Will somebody explain how a sin is a sin. This is one reason I have converted to non believer.?

Question

Rape is not the same as stealing a candy bar. If god sees it that way then i think he is a fool and i wont worship him any more. I was raised baptist.

Answer 1

You are right; it is ridiculous! The Catholic Church teaches what is found in the Bible -- that there are sins which are mortal, and sins which are not.

"There is sin which is mortal...but there is sin which is not mortal." (1John 5:16,17; RSV)

Answer 2

I know this is long, but I want to be sure I explain this thoroughly. The notion that God sees every sin equally is incorrect. I base this on the fact that different sins in the Old Testament had very different consequences if the offender was caught. Period.

Also, there are things called "weighter matters of the law" as quoted by Jesus. Here's the quote:

Mat 23:23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

The answer to your concerns is something that obviously someone did not teach you along the way. That is this. There is a condition of sin and there are individual acts of sin. "Sin" is simply a transgression of the laws of God. It's not that they are transgressors because the broke God's laws. That's not it. They broke God's laws because they are transgressors. People aren't sinners because they sin. They sin because they are sinners. There's more.

It's carnal, unrestrained human nature - a nature passed on to mankind by Adam's original transgression. There's scripture to prove that as well (I've cited it below.)

Honestly, this stuff is in the Bible. If someone told you that rape and stealing a candy bar is the same, I don't agree and I don't believe God does either. God can forgive certain individual sins, but that doesn't solve the sinner's problem. The nature and overpowering desire to sin has to be removed. God gets to the root of the problem when a person surrenders, allows God to work in them, and is born again. Then, that individual will start cleaning house and actually get rid of junk that has held him in habitual sin.

Answer 3

The reason we see it as different is because we are sinners. We also see time as having a beginning and an end. God has no timeframe.

You have to understand that God is Holy. He cannot accept any sin no matter how big or small in our eyes. The only example I can give would be think of a white sheet of paper thats brand new, no marks or blemishes and then think of it with 1 red line down it. It's marked, it's no longer a clean white sheet of paper. It may be a narrow mark, or a short mark, but it is a mark.

Another analogy would be, if you dropped a piece of cake in the toilet, and the toilet was clean, would you eat the cake?
What if it wasn't clean, would you eat it? No, either way it's still been in the toilet.

God is Holy. Talk to Him, He wants to hear from you. Seek Him and He will answer your question better than anyone on here through His Word, the Bible. I promise.

Answer 4

Sin is a sin, could be replaced with wrong is wrong. It says nothing about degrees of wrongness, so there is no indication that all sin is equal, but the question doesn't really matter because all man is with sin. I want you to hear me out on this, there is a difference between sins and SIN. All men committ sins, but all man has a SINful nature. This is why Jesus spoke of the motivations of people, when he talked of lusting after a woman in your hearts, or murderous rage within you. Inwards we have sin. The sins we committ are secondary. The problem with our connection with God lay in the fact that inwardly we have a bent towards wrongness. It may be pride (this is the biggest, and I have yet to meet someone who is not filled to the brim with it/ insecurity is actually a form of pride, all though an inside out form, but I shall not explain that now. it may be greed, jealousy, anger, etc etc, but inwardly we all desire to be our own God. We lack humility, and we all end up broken. The sinful nature is the real issue, but back to your point it isn't that God is not extremely offended by rapes and murders, it is that when we want to start weighting out one sin over another, we are back to our own self again wishing to justify our wrong actions. In essence the message is wrong is wrong. When we want to create little sins and big sins we are looking for a liscence to be our own God, and we are looking to hide from ourselves that the little sins are still wrong. Whatever our sin big or small, the message is to be honest, there is a bent towards wrongness within us. the person who stole the candy bar is selfish and greedy and has a disregaurd for justice, fairness, and right and wrong. We all have sin, and we can't make ourselves feel better by saying well at least I'm not like that sinner over there, that is what the pharisees did. We would be better suited to examine our own wrongness rather than evaluate others as more wrong.

Answer 5

The definitions of sin largely depends upon the denomination/religion. Orginally, to sin meant that a person had done something that broke the covanent that that person had with their god(s). Which is why being a sinner was so vile, you weren't just doing something bad/wrong but you were also lying and defying your own god(s).

If you could uphold something then you would leave it out when you swore the covanent between yourself and your god(s). example--Deut 23:21-23 If you make a vow to the LORD your God, do not be slow to pay it, for the LORD your God will certainly demand it of you and you will be guilty of sin. But if you refrain from making a vow, you will not be guilty. Whatever your lips utter you must be sure to do, because you made your vow freely to the LORD your God with your own mouth.

Technically, rape is not a sin in any of the 6 covanents within the biblical scriptures. Under old law, the rapist would just pay the father of the rape victum 30 shekels of silver and marry his rape victum, which he could not divorce. Deut 22:28-29.

Answer 6

No, rape is not the same as stealing a candy bar. And while I'm not God, I don't imagine God sees the two as identical, either.

But both _are_ imperfect.

Recall that the original meaning of sin is akin to "missing the mark" - like not hitting the target when shooting an arrow.

It's like parking in a school zone and murder are both _illegal_ - but most of us see one as worse than the other.

Answer 7

Are either of the above offenses good, proper and good things to do? Something wrong is still something wrong. Scenarios: #1. If a little kid is given a test asking what 10+10 is and he writes down 19 and the kid next to him writes down 352, are they both still wrong? The first kid only missed the right answer by 1, so why are they equally wrong? #2. It's against the law to drive too fast..speed. It's also against the law to steal a car (grand theft auto) A person can get arrested and punished for either offense. The punishment for one offense may be greater than the other but they are both against the law and wrongful things to do. I think it's about the same way concerning your question. Two wrongs (or one little wrong and one greater wrong) don't make a right.

Answer 8

To "Sin" is to transgress the will of the power elite, and by extension, the Will of God. Rape can be equated with stealing in that one is taking someting that does not belong to one. Obviously, rape is a serious transgression, in fact, it is a heinous crime.

The Will of God has been interpereted, and misinterpereted, many times by many people over the years. Ritual Prostitution was once considered Holy. Many Popes fathered bastards. We are still dealing with Pedophile priests.

The Catholic Church has a compendium of the degree of Sin, based on the act.

"He is a Barbarian, and thinks that the customs of his tribe are the Laws of Nature"
-GB Shaw "Cleopatra" Act 2

In other words, belief, however frevent, does not make it so.

Answer 9

Sin is a term used mainly in a religious context to describe an act that violates a moral rule, or the state of having committed such a violation.

Sin is a general term. There are just different types of sins and each sin has a unique magnitude of evilness. Early christians used to believe in restraining themselves from 7 deadly sins.

Answer 10

A sin is a sin in the sense that both actions are wrong in God's eyes.

It is wrong to rape a woman, and you will be punished according to your sin.

Stealing the candy bar was indeed wrong, and you will be punished according to the degree of the sin.

Whosoever has done even an atom's weight of good will behold it; and whosoever had done even an atom's weight of evil will behold that. - 99:7-8

Can you expect reward for anything but what you do? - 27:93

Answer 11

Then consider, is it easier to forgive someone for stealing a candy bar or raping someone? By seeing all sins as equals it both makes it possible for all people to be forgiven, and detours people from sinning of any kind.