Does sinning depend a lot on societal norms?

Question

Cause you know, if the Puritans had it right, we'd all be screwed anyway.

Answer 1

Sin by contextual definition in the Torah means to transgress or 'miss the mark" to either perform a command given by God or to disobey one of the prohibitions given by God.

It depends ENTIRELY on what religion ( religion being belief in a deity with dogma/doctrine) you adhere to what BEHAVIORS constitute SIN.

To a Jew, one who ascribes to the eternal covenant of Israel through the Tanakh ( the Jewish Bible) it is a serious sin to consider that any entity other than the Omnipotent, Incorporeal, Monotheistic indivisible ONE, Creator could have the capacity to atone or pardon sin. A Jew cannot rely on human sacrifice for this purpose, either since the most serious sins throughout the Jewish Bible meting out the harshest punishments for anyone in Israel who adopted any of the practices of the surrounding peoples, or relied on some form of human sacrifice to placate their deities..When Baal or Molech were followed by any part or King or whole of Israel, the worst punishments were meted out BECAUSE those people relied on human sacrifice. The punishment of Gehennom, the burning of souls in the pits, was reserved only for those who sacrificed their children to Molech. Human sacrifice not being any part of the concept of the covenant of Israel was one of the most distinguishing features that separated the Hebrews from others for many centuries.. So, for a Jew to consider Jesus as a medium to atone for sin would be a very serious sin. A believing Jew considers this blasphemy, idolatry and total separation from their connection to God.

While societies often form around religious beliefs..since SIN by definition is about following dogma, it is more that societal norms dependent on dogma determine what behaviors are sin.

Different groups interpret different passages to form new "sins".

To the strictly observant Christian one sins if they don't pray to or through Jesus, if they work on their sabbath of Sunday.

To the observant Jew one sins if they do not pray directly to God but to or through any other thing on earth or in heaven before God ( violation of second commandment in Exodus) or if they work on the sabbath ( saturday ) of the Bible.

Different dogma..different behaviors...different sins.
Hope that clears it up.

EDIT to note and call attention to people who completely ignore the DEFINITION of the word sin. You don't even have to take my word for it but look it up ..it is ALL about religious dogma. sin means to transgress commands of God.
If you leave God or any religion's dogma out of the equation, you're not talking about SIN but about other terms.
Evil or immorality based on considerations other than RELIGIOUS precept are OUTSIDE the context of the word SIN.period.

Answer 2

A lot of it does have to do with that. Violating the Old Testament law was seen as "sinning" in those times, yet Christians don't even try and follow all those laws anymore. Even Jesus broke them.

Sin is also situational. Lying could be a sin in one instance, and acceptable, even justifiable and warranted, in another. Such as Rahab in the Bible, or people hiding Jews in Poland during the Holocaust.

Answer 3

God is judge, and God alone!

He sets the standards which are not variable due to societal norms, opinions of popes, church doctrine (like Mormon fudging on "bigamy" multiple-wives), the laws of man, pier pressure, family standards, nor the latest Hollywood trends.

He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.

It is getting harder to obey Him, but it is always the right choice for the times of our lives today, and eternal joy tomorrow!

Answer 4

The first social norms was the Rulles of God.
Now there are many rulles does by men without God.........
For be near God in this very complicate world must live in TRUE, the Truth be the light in our life, even we lost in the face of an men, we know that God sees our true hart and His word will be the last world which will defend us , must believe and whait with patience, and accept the humility.

There are men who can keep the rulles of God in our world too.
Men must learn to keep the rulles.
From an 2 years old child, must ask to keep 2 rulles, from 4 years ols 4 rulles....and so one.........

Answer 5

God's laws are universal and eternal. God is pure Love. Loving acts bring you in tune with the nature of God and fear or hate based acts remove you further from the nature of God.

This is God's only law and it applies equally to all regardless of belief system, race, sex, location, et. al.

Sin as generally defined is purely a construct of the human mind and varies according to the conventions of society. The Old Testament for example called it a sin for a menstruating woman to attend church.

Jesus got it right - there is only one commandment - Love God above all, and Love your neighbor as yourself. It's all about the Love.

Answer 6

i think maybe it does

what we may consider a sin, may not be considered as such by other people.

for example, when I was in Europe... I remember seeing a picture of a topless woman in the newspaper... and that totally suprised me. But to them, it was no big deal...

Answer 7

In old days, that was true, but now sin is anything that is normal, but against the way things were in old days.

Answer 8

No. The view of the sinful action does.

Answer 9

Yes, because I'm sure that somewhere I've committed about 20 sins just by answering this question.

Answer 10

no it depends on how hot is your sister!!!