I may try to do better for the sake of being good, but in the end, I don't believe my sin to be that serious. Tomorrow is another day and maybe I'll care more then like I should.

What does "sin" mean to you?

Doing wrong or neglecting to do right.

Create Account said:

---

Doing wrong or neglecting to do right.

---

I believe sin means missing the mark or falling short of the best version of us that God created us to be.

God loves us and Scripture states we are adopted children of God. Much like our earthly parents, whatever we do God will still love us.

He hates sin because it harms us.

I get that. I just find myself not viewing it as all that serious.

Create Account said:

---

I get that. I just find myself not viewing it as all that serious.

---

So you want to harm yourself? Because that is what sin does.

And sin is serious enough that God sent His Son to die an excruciating death so that our sin would be forgiven.

Create Account said:

---

I get that. I just find myself not viewing it as all that serious.

---

dermdoc said:

---

Create Account said:

---

I get that. I just find myself not viewing it as all that serious.

---

So you want to harm yourself? Because that is what sin does.

And sin is serious enough that God sent His Son to die an excruciating death so that our sin would be forgiven.

---

No, I don't want to harm myself. Is that your motivation every time you sin? To harm yourself?

747Ag said:

---

Create Account said:

---

I get that. I just find myself not viewing it as all that serious.

---

---

I don't get it.

I'm going to throw out some ideas as to why I would think we do not think our sins are serious. Some of these may apply...

• We do not agree with God about the definition is sin.
• We have not lived long enough to see the consequences of sin and the impact it has on others.
• The consequences of sin are not always immediate.
• The downstream consequences of sin are often never known to us.
• We don't believe God and the biblical accounts of the results of sins or the severity or understand them
• We minimize the wrath of God
• We minimize the wrath of God poured out on an innocent person.

Create Account said:

---

Doing wrong or neglecting to do right.

---

Yes and as Doc pointed out, sin is us missing the mark of who we were meant to be.

I would add that all sin is serious because at the spiritual level it erodes our luster that God instilled in us when we were created. Only God can restore this shine that is why the Bible and the prophets call on us to repent and turn back to God.

The good news is that God the father has sent us his son so that we might believe in him and share in his divine friendship as adopted brothers and sisters. So that when we fall, we can get up again- ask forgiveness and move forward.

DirtDiver said:

---

I'm going to throw out some ideas as to why I would think we do not think our sins are serious. Some of these may apply...

• We do not agree with God about the definition is sin.
• We have not lived long enough to see the consequences of sin and the impact it has on others.
• The consequences of sin are not always immediate.
• The downstream consequences of sin are often never known to us.
• We don't believe God and the biblical accounts of the results of sins or the severity or understand them
• We minimize the wrath of God
• We minimize the wrath of God poured out on an innocent person.

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent - I hurt someone or disappointed them. But otherwise, I guess it boils down to me not believing it's all that bad or that there will be any serious consequences. Maybe because I've never experienced the wrath of God in any apparent way. dermdoc pointed out that God's son experienced it, but I haven't.

"the wages of sin is death" Romans 6:23

Sin, disobedience to God's will leads to spiritual death and separation from God.

The second part of the verse offers hope...

"but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord", meaning that salvation and eternal life are offered as a free gift through faith in Jesus.

Quote:

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Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent

---

Take smoking for example. The consequences of smoking are not immediately apparent. One doesn't smoke one cigarette then immediately develop lung cancer. Sin distorts the divine image within humanity. It draws one further from communion with God.

Or, another analogy, it is taking a wrong turn while driving. You may not even realize it at the time, and if you turn back to the right path immediately, you may even avoid the consequence of driving far out of the way. But if you don't see the wrong turn as a big deal, before you know it, you're just that much further from your destination.

Create Account said:

---

DirtDiver said:

---

I'm going to throw out some ideas as to why I would think we do not think our sins are serious. Some of these may apply...

• We do not agree with God about the definition is sin.
• We have not lived long enough to see the consequences of sin and the impact it has on others.
• The consequences of sin are not always immediate.
• The downstream consequences of sin are often never known to us.
• We don't believe God and the biblical accounts of the results of sins or the severity or understand them
• We minimize the wrath of God
• We minimize the wrath of God poured out on an innocent person.

