Well, surely you do believe in sin? Religious or not? The definition is against more than just the concept of god, I think. I think it is against acts of decency.
I don't know what you would call taking a child from his parents at age 6 months and ripping it from that security and just casting its fate to the wind. Because? Because they dared to flee an equally murderous regime?
I think that behavior is sinful. It is against common human decency.
Even the GODLESS are horrified at such a fate. Imagine what the predators are circling around considering for these kids?
To sin is to break God's rules. If I don't believe in God, I don't believe in sin. Heaven, hell, god, the devil, sin, etc... they're all religious concepts.
That doesn't mean I don't have morals or my own code of ethics. Yes, even the godless are horrified by those behaviors. I might call it inhumane, inconceivable, reprehensible, and so on, but I wouldn't call it sinful.
Sin, singular, is the absence of spirit. Adam had a spirit but it died and so he was unable to bequeath a spirit to his offspring. That is why everybody is born in sin, not because Mommy and Daddy did the big nasty. That is why a savior had to die in our place and make it possible to create a new spirit for us.
Sins, plural, are mistakes, such as throwing a dart and missing the bullseye. Christians are baptised into Christ's death, and dead bodies don't sin, so sins are not an issue for Christians. There is no more forgiveness. Either you believe in Jesus and are saved or you don't believe and are lost.
Meet some people, preferably students of Koine Greek.
In any case, the question was what do I believe. If you don't agree, you are free to post your own beliefs. I will not complain or contradict you. At least not this time.
This post was edited by Not Sure at July 23, 2018 6:21 PM MDT
All theologists that I have checked use the same analogy.
When once asked, ‘What is the definition of sin?’ Billy Graham gave the following answer:
A sin is any thought or action that falls short of God’s will. God is perfect, and anything we do that falls short of His perfection is sin.
The Bible actually uses a number of examples or “word pictures” to illustrate what this means. For example, it tells us that sin is like an archer who misses the target. He draws back his bow and sends the arrow on its way—but instead of hitting the bull’s-eye, it veers off course and misses the mark. The arrow may only miss it a little bit or it may miss it a great deal—but the result is the same: The arrow doesn’t land where it is supposed to. https://billygraham.org/story/billy-grahams-answer-what-is-sin-are-all-sins-equal-in-gods-eyes/
It's not a sin to make an innocent mistake due to a misconception. Sin is intent. If you miss the mark ON PURPOSE, your analogy holds. Adam committed a deliberate act of disobedience. Had not God warned him off the tree? No sin. Try reading Schillebeecx or Barth. Graham is a poor example - he's an evangelist, not a theologian.
This post was edited by Slartibartfast at July 24, 2018 2:09 AM MDT
It is a deliberate act of viciousness against the soul. It is the INTENT you bring to the act. THAT INTENT is like a laser beam to the unseen.
You may debase yourself by lying to others to save yourself and causing them to suffer.
You may step over another to get what YOU feel you need over their needs.
You disgrace the real YOU. The YOU that lasts eternally.
That is sin. Turning away from the GOD within and acting the EGOIC DEMON. That is the supreme test and that is the choice of all of us in the physical.
Q "In your mind and heart, what do you believe the meaning of sin is?" ==========================================
1. Sin is akin to crime, and a sinner is akin to a criminal.
2. A crime occurs when a secular law is broken by a culpable person and a sin occurs when a religious law, ruling or command is broken by a culpable person.
3. The similarity continues. A person cannot be deemed a criminal if the person was not culpable, for example, the person was insane, suffered from amnesia when the crime was committed or could not be expected to have any concept of what constitutes a crime. Likewise, a person cannot be deemed a sinner if the person was not culpable, for example, the person was insane, suffered from amnesia when the sin was committed or could not be expected to have any concept of what constitutes a sin.
4. Point 3 above provides a crucial point of departure between Jesus and Genesis, on the one hand, and Christianity, on the other. You see, neither Genesis nor Jesus teaches about or mentions the original sin. For them there is no such thing associated with Adam, but for Christianity the so called original sin is a sine qua non, an absolute necessity.
5. If you can look at the story of Adam in Genesis without the Christian narrative [this will be almost totally impossible if you're a Christian] then you will see very clearly that the fruit Adam was told not to eat was the fruit that enables a person to see right from wrong. Adam was going to know right from wrong after, and only after, eating the fruit. In fact Genesis has God Himself confirming that when He says, after Adam and Eve had eaten the fruit that "They now know the difference between right and wrong, just as we do." So at the time of eating the fruit Adam did not know the difference between right and wrong and therefore could not be expected to have any concept of what constitutes a sin. There was thus no original sin, definitely not according to Genesis and definitely not according to Jesus.
As usual, if anyone thinks the above is not correct or there is a flaw in it somewhere then they're welcome to show what, and where, it is.
Anything not in harmony with, hence contrary to, God's personality, standards, ways, and will; anything marring one's relationship with God. It may be in word (job 2:10; psalms 39:1), in deed(doing wrong acts [Leviticus 20:20; 2Corinthians 12:21]or failing to do what should be done [numbers 9:13;James 4:17], or in mind or heart attitude (Proverbs 21:4; compare also Romans 3:9-18; 2peter 2:12-15). Lack of faith in God is a major sin, showing, as it does, distrust of him or lack of confidence in his ability to perform. (Hebrews 3:12,13,18,19)a consideration of the use of the use of the original language terms and examples associated with them illustrates this.` The common Hebrew term translated "sin" is chat ta' th'; in Greek the usual is ha mar ti'a. In both languages the verb forms (heb.,cha ta"; gr., ha mar ta'no)mean "miss," in the sense of missing or not reaching a goal, way, mark, or right point. At judges 20:16 cha ta" is used, with a negative, to describe the benjamites who were 'singers of stones to a hairbreadth and would not miss. Greek writers often used ha mar ta'no with regard to a spearman missing his target. Both of these words were used to mean missing or failing to reach not merely physical objects or goals (job 5:24)but also moral or intellectual goals or marks. Proverbs 8:35,36 says the one finding godly wisdom finds life, but the 'one missing [from Hebrew, cha ta"]wisdom is doing violence to his soul', leading to death. In the scriptures both the Hebrew and Greek terms refer mainly to sinning on the part of God's intelligent creatures, their missing the mark with regard to their Creator.
This post was edited by Autumnleaves at August 15, 2018 12:05 AM MDT
Just Asking 