What is sin?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
What is sin?
39
Mon, 09-11-2006 - 6:34pm

Someone posted in another thread about sin, and it triggered this question:  What do you think sin is?  What do you do about it?


I'm looking forward to a great interchange of ideas!


Bink


Not really into Siggees...


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 5:25pm

Sin is desires of the flesh.


Ummm... no.

iVillage Member
Registered: 01-17-2005
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 5:30pm
I so agree gingercookie, very well said. We all make mistakes. Everyone on this planet makes mistakes. It is part of learning and progressing our lives, our souls. Mistakes are how we learn, how we grow, how we can teach others.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-09-2005
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 5:42pm

>What I said was, we do not DESIRE to sin because we have God's Spirit in us. This does not mean that we never sin anymore.<


Yet Paul, "the rock" of the church, says in his letter to the Corinthians that he 'inwardly burns' to sin. Is 'inwardly burn' not desire? Is Paul unknowing of God?

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~MissApril
iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2003
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 5:51pm

Sorry, I think I know what you think I mean by "desires of the flesh", it sounds like I'm referring to sexual sin. I merely quoted the Bible, I think what the Bible means by it is that its desires of the physical world vs desires of our spirit, which is connected to God.

Sin is our nature, its desires of our physical body, which includes not only sexual sin, but other sins as well. And everyone is ruled by their physical bodies if they are not made aware of its sinful nature by God's Spirit. So yes, we all make mistakes. But whether or not we accept these mistakes depends on whether or not we have God's Spirit in us.

I don't think sex is wrong, reproduction of course is right. But unholy sex is wrong -- sex outside of marriage.

Our moral standard often goes as high as our logic allows us to. For example, Jesus' teaching about loving your enemies, or turning the other cheek defy logic. We are unable to understand it without God's Spirit. When someone hates us, our first reaction is to hate them back, when someone hits us, we hit them back to protect ourselves. This is logic, its also part of our sinful nature -- looking out only for ourselves, not caring that the person that hates us is loved by God. Can we truly understand unconditional love without God's spirit? We talk about it all the time, but its extremely difficult, (I really mean impossible, but I know everyone will debate about that since we all have different opinions on what unconditional love is) to really KNOW what it is. So take it however way you want.

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 6:26pm

I know you mean well, but I assure you, I don't need a lesson in Christianity.


iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 6:30pm

"But whether or not we accept these mistakes depends on whether or not we have God's Spirit in us."


Care to clarify that?


iVillage Member
Registered: 05-12-2003
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 8:35pm

Hey Barb,

If memory serves me from my Catholic schooling, isn't that type of sin called "original sin" (an inherent weakness or lacking in all humans) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin vs. the more common use of sin (the act itself) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin

I've found that the concept of sin has always been vague and can stir up all kinds of arguments because of its vagueness.

-gnd-

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-07-2003
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 9:16pm

I think we are both physical and spiritual beings.

You said that sin is an "error" or "imperfections of human beings", so are there things that we should do to correct our errors? We can all agree that lyng, cheating, murder, gossip, arrogance, pride, which are described as sinful in the Bible are wrong, so how do we remedy sin which leads to these acts? Sin as described in the Bible isn't specific acts. Rather, sin (which is a nature to go against God) results in specific acts that are sinful.

I agree with what some of you said, sin is inherent in every human being, we all make mistakes. The Bible says that we all fall short of God's glory. We can't even help it, none of us is perfect. So God provided a way out for us, Christians are "given" the knowledge as a gift in the form of the Holy Spirit, while what you described indicates that the lessons must be learned. Can what we are able to learn by ourselves be greater than what God gives us? What's wrong with the Christian believe? What's wrong with accepting a gift from God to help us see sin as what it is so that we can refrain from sinning? I'm thankful that we have a loving God that gives such a gift to save us from all of our "errors". Wouldn't you agree that we have the potential to be so much greater if we are free of sin - however you see it, "error" or "wrong doing" or "acts against God"?

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2003
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 9:58pm

You said that sin is an "error" or "imperfections of human beings"


No I didn't.


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
In reply to: cl_binkeebee
Tue, 09-12-2006 - 10:11pm

But unholy sex is wrong -- sex outside of marriage.


I disagree.