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent - I hurt someone or disappointed them. But otherwise, I guess it boils down to me not believing it's all that bad or that there will be consequences. Maybe because I've never experienced the wrath of God in any apparent way. dermdoc pointed out that God's son experienced it, but I haven't.

---

Aren't you changed by all of your choices, big or small? Something that seemingly has 'no consequence' still changes how you think or act and reinforces itself the more you do it.

If you look at a pornographic image and nothing bad happens, you may keep looking. Over time how you think about women changes and your brain rewires itself to view pleasure as coming from a phone rather than a person. This small thing of no consequence over time completely changes you for the worse.

Perhaps your idea of 'consequences' isn't thoroughly thought out? In Anglicanism we confess what we've done and left undone. Could you have written your wife a note this morning? Was it a sin not to? But would it have helped and made her life better? And trained you to do it naturally over time?

Small choices add up.

Create Account said:

---

DirtDiver said:

---

I'm going to throw out some ideas as to why I would think we do not think our sins are serious. Some of these may apply...

• We do not agree with God about the definition is sin.
• We have not lived long enough to see the consequences of sin and the impact it has on others.
• The consequences of sin are not always immediate.
• The downstream consequences of sin are often never known to us.
• We don't believe God and the biblical accounts of the results of sins or the severity or understand them
• We minimize the wrath of God
• We minimize the wrath of God poured out on an innocent person.

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent - I hurt someone or disappointed them. But otherwise, I guess it boils down to me not believing it's all that bad or that there will be any serious consequences. Maybe because I've never experienced the wrath of God in any apparent way. dermdoc pointed out that God's son experienced it, but I haven't.

---

I did not mean to convey that God unleashed His wrath on Jesus. That goes against the character of God in my opinion.

Jesus took our sins upon Himself willingly.

I think Adam and Eve would say sin is pretty serious.

PacifistAg said:

---

Quote:

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent

---

Take smoking for example. The consequences of smoking are not immediately apparent. One doesn't smoke one cigarette then immediately develop lung cancer. Sin distorts the divine image within humanity. It draws one further from communion with God.

Or, another analogy, it is taking a wrong turn while driving. You may not even realize it at the time, and if you turn back to the right path immediately, you may even avoid the consequence of driving far out of the way. But if you don't see the wrong turn as a big deal, before you know it, you're just that much further from your destination.

---

What does that look like spiritually? Because I may be there. I think last time I was here I expressed that I am growing apathetic. I rarely pray. And the "we fall so we can get up again, ask forgiveness and move forward" has had me spinning my wheels for years. I look back on my life and see no progress. If anything, I have regressed since I became a Christian and can only conclude I'm a hypocrite. Which hinders my prayers.

dermdoc said:

---

Create Account said:

---

DirtDiver said:

---

I'm going to throw out some ideas as to why I would think we do not think our sins are serious. Some of these may apply...

• We do not agree with God about the definition is sin.
• We have not lived long enough to see the consequences of sin and the impact it has on others.
• The consequences of sin are not always immediate.
• The downstream consequences of sin are often never known to us.
• We don't believe God and the biblical accounts of the results of sins or the severity or understand them
• We minimize the wrath of God
• We minimize the wrath of God poured out on an innocent person.

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent - I hurt someone or disappointed them. But otherwise, I guess it boils down to me not believing it's all that bad or that there will be any serious consequences. Maybe because I've never experienced the wrath of God in any apparent way. dermdoc pointed out that God's son experienced it, but I haven't.

---

I did not mean to convey that God unleashed His wrath on Jesus. That goes against the character of God in my opinion.

Jesus took our sins upon Himself willingly.

---

He not only took our sins, but he experienced the consequences immediately, right? I haven't in that way. Maybe little nudges, but not like him. That's all I'm saying. And to be honest, I think this boils down to me not believing I ever will.

Create Account said:

---

PacifistAg said:

---

Quote:

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent

---

Take smoking for example. The consequences of smoking are not immediately apparent. One doesn't smoke one cigarette then immediately develop lung cancer. Sin distorts the divine image within humanity. It draws one further from communion with God.

Or, another analogy, it is taking a wrong turn while driving. You may not even realize it at the time, and if you turn back to the right path immediately, you may even avoid the consequence of driving far out of the way. But if you don't see the wrong turn as a big deal, before you know it, you're just that much further from your destination.

