What is sin?

Question

Please notice, I am not asking what things are sins.

There are lots of ideas out here about what is and isn't sin. Everything from sex on a desert island to following a particular religion. So the question to ask seems to be not what deeds or thoughts are sins, but rather, what defines sin?

Answer 1

Sin is an outdated concept. It's a list of things in the Bible that supposedly God laid down as laws, if you get straighten out all the inconsistencies.

In reality, morality predates any given religion. As long as people attempt to live near each other, they will make up rules for doing so. Society embodies those rules in its laws. Religion tends to embody old versions of those rules with some superstitious nonsense thrown in.

The concept of sin actually makes people morally lazy. Religious leaders spoon-feed their converts what they consider right and wrong, but discourage any reasoned discourse on why something is right or wrong. Therefore, when discussing morality with Christians (and other religious people), they frequently just default to their "God said so" and really can't speak further on the topic. As long as someone gives them the list of sins, they're happy.

Another use for sins is to keep people in a perpetual state of feeling guilty. The list is kept strict enough that nobody who is human can avoid breaking the rules on a daily basis, especially since even thinking about doing something "sinful" is considered a sin. This makes a self-created market for religion and helps it keep its converts filling the offering trays.

Answer 2

Sin is a silly dream of judgment.

The first thing that someone should be considering is whether the idea of sin is actually real.

If God is supposed to be perfect how could She have made anything or anyone that wasn't perfect.
Think about it. The idea of sin assumes certain things about God that seem highly unlikely.

First it assumes a God who is too incompetent to organize a simple educational field excursion and figure out a way to get all of the students home safely.

How likely is this that God would not be smart enough to come up with a plan for our salvation that is going to work 100 percent of the time?

It also assumes that God must have created us imperfect if we are sinners.

One might assume that God would be able to create someone perfect each and every time if he chose to. Assuming God is capable of this, then it follows logically that we must be perfect creations if we are actually creations of this perfect God.

Unless of course you are saying that God chose to create us imperfect.

If God created us imperfect then anything that may go wrong is Gods fault, not ours. This seems a bit illogical at best so I think that we need to assume that What God creates would have to be perfect.

If this is the case and Gods creations are perfect, then nothing that we can do could change what God created perfect and make it imperfect unless we think that we are more powerful than God is.

How likely is it that we the creation could be more powerful than the creator. I personally find this idea somewhat amusing, and a bit absurd.

Religion tells us that God is perfect. If this is true then it could hardly be logically for Gods creations to be considered to be anything less than perfect.

If this is the case and we are perfect creations of a perfect God then Nothing that we can ever do could possibly change this perfection that God willed, unless we were so powerful that our choices could override and change the will of God.

How likely is that????

Think about it.

Love and blessings
don

Source --- Course in miracles

Answer 3

To sin is to miss the mark of perfection.Romans 3:23 says "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of god"...to sin is to fall short on jehovah's (God)perfect standards We are all sinners or we are all imperfect. If you look at Psalm 51:5 you appreciate why sin is imperfection Ps 51:5 says:"look! with error I was brought forth with birth pains, And in sin my mother conceived me.

Answer 4

ANSWER:
Sin is simply acting outside of God's will.
Want more? Well, God has a will for man. Basically it is to be able to avoid Satan's deception (Remember the folly of Adam & Eve). God already plans on destroying Satan. The thing is, we wants us to choose to be like him and stay away from Satan. He won't make us be Christians, because he wants us to do it out of our own hearts. He's not a slavemaster. He is simply a loving parent who set 10 rules for us to live by. Since we are prone to sin (disobey his rules), he asks that if we turn away from that lifestyle and follow in the ways of Jesus we will be fine. All in all, sin is going outside his will for us.
I'm going to cut it off here because I feel the question has been answered.

Answer 5

Many religions have the concept of sin, and it seems to usually be violating some kind of law/ethical/moral code. Someone (God, or perhaps man pretending to be God) thought up things that they believed humans shouldn't do, and declare that if you do it, it's a sin.

Answer 6

Sin is unbelief.

In the garden they didn't believe God's word.
He said the day you eat from that tree you shall surely die. They ate and did die spiritually. They didn't die physically. Adam died at 925 years old.
It was a spiritual death. If God says something and you say no, then it is sin.
The Bible is God's word. You read it, the new testament. It says believe what Jesus did for you and you say no.
Various reasons why you would. Primary being that you are not a sinner and do not need a Savior.
The Bible says you are a sinner. You say no. Then not believing Gos'd word makes you a sinner.

Answer 7

Sin is completely abstract and indescribable in a literal sense. The only thing you could say is, it’s something that you do that is bad (or wrong or evil), but the problem is that the words “bad”, “wrong” or “evil” now need to be described.

Sin is just a list of things in your head you’ve decided you shouldn’t do.

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I see a lot of people defining sin in terms of god, but the term "god" is an abstract term as well.

Answer 8

Don H –

When children are born they can’t walk or talk. They have to grow and learn. When any baby learns to walk he falls down quite frequently.

We have the ability to live spiritual lives much closer to Jesus, but most of us are like infants, spiritually speaking. We try to stand, but we fall down a lot. That is what we call sin.

So saying that if God is perfect he couldn’t make beings that are imperfect, misses the point. We have the ability to grow spiritually if we chose to do so. Sometimes we have to fall down a lot before we reach the point where we are ready to try to stand.

Answer 9

A definition of sin is doing what is wrong or not doing what is right according to God's rules (1 John 3:4). If God says "Do not lie" and you lie, then you have sinned. If God says "Do not steal" and you steal, then you have sinned. According to God, sin separates you from Him (Isaiah 59:2).

Answer 10

A sin is something that is contrary (or directly against) the will of God.

The different answers for what qualifies as sin, is from all the different beliefs about what exactly the will of God is.