Can something that's not a sin?

Question

BECOME a sin if in your heart you believe it's a sin?

E.g: Eating a plum isn't a sin in this particular circumstance. But suppose you had a sane, non-crazy person who believed in his heart of hearts that eating plums WAS a sin.... does it then become a sin for him to eat a plum?

Before you haul out the "the Bible doesn't say that eating plums is a sin," let's think about this: the Bible also doesn't say that playing cards is a sin, but lotsa Christians say it is. The Bible also doesn't say it's a sin for 2 men to marry, but lots and LOTS of Christians say it is. The Bible doesn't say a lot of things are sins that some of us now call sins.

So, if it's not a sin, why not?

If so, why, and are there scriptural supports for this?

Answer 1

In Christianity, a sin is something that separates you from God. If I believe in my heart that eating a plum is a sin, then for me, it will separate me from God. Thus, for me, it's a sin. Is it a sin to God? We can debate that all day just like we could debate the sinfulness of card playing, dancing and celebrating holidays. If something is a sin for you, then don't do it, but that doesn't mean it's a sin for God and/or everyone else.

Answer 2

As a born-again believer in Christ, I live under His grace. All my sins have been forgiven: past, present, and future. I have been made a new man, given a new heart and new desires and no longer am a slave to my old sinful ways. However, my old sinful nature is still with me and I still struggle with sin. Even though the bible does not condemn eating plums, if I believed in my heart that eating plums was sinful, then for me to eat a plum would be sin, because I would have violated my conscience to eat it. This is true even though I live under grace. And, if living under grace, if I do not consider eating plums a sin, then to eat one I have not sinned, as the bible does not condemn the eating of plums and I have not violated my conscience in eating the plum. NOw, if I sat down to a meal with a fellow brother or sister in Christ, who did believe that eating a plum was a sin, even though to do so is not condemned in the bible, and I were to eat a plum, then I would be causing my brother or sister to stumble, which would be a sin.

Because I have been born again and live under God's grace, I have great freedom in Christ. It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles, but what comes out. I am no longer bound by the old laws. I am free to eat or not eat a plum as I desire and to eat or not eat it to God's glory because of that freedom and because it is not condemned as a sin. This freedom I have been given does not apply to what is clearly sin. The bible does indeed very clearly condemn both sexual relations outside of marriage and any sexual relations between same-sex partners, to use your example. So, if I were to engage in sex outside of marriage, or to have homosexual relations with another man, despite my freedom in Christ, both would be sins.

I'll provide scriptural references when I get home and have my bible with me.

Answer 3

I'm not a christian and I don't believe in sin, but this is a very interesting question.
I suppose the biblical(?) answer would be, since sin is a separation from god, if an action or thought caused a person to feel separated from their god, I guess it would be a sin to that person.
Just a thought - I could be completely wrong :)

Answer 4

Not goig to lie, this is the weirdest quesion. If a man dosen't like plums, then let him not eat plums... hahaha. This question dosen't make sense.
The bible does say homesexuality is a sin by the way. It also says that all our sins are equal, so my lying is equal to someone else's homesexuality. We are broken people who sin and mess up, but it is God's grace that saves us. When he looks at us he see's christ. Comming from a christian, if you want to argue about homosexuality and it being a sin, i would argue that way. That is what I belive.

I've also heard that listening to non christian music is a sin, which i think is wack haha. The bible says to belive what god has convicted you of. Personally, i have not be convicted to listen to only christian music.

I'll find the bible quotes for these if you want hah

Answer 5

Paul said " whatever is sin ,in your heart ,is sin."He was talking about meat ,sold in the market place ,that was offered up to idols. Not causing another believer to stumble and eat too, believing it in thier hearts to be sin.
Also see Galatians 5vs'19-21

Answer 6

I don't remember the reference, but I seem to remember there being a place where it says that if you feel guilty about doing something, then for you it is a sin.

My basic philosophy is, if I think it might be a sin, then I probably should avoid it.

Answer 7

Well, a simple thing like plums can cause a person to get into GLUTTONY ... they can't stop at one plum (eating, collecting, or trading) .. .they collect plumbs, eat plumbs, let them spoil, and they keep hording the plumbs ... which causes the plumb gluttony to be sinful.