---

What does that look like spiritually? Because I may be there. I think last time I was here I expressed that I am growing apathetic. I rarely pray. And the "we fall so we can get up again, ask forgiveness and move forward" has had me spinning my wheels for years. I look back on my life and see no progress. If anything, I have regressed since I became a Christian and can only conclude I'm a hypocrite. Which hinders my prayers.

---

If Christians are brutally honest, our entire lives from the moment of faith are roller coasters of walking faithfully at times and in the very next moment making sinful choices, wrestling with sinful thoughts, and reacting in horrible immoral ways or equally horrible self-righteous ways. Jesus alone is without sin.

The starting point of walking again is often getting back to the basics and wrestling with tough questions. Do you believe Christianity is all about living up to an impossible moral standard or religious practices or have you gone from being spiritually dead to being spiritually live by faith in Jesus?

Side note illustration: Our culture is hypersexualized. The last 20-30 years a 'hook-up' culture has been sold through television and media. Just about the worst one will hear about sex is that it's wrong to cheat on someone. There are unknown killers as well. One being the HPV virus that is an STD that can lead to cervical cancer. My sister dated a "player" - one not committed to her alone and died from cervical cancer. While not conclusive the evidence provides that as a potential cause of her death. What seems innocent and fun now with little consequences may have a snowball effect. She now has a 2 daughters without a mother and a husband without a wife.

Questions to reflect on:
What good other than temporary pleasure has sin produced in your life?
How many broken relationships in your life and the lives of others can you tie to sin?

Create Account said:

---

PacifistAg said:

---

Quote:

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent

---

Take smoking for example. The consequences of smoking are not immediately apparent. One doesn't smoke one cigarette then immediately develop lung cancer. Sin distorts the divine image within humanity. It draws one further from communion with God.

Or, another analogy, it is taking a wrong turn while driving. You may not even realize it at the time, and if you turn back to the right path immediately, you may even avoid the consequence of driving far out of the way. But if you don't see the wrong turn as a big deal, before you know it, you're just that much further from your destination.

---

What does that look like spiritually? Because I may be there. I think last time I was here I expressed that I am growing apathetic. I rarely pray. And the "we fall so we can get up again, ask forgiveness and move forward" has had me spinning my wheels for years. I look back on my life and see no progress. If anything, I have regressed since I became a Christian and can only conclude I'm a hypocrite. Which hinders my prayers.

---

I'll be honest, this sounds similar to where I was. To some degree at least. I found myself in almost a spiritual wilderness. I was attending a great church, but I just felt like I had begun to go through the motions. Then I visited an Antiochian Orthodox Church, not knowing it was Pentecost Sunday. I experienced God in a way I had never before. I began to adopt Orthodox spiritual practices, and everyone around began to see a change. Even my daughter said she "likes how you've become all Jesus-y". But my day-to-day life didn't really change much in terms of how I treated and interacted with others.

I have described my experience of inquiring into Orthodoxy as "immersion therapy". I wake up and light my incense, say my morning prayers, read my morning Psalms, read Psalms 50 about repentance, say the Creed, and pray before the icon of Christ and the icon of the Theotokos. Then I go throughout my day, especially when in stressful meetings, and using my prayer beads as I pray the Jesus Prayer. I have a small diptych in my office of Christ and of the Theotokos. I then end the night with my evening prayers, and during the season of Great Lent, my family and I will do our daily "Pilgrimage to Pascha" study.

None of that is to say I'm special or anything like that, but to just highlight how immersive it is and how beneficial it is to my faith and relationship with Christ. I still sin. I still fall short and take a wrong turn. But it has rejuvenated my faith. The constant prayer, the constant repentance...all of it...was the balm for the apathy I had developed because it's drawn me so much closer in to my Savior.

That sin, that turning down the wrong road, wasn't dramatic on my end. I didn't feel the consequences immediately. Heck, I probably didn't even realize just how far I had gone down that wrong path until I began to change course back to Him. That's the most dangerous type of "missing the mark". When you don't even realize it because you don't see the consequences.

Create Account said:

---

dermdoc said:

---

Create Account said:

---

DirtDiver said:

---

I'm going to throw out some ideas as to why I would think we do not think our sins are serious. Some of these may apply...

