Why does the Christian religion preach that we are all sinners and must repent?

Question

There are without doubt people who live faultless lives with only goodness in their hearts and whilst we may all be subject to temptation, this in itself is not a sin, in fact to resist temptation is surely an act of goodness and a demonstration of strength.
Accusing us all of being sinners who must seek the mercy of God is simply a means by which the church tries to enfeeble people of free will.
I personally would not claim to be free of sin but I know of many I would put in this category.

Answer 1

Romans 3:23:

For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Answer 2

The christian religion is based on guilt. That's how they keep believers. You start your life with a debt. Whatever you do, you are still a sinner and you must pray until you die.
But there is another interesting side to this coin. Since I cannot repay this debt, I might as well not bother trying. And if Jesus died for my sins, then I'd better sin or he would have died for nothing!
You will find that more often than not atheists and agnostics are the ones that are the most concerned about right and wrong and the ones who really have a charitable attitude without expecting heaven for it. That takes guts.

Answer 3

Hello,

I totally reject this weird idea that we are all sinners! its totally untrue, its just a weird peice of completely distorted thinking. Its a load of christian guilt tripping, I'm NOT a sinner, I've never been a sinner, I dont beleive in the idea of sinns. Its utter rubbish.

**There is only appropriate human behaviour and inappropriate behaviour. Thats my experience from life, not from some book which is someone else's ideas. Ideas that were written down over 2000 years ago.

**I am an Atheist and so I dont beleive in Jesus, God, the bible or the non sense talk by the pope. I dont believe in a heaven or a hell, I dont believe in sinns either but that doesnt mean I dont take issues of morality or ethics extremely seriously.

Atheists do have moral courage and know whats right from wrong, infact in my opinion an atheist has to think more carefully about such things because they have to take more personal responsiblity for their own actions than most others. Atheists are often very thoughtful people & often very moral people counter to what the press or media might portray.

IR

Answer 4

You may THINK you know people who are not sinners, but we ALL are one way or another. (Depending what you define as a sin of course). Sometimes just a quick gamble on the lottery would be regarded as 'sin'. Or thinking your next door nieghbours wife/husband is a bit tastey. So don't imagine we're any of us 'without sin'.

There is a very good poem at the link below which would answer your question more fully.

Good luck and best wishes. Pete.

Answer 5

When you see an advertisement, especially on TV, the first thing they do is tell you that you have, or may have an urgent problem. Then, hallelujah, they tell you they alone have the solution to your urgent problem. Now in most cases you wouldn't know you had an urgent problem if they hadn't told you, and of course you wouldn't need the solution they offer.

Before they told you, you were happily unaware that an all-powerful cosmic abusive father being was angry at all humanity because the first human took a piece of fruit without his permission, and consequently all humans are defective in this being's eyes, and in his pique he is going to torture all humans by roasting them alive in flames in a place called hell because their mere existence offends his ultra-sensitive ego in some way.

Before they told you, you were happily unaware that this fruit-hoarding cosmic torturer decided 2000 years ago to mate with a Jewish girl, who had a fine and perfect son who the cosmic being nevertheless set up to be tortured and killed because he was still mad over that piece of fruit. That is his insanity, this cosmic torturer thought he would set up a system whereby if you would correctly flatter him and his dead son, he would relent of torturing you for eternity and instead, allow you to flatter him for all eternity.

Now your first reaction might be to pity the person telling you this nonsense because they were either brainwashed at an early age when they lacked the mental tools to resist such drivel, or because they are mentally disturbed. But that would be wrong, as you will soon learn when they demonstrate how rational they are by explaining how their God is three gods but still only one.

Answer 6

This is the message of the Gospel: that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Can you really and truly point to anyone who has never sinned, apart from Jesus? If that person has been known to sin in one particular, then that person has sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and needs His forgiveness and salvation. Some of the most saintly people I have met were the most aware of this and I have also encountered people who behaved abominably and yet saw themselves as people who in their terms were good and did not need God. Christians are commanded to preach the Gospel and that is what the Gospel message is. The fact that you don't like it does not make it any less true -- or more imperative.

Answer 7

If you truly believe this you must be an easy mark for a con artist. No one can be free of sin because we are human and frail by nature. We have emotions all of us. We think things that we may not actually do - but the thought of bad things is also sin. You would have to be very gullible to believe that anyone is free of sin!

Answer 8

I've read that the original meaning of the word 'sin' (in Hebrew or Aramaic) means to 'miss the mark'. It doesn't mean as it is generally understood, to do something evil or naughty. I think when it is said that 'we are all sinners', what it really means is that we have not yet truly understood and experienced the true nature of God, but with increased wisdom, we will - this journey is the reason why we are here.

Answer 9

Well, sin also means unclean. A person does not have to be disobedient to be classified as a sinner. The bible mentions persons like you mentioned are called righteous. Repentance merely means that a person is accepting Gods standards, and his laws and is willing to be obedient to him. This is important to a Christian because It is Gods promise and hope that persons live forever. So if a person remains disobedient, they may not have that hope of living forever, or being resurrected.

Answer 10

No one has lived a faultless life, it is impossible, everyone has been jelous of someone, or hated someone, or lied, it's human nature to sin. It's not an accusation, it's the truth. Even christians are not free of sin, the only difference is that when they sin it is forgiven.

Answer 11

All men are created potentially good to carry out an ever-advancing civilization.
It is our ignorance, the source of all evil, which draws us away from the One True God. Repentance means that we realize our ignorance, then we seek for the divine guidance from the Messengers of God to make advancement. The more our knowledge expand, the more we can perform our divine destiny in worshipping God and serving mankind.
Sin and salvation are not something mysterious for threatening or for taking pride; it is only constant education for progress.