How come some "sins" don't have anything to do with harming others - or yourself?

Question

I asked this yesterday - but I don't think I made myself clear.

As I said... I think that that if everybody lived by the Golden Rule (do unto others as you would have them do unto you) we'd be in a peaceful, beautiful world.

What's the purpose of "sins" that exist - that don't involve breaking the Golden Rule?

What I didn't say was that some of the "sins" (in my opinion) that would come under this category would be...

Drinking alcohol in moderation

Pre-marital sex (both adults consenting)

Homosexuality

Eating meat on Friday (during lent).

Wearing pants if you are a woman.

Not accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior.

I realize that not all religions consider all of these things sins. But some do.

Answer 1

By definition, sin harms you. It may not necessarily harm someone else but it does harm your relationship with God. Sin is whatever keeps you from being in a relationship with God. Some churches say certain things are sins or blasphemous when it is really a denominational "rule" , such as no alcohol.
You have a pretty broad spectrum there on your list . If you are a Christian, some of those would be considered sins no matter what the type of Christian you are. If you want a more specific answer, feel free to email me and share more information and I'd be happy to discuss it with you.
Sue

Answer 2

i'm a catholic and it's not a "Sin" to eat meat. it's something you CHOOSE to accept as a Catholic - it's a very simple sacrafice to offer for all Christ offered us. you don't HAVE to be Catholic.

If you don't accept Jesus as your Saviour - it's not a sin. If you're Jewish its your life. While i pray for those people, it's not a "sin" persay as you don't follow the Christian "rules"

wearing pants as a woman..... that's a new one nowadays.

homosexuality is sripture based. it's not the person being a homosexual it's the sex act.

premarital sex -- i don't know a woman and even some men, who have not been harmed by pre-marital sex. even a drunken one night stand has mental reprecutions. you are degrading yourself and the gift God gave you. your body is your temple and opening yourself to STD's & pregnancy -- there is NOTHING 100% failsafe except abstinence.

can't commen on driking in moderation as even Christ made sure there was wine for the wedding.

were yoy ever short with a teller or cahsier or other person and thought nothing of it?? who's to say you didn't push that person (who might have been having a lousy day) over the edge? i work in the hospitality industry and often - just smiling at someone can change their day. when someone comes in and i in a foul mood - the entire office changes and we don't let them near the guests. something as simple as your attitude toward others can completely have an inpact on someone's life....

Answer 3

Quite a laundry list.

Only some people think drinking in moderation is a sin.

Pre-marital sex would depend on what you view as the purpose of sex to say whether or not it's a sin. My view (Catholic) is that it's a gift from God to be used to unify a married couple and produce children. To use it otherwise trivialized it. You do what you want to do, but this is what I believe.

Homosexuality in itself isn't a sin. The sin is sexual intercourse outside of marriage. Even if two people of the same gender could get married, they cannot create children on their own. I do believe that the states should have the right to allow civil unions, but churches do not have to perform them.

Catholics don't eat meat on Friday because God asked us not to do that. It's a little sacrifice we make for the glory of God. Many of us do it every Friday, for just that reason...to glorify God. He asked Adam and Eve not to partake of the fruit from the tree of knowledge...not because it wasn't good fruit. He asked them to do it because He asked them to do it.

I don't know who says women wearing pants is a sin, but Catholics don't.

Not accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior... well, that's kind of the whole point. If you want to be saved by Jesus, you have to accept that He will do that. That's where the faith part comes in.

The first part of the Golden Rule is to love God, than to love others as we do ourselves. In grade school, Sister used to say, "Love the sinner, hate the sin." Works for me.

Answer 4

The interesting thing about sin is that, unlike the good things we want, sin has no real purpose and no real existence. Sin is a "not-thing"; it is a denial of the good; it is ultimately an emptiness.

It is a black hole in the universe of our inner lives.

You've heard of black holes - incredibly dense matter with such powerful gravitational pull that they attract everything into it, and nothing can escape - not even light. These black holes register in photographs as black blotches on an otherwise starry field of sky.

That's what sin is like. From our vantage point, a sinful action may appear as if it is an easy way to get a good thing, something attractive, even delicious. Irresistibly delicious.

But sin always sooner or later turns out to be a rip-off. A bad trip. A black hole.

God doesn't just want us to refrain from harming one another; He wants us to *love* one another, and to love *Him*. Sin destroys love - not all at once, but bit by bit, the way a little steady drip of water can wear away at rock. That's what sin does to love, to life, to joy.

God built us for life, love, and joy. He has told us what to do to build those things into our lives, and He has told us what we need to do to make sure nothing eats away at those things.

Now it is up to us to listen . . .

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I can't say what other Christian churches teach, but the Catholic Church does not teach that homosexuality is a sin. Our sexual orientation - one way or the other - is not sinful. Our choosing to act out sexually in ways that God has forbidden is what would be sinful. There are many ways that straight people sin, too, and straight people who attack and insult gay people just for being gay are sinning, too. Sin is sin.

I have never heard that the Catholic Church teaches that "wearing pants if you are a woman" is a sin.

Answer 5

It's the camel's nose under the tent. In other words, once they're in your life, they'll get in all the way.

BTW. The Golden Rule came from the Ancient Egyptian's Book Of The Dead.

Answer 6

Drinking alcohol in moderation

(NO STIPULATION AGAINST.)

Pre-marital sex (both adults consenting)
(FORBIDDEN BY GOD)

Homosexuality
(cONDEMMED-Leviticus 20:13 (New International Version)

13 " 'If a man lies with a man as one lies with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They must be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.



Eating meat on Friday (during lent).
(NO SCRIPTURAL BASIS)

Wearing pants if you are a woman
(personal preference).

Not accepting Jesus Christ as your Savior
(Choose Christ & live.
(Reject Christ die.).

Answer 7

The golden rule is man-made, for Jesus said, I give you a new commandment, "love one another as I have loved you"

Answer 8

Some of the 10 Commandments don't even have anything to DO with morality.

Answer 9

These are signs that the religions who created them are invested in control by fear.

Answer 10

its just a way for some people to criticize and hold control over others.

religion has always been used for the control of people.