• We do not agree with God about the definition is sin.
• We have not lived long enough to see the consequences of sin and the impact it has on others.
• The consequences of sin are not always immediate.
• The downstream consequences of sin are often never known to us.
• We don't believe God and the biblical accounts of the results of sins or the severity or understand them
• We minimize the wrath of God
• We minimize the wrath of God poured out on an innocent person.

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent - I hurt someone or disappointed them. But otherwise, I guess it boils down to me not believing it's all that bad or that there will be any serious consequences. Maybe because I've never experienced the wrath of God in any apparent way. dermdoc pointed out that God's son experienced it, but I haven't.

---

I did not mean to convey that God unleashed His wrath on Jesus. That goes against the character of God in my opinion.

Jesus took our sins upon Himself willingly.

---

He not only took our sins, but he experienced the consequences immediately, right? I haven't in that way. Maybe little nudges, but not like him. That's all I'm saying. And to be honest, I think this boils down to me not believing I ever will.

---

You will one day. God offers us all choices. You are in a place where you can choose to do what you know is right and avoid what you know is wrong despite not having the guilt and pains associated with it. However, if you go the other way, all of those choices eventually catch up to you. Then you will feel it and understand.

Rather than being upset or discomforted that you haven't had these consequences yet and are not riddled with guilt, count it as a blessing that you haven't had that challenge yet. You can view it as an opportunity and gift from God that you may not have to learn the hard way, as so many Christians have. You can wait for the consequences to kick in if you want, but you have a wonderful opportunity in front of you right now.

Sin is not what you think it is. Sin is what God knows it to be.

Any unconfessed sin in your life separates you from your Holy and Righteous Creator.

If you confess your sin and profess the Lord Jesus Christ as the perfect Son of God who lived, died, and rose the third day, the penalty for your sin has been paid. That doesn't mean you'll never sin again - it means your sin has been forgiven.

PacifistAg said:

---

Create Account said:

---

PacifistAg said:

---

Quote:

---

Yes, it becomes serious to me when the consequences are immediately apparent

---

Take smoking for example. The consequences of smoking are not immediately apparent. One doesn't smoke one cigarette then immediately develop lung cancer. Sin distorts the divine image within humanity. It draws one further from communion with God.

Or, another analogy, it is taking a wrong turn while driving. You may not even realize it at the time, and if you turn back to the right path immediately, you may even avoid the consequence of driving far out of the way. But if you don't see the wrong turn as a big deal, before you know it, you're just that much further from your destination.

---

What does that look like spiritually? Because I may be there. I think last time I was here I expressed that I am growing apathetic. I rarely pray. And the "we fall so we can get up again, ask forgiveness and move forward" has had me spinning my wheels for years. I look back on my life and see no progress. If anything, I have regressed since I became a Christian and can only conclude I'm a hypocrite. Which hinders my prayers.

---

I'll be honest, this sounds similar to where I was. To some degree at least. I found myself in almost a spiritual wilderness. I was attending a great church, but I just felt like I had begun to go through the motions. Then I visited an Antiochian Orthodox Church, not knowing it was Pentecost Sunday. I experienced God in a way I had never before. I began to adopt Orthodox spiritual practices, and everyone around began to see a change. Even my daughter said she "likes how you've become all Jesus-y". But my day-to-day life didn't really change much in terms of how I treated and interacted with others.

I have described my experience of inquiring into Orthodoxy as "immersion therapy". I wake up and light my incense, say my morning prayers, read my morning Psalms, read Psalms 50 about repentance, say the Creed, and pray before the icon of Christ and the icon of the Theotokos. Then I go throughout my day, especially when in stressful meetings, and using my prayer beads as I pray the Jesus Prayer. I have a small diptych in my office of Christ and of the Theotokos. I then end the night with my evening prayers, and during the season of Great Lent, my family and I will do our daily "Pilgrimage to Pascha" study.

None of that is to say I'm special or anything like that, but to just highlight how immersive it is and how beneficial it is to my faith and relationship with Christ. I still sin. I still fall short and take a wrong turn. But it has rejuvenated my faith. The constant prayer, the constant repentance...all of it...was the balm for the apathy I had developed because it's drawn me so much closer in to my Savior.

