What Exactly Are Sins?

[Mudhammam]

If the mass of Christendom didn't pride themselves on ignorance, what all too often appears to be an obviously half-baked and primitive morality could easily be spun into a piece of practical wisdom. In this instance, one could say that Jesus is referring to the hypocrisy of those who snub their noses at degenerates and is making the point that intentions are far more important than actual deeds, at least in many instances. Of course, as evidenced by our resident Christians, most believers have an extremely vulgar and simplistic view of the world, and hence, their faith, and think all sins are no-no's of equal merit because even the most harmless earns its offender hellfire on the Day of Judgment. All that said, you won't ever hear a defense from me of the really ridiculous shit that the NT advocates under the pretense of righteousness.

The thing is, there is a difference between looking at someone with sexual desire, and actually intending to have sex with the person.  If, as a passing thought, my wife does the former with someone else, it is not anything I care much about, but I very much care if she actually intends to have sexual relations with someone else.  The difference on this is important.  An idle fantasy and an actual plan of action are quite different from each other.

Also, I don't think intentions are usually more important than actions.  Intentions might reflect more on the morality of the person, but it is their actions that impact the world.  If you intend to cut off my arm, but don't, that will bother me less than if you don't intend to cut off my arm and you do.  My guess is that you feel the same way about my intentions and actions and your arm.

I'm not disputing that there is a difference between thoughts and actions, and I think you're right to be critical of any doctrine that equates the two. But I also think it's missing the point to make that the primary emphasis of Jesus' words, even if that's what he intended to imply. After all, it's no secret that Christianity is founded upon the belief that something is inherently wrong with mankind, and that "all have sinned and fallen short" of perfection. I look at Jesus as a reformer within an oppressive environment dictated by religious leaders who were all too often quick to point out the spec of dust in another's eye while ignoring the plank in their own, a statement he is specifically said to have made. His message was not one of reforming outward appearances, as he was no mere politician, but one of transforming the hearts and minds of men and women. A person who fucks another's spouse is acting on a thought and intention that has been allowed to foster from within. Jesus is saying, I think, that one must change their attitudes before their behaviors can be expected to reflect whatever notions of virtue they claim to esteem, and that giving residence to bad attitudes and ill conceptions of one another are, to moral perfection, no less worthy of blame.