Or if there is a shortage of plumbs this may cause you to LUST for plumbs ... and lust is sinful too. So, you might have a plumb fetish, and a flood in Oregon may ruin all the plumbs which makes plums a rare commodity. So, you lust, and drool when you see your bff eatting the plum, and lust after the plumb more.

Most all of the innocent gifts that God gives us can be used for good or bad ... question is .... are you using your powers of being a human for good or for bad???

Answer 8

Paul addresses this in Romans 14, the final two verses summarize his thought:

Rom 14:22 Do you have faith? Have it to yourself before God. Blessed is the one not condemning himself in what he approves.
Rom 14:23 But the one doubting, if he eats, he has been condemned, because it is not of faith; and whatever is not of faith is sin.

There are blatant, unquestionable sins spelled out in Scripture, these are obvious and should be avoided by all believers.

We are also told in Romans 13 to live under the laws of whatever city, state or nation we reside, even if we don't agree with them.

Rom 13:1 Let every soul be subject to higher authorities, for there is no authority except from God, but the existing authorities have been ordained by God.
Rom 13:2 So that the one resisting authority has opposed the ordinance of God, and the ones opposing will receive judgment to themselves.
Rom 13:3 For the rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the bad. And do you desire not to fear the authority? Do the good, and you will have praise from it;

Rom 13:5 Because of this, it is necessary to be subject, not only on account of wrath, but also on account of conscience.
Rom 13:6 For on this account you also pay taxes, for they are ministers of God, always giving attention to this very thing.

Anything else is a matter of conscience. Using your card playing example, it is not a sin for me to play cards, the Scriptures do not speak against it, yet if another brother has a gambling problem and card playing causes him problems, it is sin to him. We should respect that and not try to push him to indulge in it. We should not seek to push our sins of conscience on another, nor accept others sins of conscience upon ourselves, it is between the individual and God.

1Co 6:12 All things are lawful to me, but not all things profit. All things are lawful to me, but I will not be ruled by any.

Answer 9

I read a book that described an afterlife that was individualized by each person who died. The amount of torment one experienced directly coincided with the amount of guilt they felt. So a "good" person stealing a pencil may be in a worse position than a "bad" person stealing a car.

This idea isn't exactly Christian, but I thought it loosely related.

Answer 10

If something is not a sin, or a way of living that is contrary to Jesus' way of life, then it is still not a sin.

What it is if it SEEMS like a sin to someone is: a stumbling block, or a way of living, (behaving, thinking) that causes that person to violate their relationship with Jesus.

A fictional example: if I like baseball games, and go to one but my friend won't go with me because he says it's wrong to do something like that because he used to go to too many games, thereby neglecting family, church involvement, a job, or something that was a more important priority than baseball games, especially game attendance in excess, then to him it is sin because his prior excess game attendance was the way he neglected his priorities before, and consequently may have ruined his important relationships, including marriage.

It was not a sin really, but a stumbling block, or an entry way into sin. His addiction to going to games all the time was the sin because it was an addiction, not just simply going to games without it being at the expense of anything important in his life. He was neglecting his priorities, such as family, etc.

Let's continue with this fictional example by saying that he stopped going to games altogether, and got his priorities in order after his wife divorced him, and he got fired and had to get another job.

So when he discovers that I go to baseball games, he thinks I am sinning because of what he went through. I occasionally go to games, but keep my priorities in life straight, so to me it is not a stumbling block, and of course not a sin. But to him it is a real bad sin that I am commiting.

So I should do what the Apostle Paul wrote about in the Bible when he said "I strive to be all things to all people" in order to not lead them into sin or set a bad example for them, so that they might become followers of Jesus Christ. I will not let him know that I go to baseball games anymore so that it does not bother him, or if he does know and tells me not to go, we may discuss how it is okay for me to go, but not for him until he is able to keep priorities straight and go to games also.

(Actually, for 2 men to marry, they would have to be gay, and homosexuality is mentioned as a sin in the New Testament.)