That sin, that turning down the wrong road, wasn't dramatic on my end. I didn't feel the consequences immediately. Heck, I probably didn't even realize just how far I had gone down that wrong path until I began to change course back to Him. That's the most dangerous type of "missing the mark". When you don't even realize it because you don't see the consequences.

---

I say rote prayers like that, but when it comes to repentance or really praying, I feel hypocritical. I guess I know I really don't mean it. I don't take repentance seriously and will succumb to temptation shortly. So I end up starting to pray, but stop shortly after.

Would you please remind us what denomination you are? Are you still married?

I guess I know I really don't mean it. I don't take repentance seriously and will succumb to temptation shortly.

I brought this same thing up in confession once, and the priest said (roughly) the following:

- the fact that you know you should mean it is promising

- if you know you should mean it, but the intrusive thoughts comes in that you don't actually mean it and you're going to sin again so there is no point, where does that thought come from? In the christian view, it's very easy to label that intrusive thought as a demonic lie the demoralize you. And you can see that it is demoralizing you, so their lie is working.

I am not a spiritual director, so take my advice with a grain of salt: you may want to begin praying against this particular lie and rebuke the source of that lie in the name of Jesus.

Create Account said:

---

I may try to do better for the sake of being good, but in the end, I don't believe my sin to be that serious. Tomorrow is another day and maybe I'll care more then like I should.

---

An unrequested outside perspective . . . . just in case you are interested. If TLDR, just read the last bits.

Years ago, when I was religious, I did believe in sin and I believed that plenty of my sins were serious. One of the biggest things that I began to struggle with before I left the church was related to knowledge about what is sin and what is not sin. And I became unable to resolve questions about sin in black and white terms.

As an example: Is a person practicing the 'wrong' Christian tradition acting in sin? Further, is a person practicing another faith (or no faith) sinning because they are do not follow the teachings of the correct God? Certainly, an argument can be made for the affirmative. But, many Christians hold a view of God that includes certain allowances (maybe the wrong word) for a person who might not know they are sinning or understands sin incorrectly. In other words, most Christians (that I know of) do not immediately assume that all Hindus go to Hell because these Christians believe in a God that considers each person uniquely based on their circumstances.

What I took from all of this at the time was not that sin was no big deal. But rather, it was the view that maybe God cares more about our intentions and motivations rather than a scoresheet showing number of good actions vs bad actions. In other words, the seriousness of the sin pales in comparison to the intentions behind the action. This was a view that allowed me to maintain a compassionate view of God that does not punish people for unintentional sins but that still had a set of standards that we were to strive for. For me personally, for better or worse, I think that I just resolved my concerns about sin by changing my definition of God to something I felt was more compatible with what I thought God was rather than what I was told to be believe God was. Hopefully that makes sense.

For as long as I can remember being aware of my religion (I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school until almost high school), I have always been skeptical of those that say they KNOW the answers to these questions. Why should I believe one authority over another? I've read the Bible cover to cover multiple times (granted not in recent memory) and maybe I can interpret and understand the message for myself. Right? Or maybe I do need religious teachers and authorities and scholars to help me understand it correctly? And if that is the case, who do I listen to? And what if I choose incorrectly?

Dirt Driver asked about whether it is impossible to live up to the moral standard set by Jesus. Over the years, I've become more and more convinced that simply understanding the moral standard set by Jesus might be equally an impossible task. And I've become skeptical of those who tell me they know the mind of God.

--

All of the above is context for this response: There may be an objectively right or wrong answer to your question. If there is a God and He were to type a response to your post, then you'd have that answer. Until that happens, my belief is that we do our best to understand not just what actions are sinful / 'wrong', but also to understand the nature of those 'wrong' actions against what we believe is the standard.

Since I don't think any of us speak for God, I would say is that it seems to me that you would need to evaluation the nature of the seriousness of your 'sin' in the context of who you believe God is. If your sin is stealing millions of dollars from a charity that feeds starving children. . . . well, I would say that is probably serious. Under just about any sort of secular or nonsecular philosophy, this intentionally harmful action would not be justifiable. If your sin is that you had an impure thought about someone, I do not feel the same conviction in telling you about the seriousness of that sin. Perhaps the impure thought was unintended and was also a thought you did not act on. Does the degree of sin matter in determining the seriousness of the sin? Do your intentions matter? If you don't think this impure thought is serious, maybe you've just changed your mind on what you think is an is not sinful.

