another person is the same thing as raping and killing that same person?

Maybe not rape but Jesus did say it was the same as killing them.

For the most part i agree. we Sin all the time. That is the difference between a Christian and Atheist. The Christian sees and accepts his sin so he seeks attonement, while the thinks himself to be a 'decent person' because pop morality (which only judges the lessor of two evils rather than holds sin to an absolute standard.) says if you dont hurt anyone you dont need attonement.

That is why I said Christians are far more 'immoral' than non christians. It is because we see and accept our sin rather than moving the goal posts so we are never judged 'immoral.'

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(March 18, 2015 at 2:22 pm)dyresand Wrote: Ill just say this sin doesn't exist. Sin brought to you by the same people who bought you, racism, slavery, and gratuitous amounts of violence.
Sin is such a broad concept with a system of black and white it is not even fair.

if you have nothing to say then why say anything?

The concept of sin exceeds beyond the crime and punishment field. It brings a third party to the table. When you sin, you not only have to apologise and make it up to the person you've wronged, but also somehow you've managed to personally offend your sky daddy and have to apologise and make it up to him... presumably with generous quantities of money.

I find the idea of sin abhorrent, especially since a lot of actions considered to be sins by the christers are not only not crimes, but also not hurting anyone and not immoral. First example that comes to mind is Drippy up there, telling us that homosexuality is a sin.

I have a problem with that kind of thinking, not only because it defies morality, but because it enforces a misinformed opinion on other people. If it wasn't for people like Drich or the WBC my life would be a whole lot easier now, if only they had been able to keep their misguided judgements to themselves instead of shoving them down on their kids.

Sin is a means of control. When you feel your thoughts are almost always bad, that's a clear sign of mental abuse.

Sin is disobedience to Yahweh. It's things Yahweh doesn't like. So it doesn't have much to do with good and evil, though some things that are sins are also bad things. There is overlap, but sin is not synonymous with evil.

It's hard not to sin when you're capable of thinking for yourself. Especially when Yahweh considers thoughts and actions equivalent. Got to raise the bar impossibly high in order to keep people dependent, like a good dictator.

Thoughts are sins, according to the bible. Thou shalt not covet is thought crime. Then we have Jesus saying it explicitly in the new testament.

Everything is equal, except there may be one that's worse than others. What that is varies, like so many other things with the holy text.

(March 18, 2015 at 2:12 pm)Nope Wrote: If you are religious, do you agree with this writer? Do you believe that anger against another person is the same thing as raping and killing that same person?

I think it depends on interpretation. In the sermon on the mount, Jesus says:

Matthew 5:21,22 Wrote:“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘You shall not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell.

The Bible Gateway site infers that "brother" and "sister" can mean fellow members of the faith. 'Raca' is apparently an insulting term. The "you fool" part will be open to interpretation, especially since it entails risk of eternal damnation.

Matthew 5:28 Wrote:But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Jesus follows this with the famous 'cast out your eye/hand if it causes you to stumble' statement, indicating that his disciples must be willing to make painful sacrifices in order to achieve salvation. Even if we assume that he is not mandating that they literally gouge out an eyeball or chop off a hand, it shows just how seriously god considered thought-crime to be.

This is the basis of the 'salvation trap' that many Christian denominations teach-- you are imperfect and therefore unable to control yourself sufficiently to ever avoid sin, and thus are beholden to Christ. Without him to clear your record with god, you are destined for eternal damnation. And who can you appeal to? The cop, judge, jury, executioner and parole board are all the same person! The closest modern-day analog to Yahweh is Roger Goodell.

(March 18, 2015 at 2:12 pm)Nope Wrote: A comment in another thread made me want to ask this to the Christians on this forum.

I will answer these as best I can....

What is sin? This is a very difficult question....I will use reverse psychology (For purposes of this question). Jesus said in Matthew 5.8 - "Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God". For me anything that is impure is contrary to God and anything that falls short I consider as sin.

Do you sin every day? Yes

Do you believe thoughts can be sins? Yes, very much so!

Do you think that you have to act on thoughts for them to become sins? No - Often thoughts in themselves are considered as sinful eg If I unfairly pass judgment on somebody (In thought).

Are some sins worse than others? Yes

Are there some things that you consider sins that most people don't? Are there some things that you don't think are sins that other people do?(Hopefully, those two questions made sense). I consider using God and Jesus' names via the swearing versions as being a sin...Most people think that this is normal. I cant think of a particular instance - However from Jesus' time he often healed people on what was considered a holy day eg Healing the sick on The Sabbath...The religious folk at the time considered this as sinful and like Jesus I would disagree.

Paul said that he was the worst sinner in 1 Timothy 1:15. Do you agree? How could he be the worst sinner? I agree completely with St Paul. Remember he was the big Christian persecutor - It was only after his supernatural conversion (On the road to Damascus) that he gave his life to God. What happened to Paul, happens to Christians everyday and when they convert, they will always classify themselves as previously being the worst sinner....A conversion is always profound and like St Paul all those years ago we as new reborn Christians are in awe that despite all of us being sinners, God still has the capacity to forgive us and welcome us into his Kingdom.

---

I found this article on sin and wondered how some of our resident Christians felt about what it says

http://www.odfellowship.org/2015/02/20/i...er-i-know/

Quote:While I factually know that a certain person has killed thousands of people and some of the motive behind it, when we are talking about sin against God on a heart level, I may have killed tens upon tens of thousands. On the heart level you can kill people multiple times and in multiple ways. On this level, my sin skyrockets into heights I can’t even see. And it goes way beyond just anger and murder. Just try to think about every idle word, every lust, every deed shirked, every opportunity not seized, every person ignored, or even not loved well, every Bible lesson I taught but did not live out, every impulse of greed. There is just no way to calculate the immensity of heart sin. So that serial killer has nothing on me. All I know is that he killed and raped lots of people. That is bad, but it is just a drop in the bucket compared to me. I can’t know his heart level sin. It might be really bad, but I will never know. What I do know, or at least what I know with guilt-searing accuracy, is all the sin that has happened in my heart.

If you are religious, do you agree with this writer? Do you believe that anger against another person is the same thing as raping and killing that same person?

(March 18, 2015 at 3:20 pm)Chad32 Wrote: Sin is disobedience to Yahweh. It's things Yahweh doesn't like. So it doesn't have much to do with good and evil, though some things that are sins are also bad things. There is overlap, but sin is not synonymous with evil.

It's hard not to sin when you're capable of thinking for yourself. Especially when Yahweh considers thoughts and actions equivalent. Got to raise the bar impossibly high in order to keep people dependent, like a good dictator.

Thoughts are sins, according to the bible. Thou shalt not covet is thought crime. Then we have Jesus saying it explicitly in the new testament.

Everything is equal, except there may be one that's worse than others. What that is varies, like so many other things with the holy text.

And when you think like a theist, with absolute rigidity, you wind up in bizzarro land where people like the person who hid Anne Frank was a sinner because they deliberately lied to the Nazis.