A QUESTION FOR "SINNERS" TO DISCUSS

The word “sin” causes many people to immediately feel either intense guilt or anger. It is a word very often used in religious services and people are constantly reminded of the fact that they are “sinners”… yet, is sin not the very nature of man?

If not, then why do even non-spiritual people make errors or commit moral/ethical infractions?

If so, then why is man held “deathly” accountable for something that seems almost as natural as breathing?

What is “sin” anyway? Is man truly guilty of “just being human”? Is that fair?

Perhaps there is more to this “sin” thing than one might normally consider.. So first let’s look at an encyclopedia’s definition of “SIN”:
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SIN, in religion, unethical act.

The term implies disobedience to a personal God, as in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and is not used so often in systems such as Buddhism where there is no personal divinity.

In ancient Israel, besides personal sin there was national sin, usually idolatry; to regain God's favor the whole people had to be purified. Ex. 32–34. Crimes of a few might also be visited on all, but punishment of the criminals could avert this. Joshua 7.

Apart from original sin, Christianity and Islam have no developed idea of collective sin.

As to what constitutes sin, Christian ideas differ.

Some Christians divide human acts into good, indifferent, and bad; others regard all acts not positively good as necessarily sinful. Thus, some may think gambling is indifferent so long as no obligation is infringed, while others consider gambling wrong as such. The traditional view, presupposed by Christian asceticism, is that a major way to perfection lies in performing or in refraining from indifferent acts solely to please God.

The theory that no act is really indifferent is common among conservative “evangelical” Protestants. For Christians, the effect of sin may be twofold, since a sin is at once a rebellion against the omnipotent Creator, risking punishment (even hell), as well as a cause of the interruption of grace, a notion that was popularized in the Middle Ages, notably by the Cistercians in the 12th cent. and the Franciscans in the 13th. It is explicit in Western mysticism and in modern Roman Catholic teaching. Among Protestants it was typical of Martin Luther and John Wesley.

In Western theology (particularly Roman Catholicism) sins are mortal if committed with knowing and deliberate intent in a serious matter; other sins are venial.

Habitual sin is called vice.

Roman Catholics are required to confess individually all mortal sins (see penance).

The seven deadly, or capital, sins are:

1) pride
2) covetousness
3) lust
4) anger
5) gluttony
6) envy, and
7) sloth.

The sins that cry out to heaven for vengeance are willful murder (Gen. 4.10), the sin of Sodom (Gen. 18.20,21), oppression of the poor (Ex. 2.23), and defrauding the laborer of his wages (James 5.4). The sin of the angels (specifically of Satan) is pride.

The opposite of sin is virtue, but in Christian practice the opposite of sin is grace, i.e., the merits of Christ's virtues given to humanity. See atonement; baptism; ethics; purgatory.
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Indeed Sin (and the fear associated with it) figures prominently in the Bible and also within many other religions.

Paul (who wrote many of the letters to the early churches) admits his own problems with sin in the following verses:

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ROMANS 7:13-35

“Did that which is good, then, bring death to me? By no means! It was sin, working death in me through what is good, in order that sin might be shown to be sin, and through the commandment might become sinful beyond measure. We know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under sin. I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.”

“Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. So then it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do.”

“Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inmost self, but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin which dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am!”

“Who will deliver me from this body of death? Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I of myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin.”
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Wait, does this mean that SAINT Paul himself was NO SAINT?

Did he just admit that he himself is A SINNER?

Yes, my friends HE DID!

Not only that he basically says that his “flesh” serves (present tense) the law of sin.

What then is the “LAW OF SIN” and should we expect to be BETTER than Paul?

Can somebody actually be “sinless”?

Sin might be said to be a natural state of being human. Our inquisitive nature and desire to test the things that bind us will occasionally “miss the mark” of perfection as would be expected… BUT…

Here is something interesting to consider for those who claim to be forgiven of all sin by their faith.

What sins do you still carry once you are forgiven and does your faith teach that once you are forgiven you are still a “sinner”?

Christianity teaches that Jesus forgives all sins, past.. present.. and Future …through having a faith in Christ which (if one wishes to take this to it’s fullest) would mean that once forgiven you are now “FREE OF SIN”.. which would be to be “SINLESS”.

This, of course, should not be used as a license to just go about killing, raping and pillaging but it would appear that if a Christian asks for forgiveness that they are no longer guilty of Sin..

...Thus would they not then be "100% Sinless in the eyes of God" ?

This is a question worthy of discussion so I am going to let my readers NICELY DISCUSS (please no argument or harsh theological debate please) this.

The question is “ONCE FORGIVEN BY GOD OF YOUR SINS.. ARE YOU STILL GUILTY OF BEING A SINNER?”

BE LOVE & BE LOVED!