You started this thread to ask for opinions from others on this board. And I think that is great. Most people will likely say that acting in a manner that contradicts your moral convictions is serious. The idea of not caring about your sins sounds like a sign of poor intentions or of apathy toward what is right.

But, when I read your question, it makes me wonder if this question is actually about whether or not certain sins are serious. Maybe you have an unresolved issue between who you believe God is and what you've been raised to believe God is. If you don't think your sins are serious, maybe you are just doubting whether those things are sins to begin with.

Or . . . . . I could be totally off base.

Anyway, just some ramblings of a resident atheist.

If someone doesn't feel bad about their homosexual actions, does that mean they aren't sinful? Just trying to draw an analogy.

The Banned said:

---

I guess I know I really don't mean it. I don't take repentance seriously and will succumb to temptation shortly.

I brought this same thing up in confession once, and the priest said (roughly) the following:

- the fact that you know you should mean it is promising

- if you know you should mean it, but the intrusive thoughts comes in that you don't actually mean it and you're going to sin again so there is no point, where does that thought come from? In the christian view, it's very easy to label that intrusive thought as a demonic lie the demoralize you. And you can see that it is demoralizing you, so their lie is working.

I am not a spiritual director, so take my advice with a grain of salt: you may want to begin praying against this particular lie and rebuke the source of that lie in the name of Jesus.

---

I appreciate that and have had this same reflection. How can you tell this is a demonic lie to demoralize you, or an angelic encouragement to flee from hypocrisy?

kurt vonnegut said:

---

Create Account said:

---

I may try to do better for the sake of being good, but in the end, I don't believe my sin to be that serious. Tomorrow is another day and maybe I'll care more then like I should.

---

An unrequested outside perspective . . . . just in case you are interested. If TLDR, just read the last bits.

Years ago, when I was religious, I did believe in sin and I believed that plenty of my sins were serious. One of the biggest things that I began to struggle with before I left the church was related to knowledge about what is sin and what is not sin. And I became unable to resolve questions about sin in black and white terms.

As an example: Is a person practicing the 'wrong' Christian tradition acting in sin? Further, is a person practicing another faith (or no faith) sinning because they are do not follow the teachings of the correct God? Certainly, an argument can be made for the affirmative. But, many Christians hold a view of God that includes certain allowances (maybe the wrong word) for a person who might not know they are sinning or understands sin incorrectly. In other words, most Christians (that I know of) do not immediately assume that all Hindus go to Hell because these Christians believe in a God that considers each person uniquely based on their circumstances.

What I took from all of this at the time was not that sin was no big deal. But rather, it was the view that maybe God cares more about our intentions and motivations rather than a scoresheet showing number of good actions vs bad actions. In other words, the seriousness of the sin pales in comparison to the intentions behind the action. This was a view that allowed me to maintain a compassionate view of God that does not punish people for unintentional sins but that still had a set of standards that we were to strive for. For me personally, for better or worse, I think that I just resolved my concerns about sin by changing my definition of God to something I felt was more compatible with what I thought God was rather than what I was told to be believe God was. Hopefully that makes sense.

For as long as I can remember being aware of my religion (I was raised Catholic and went to Catholic school until almost high school), I have always been skeptical of those that say they KNOW the answers to these questions. Why should I believe one authority over another? I've read the Bible cover to cover multiple times (granted not in recent memory) and maybe I can interpret and understand the message for myself. Right? Or maybe I do need religious teachers and authorities and scholars to help me understand it correctly? And if that is the case, who do I listen to? And what if I choose incorrectly?

Dirt Driver asked about whether it is impossible to live up to the moral standard set by Jesus. Over the years, I've become more and more convinced that simply understanding the moral standard set by Jesus might be equally an impossible task. And I've become skeptical of those who tell me they know the mind of God.

--

All of the above is context for this response: There may be an objectively right or wrong answer to your question. If there is a God and He were to type a response to your post, then you'd have that answer. Until that happens, my belief is that we do our best to understand not just what actions are sinful / 'wrong', but also to understand the nature of those 'wrong' actions against what we believe is the standard.

