According to your religion what does sin mean?

Question

What are the major sins you should avoid.Do you think people are moral because of fear of sin[God] or because of fear of society.

Answer 1

Sin is a deliberate thought, word, deed, or omission contrary to the eternal law of God.

Here are the seven holy virtues as opposites to the seven deadly sins. According to Dante's The Divine Comedy the sins have an order of greatness, and the virtues a respective order of greatness as well. This order is shown below from the lowest to the highest.

+ Holy Virtues +
Chastity (purity)
Moderation (self-restraint)
Generosity (vigilance)
Zeal (enthusiasm)
Meekness (composure)
Charity (giving)
Humility (humbleness)

+ Deadly Sins +
Lust (inappropriate desire)
Gluttony (over-indulgence)
Greed (avarice)
Sloth (laziness)
Wrath (anger)
Envy (jealousy)
Pride (vanity)

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

(sorry for any spelling errors/typos, spell check does not seem to work on longer answers)

I have been trying to understand the whole sin thing forever....
First we have all these rules early on in the Bible telling us what to do and how to do it, but then we can become clean by doing a whole bunch of ritualisitc stuff (as noted in Leviticus). Then Moses comes along and says... yo, ya gotta do these ten things and if you don't then well you're outta luck... But then a little while Jesus comes along and he is made the sacrificial lamb and takes sin away just by having people believe in him... so how bad is sin really?
Then there is the whole original sin thing -- here you have Adam and Eve hanging out in the Garden of Eden, living inthe lap of luxury, running around naked with no worries about anything. God tells them -- do whatever you want, but see that tree over there, don't touch it. Here's the thing, any parent will tell you that their children will touch whatever they are told not to touch when their parents aren't looking) so God knew that Adam and Eve would be checking out that tree soon enough. So Eve is tricked by the serpent (how exactly did that serpent get into the Garden of Eden where all was good and pure) and ate the apple then Adam chowed down too.... and then suddenly they had knowledge of things good and evil, and went and decided upon their own that their nakedness was bad (it was never bad before).... and that was the original sin and God punished them for it. But, that is like punishing a child for eating the candy in the dish that is placed on the table easily within thier reach -- of course they are going to try it...
Anyway -- here's what I think. God wanted us to eat from the tree of knowldege in order that we can truly appreciate what is good. Adam and Eve were living in ignorance and truly did not understnad nor were they greatful for what they have.Having hard times put upon them they were able to better understand and appreciate the good times. One side of the coin fits with the other.
Original Sin was disobedience.
There are seven deadly sins.... which all relate to the negative side of human emotions. We all commit these sins in some small degree, but that does not mean that we will be so-called punished for them. These sins help us appreciate our better sides as well.
True sin comes when there is an excess of emotion or whatever that causes us to harm others. True sin exists when our concience does not come in and balance our emotions... or even worse, when we choose to ignore our conscience and let our more sinister nature take over.
As for morality, we are moral because we are trained to be from an early age. Whether through family, community, or church, we are taught what is right and wrong. As we progress we begin to see that not all is a clear cut division line and we use what we have been taught to make decisions, this becomes our morality. I don't think it is necessarily fear (for most people) that makes them moral, but rather an innate sense of empathy/sympathy at a deep level that they do not even understand themselves.

Answer 3

In my religion, there are only a few sins, most of which (perhaps all of which) you would consider silly:

It is sinful to adulterate chocolate in any way. Thus, a Snickers bar is an abomination, while a Hershey bar is wholesome and pleasing to the gods.

It is sinful to smoke filtered cigarettes. A cigarette with a tampon attached? What could be more sinful? I'll tell you what could be more sinful: a cigarette with a mentholated tampon attached.

It is sinful to put cream in coffee. Opinion (in the kirk) is still divided on the use of sugar in coffee; the orthodox (among whom I am necessarily included) do not use sugar in coffee; those who do use sugar are tolerated as wrong-headed fools who might change their evil ways in time.

This exhausts 'sins' in my religion. We reckoned that three taboos/sins/kashrut-ersatzes was enough. Of course all of my brothers and sisters do resist their beastly impulses to maim, rape or otherwise brutalize their neighbors, and they mostly abstain from theft, etc., but those are just 'wrongs' that all good human beings usually avoid doing, and not 'sins,' which we view as purely a matter of religious definition.

My religion prefers to remain anonymous, offering deeper engagement only to those who have demonstrated a keen sense of humor and an affectionate contempt towards gods.

Answer 4

Sin is just the breaking of a religious/moral rule or law.

I don't have a religion. I just use common sense. I believe there is some truth to the Golden Rule and to Karma. Evil people are always hateful and will never have inner peace or happiness. The people who learn to love & forgive are most likely to be happy themselves. If you can't trust others, you're always living in fear & watching your back... not a good way to live.

Other people are moral because it's an ingrained habit taught to them from a young age in their home & at church. Their conscience is usually what stops them from committing serious sins.

Answer 5

I John 3:4

Sin is breaking God's Law.

Major sins to avoid: 10 commandments lists the major ones, I guess
procrastination
character assassination

I think people behave in a moral fashion or in accordance with society because they fear the penalties of their crime.

However, if people were to take their beliefs to heart and to treat each other well, perhaps we would see less of this and some more genuine cooperation between people (and eventually countries).

Answer 6

Anything that feels good. ;-)
Saw a good definition blamed on the Jesuit priests.
If it makes you feel bad, it is a sin. That really makes sense from the point of view that if you do something that makes you feel bad, you have sinned against yourself.
Of course it also means, that if you kill someone and feel nothing, you have not committed a sin.
Also, I have no religion, just wanted to clear that up.
And to your last question, a combination of both.
Me. I just go by the golden rule, because I think it is correct for me. Consequences (or fear thereof) be damned. :-)

Answer 7

Sin is when you knowingly and willingly commit an act that harms another...not to be confused with mistakes or lack of knowledge. There are Universal Laws that apply to all of us without regard to belief. We were all given a conscious...an inner voice, if you will...that guides us into what is right or wrong for us. I call it Divine Law.

All of Life is a school for spiritual enlightenment. It is when we don't heed this inner voice that things turn upside down. In some people this is impaired by an illness that distorts this basic truth...but it is understood...and therefore they are not accountable. We were given these things so we could tell the difference. Harm is often more harmful to the one committing it.

Answer 8

Since there are so many "theories" about God and what is a sin, you can subscribe to any of these belief systems that were created by men when they thought the world was still flat. Or you can do what I do. Believe in my own concept of what a higher power might be, since NOBODY knows for sure!! Just remember to be considerate of the feelings of those around you and tomorrow morning when you look in the mirror and can honestly say you did not commit any "sins" against any one, you can FEEL GOOD about yourself!! After all, when you go to the next life YOU are the only one that has to answer for your actions!! Peace be with you!

Answer 9

In my religion, we don’t have direct concept of sin as such, we simply have a concept called the Law of Karma or cause and effect, that tells us that we need to take all the responsibility of our choices, yet it frees us from all condemnation as human soul is beyond condemnation as it is part of super soul, which is just acting out a play of Maya through each one of us, when all this is just a dream, the 'sin' or bad karma or even good karma is also a dream.

Answer 10

I'm afraid of sin because i know that I won't be able to Live with god again if I do sin or do not repent. I do sometimes fear Men becuase I know that they will judge becuase of what I have done, and that has somewhat of a part in it too.