Sins

[Nope]

[dyresand]

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.

[robvalue]

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.

[Drich]

[Norman Humann]

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.

[KevinM1]

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

[Chad32]

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.

[Tonus]

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:

“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.

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.

[Jesusislord]

[KevinM1]

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.