Since I don't think any of us speak for God, I would say is that it seems to me that you would need to evaluation the nature of the seriousness of your 'sin' in the context of who you believe God is. If your sin is stealing millions of dollars from a charity that feeds starving children. . . . well, I would say that is probably serious. Under just about any sort of secular or nonsecular philosophy, this intentionally harmful action would not be justifiable. If your sin is that you had an impure thought about someone, I do not feel the same conviction in telling you about the seriousness of that sin. Perhaps the impure thought was unintended and was also a thought you did not act on. Does the degree of sin matter in determining the seriousness of the sin? Do your intentions matter? If you don't think this impure thought is serious, maybe you've just changed your mind on what you think is an is not sinful.

You started this thread to ask for opinions from others on this board. And I think that is great. Most people will likely say that acting in a manner that contradicts your moral convictions is serious. The idea of not caring about your sins sounds like a sign of poor intentions or of apathy toward what is right.

But, when I read your question, it makes me wonder if this question is actually about whether or not certain sins are serious. Maybe you have an unresolved issue between who you believe God is and what you've been raised to believe God is. If you don't think your sins are serious, maybe you are just doubting whether those things are sins to begin with.

Or . . . . . I could be totally off base.

Anyway, just some ramblings of a resident atheist.

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No. It's I know they are sins and make little effort to resist temptation.

This came to mind reading this thread so far and someone's potential apathy towards sin. If sin is not a big deal to you (speaking generally to anyone including myself), that could be a sign you are not born again.

1689 Baptist Confession of Faith
Chapter 18 Assurance of Grace and Salvation

https://founders.org/library/chapter-18-assurance-of-grace-and-salvation/

Quote:

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Therefore, it is the duty of all to be as diligent as possible to make their calling and election sure. In this way their hearts may be enlarged in peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, in love and thankfulness to God, and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience. These effects are the natural fruits of this assurance.11 Thus, it does not at all encourage believers to be negligent.12

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Create Account said:

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The Banned said:

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I guess I know I really don't mean it. I don't take repentance seriously and will succumb to temptation shortly.

I brought this same thing up in confession once, and the priest said (roughly) the following:

- the fact that you know you should mean it is promising

- if you know you should mean it, but the intrusive thoughts comes in that you don't actually mean it and you're going to sin again so there is no point, where does that thought come from? In the christian view, it's very easy to label that intrusive thought as a demonic lie the demoralize you. And you can see that it is demoralizing you, so their lie is working.

I am not a spiritual director, so take my advice with a grain of salt: you may want to begin praying against this particular lie and rebuke the source of that lie in the name of Jesus.

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I appreciate that and have had this same reflection. How can you tell this is a demonic lie to demoralize you, or an angelic encouragement to flee from hypocrisy?

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what do you mean by angelic encouragement to flee hypocrisy? Like "if i don't feel like sin is a bid deal, stop believing sin is a big deal?

Create Account said:

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I may try to do better for the sake of being good, but in the end, I don't believe my sin to be that serious. Tomorrow is another day and maybe I'll care more then like I should.

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You'll get a lot of good (and not so good..) opinions and advice on this thread but in the end it's going to come down to you and God having a "conversation" about this…I pray you get this figured out with His guidance.

The Banned said:

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Create Account said:

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The Banned said:

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I guess I know I really don't mean it. I don't take repentance seriously and will succumb to temptation shortly.

I brought this same thing up in confession once, and the priest said (roughly) the following:

- the fact that you know you should mean it is promising

- if you know you should mean it, but the intrusive thoughts comes in that you don't actually mean it and you're going to sin again so there is no point, where does that thought come from? In the christian view, it's very easy to label that intrusive thought as a demonic lie the demoralize you. And you can see that it is demoralizing you, so their lie is working.

I am not a spiritual director, so take my advice with a grain of salt: you may want to begin praying against this particular lie and rebuke the source of that lie in the name of Jesus.

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I appreciate that and have had this same reflection. How can you tell this is a demonic lie to demoralize you, or an angelic encouragement to flee from hypocrisy?

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what do you mean by angelic encouragement to flee hypocrisy? Like "if i don't feel like sin is a bid deal, stop believing sin is a big deal?

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No, I'm saying the intrusive thoughts you're talking about may be coming from an angel, not a demon. Telling me that I'm not actually sincere and I make little concerted effort to resist temptation. So my prayers are going to be hindered until there is a change. Because would God give me peace while I hold onto sin flippantly?