Maybe we should have delved into this subject earlier. I’m assuming after all this time that I am writing to born-again, real Christians. You all have been forgiven of your past, present, and future sins and you believe that Jesus Christ died for all those sins and was raised from the dead and now sits at the right hand of God the father. But what, exactly, is sin? Would you agree that it’s bad. Shouldn’t do it. Just for fun, I decided to “google” it, sin that is.
WOW. I learned about the 10 commandments. I learned about the 7 deadly sins. I learned about 4 types of sin. I learned about the 12 sins in the Bible. I learned that there are differences in the severity of sin and that punishment is different depending on the severity. I learned that some people don’t believe sin exists. I learned that different denominations, religions, cultures view sin differently.
I have to say I didn’t expect to see such diversity of opinion on the subject of sin. Google presents a great deal of contradicting and confusing information about sin.
When I got “saved” (received Christ as my personal savior), we were living in the first suburb west of Minneapolis and I rode the bus downtown every day. I bought my first Bible and started reading on the bus going to and coming back from work every day. I’m pretty sure I was the only one doing that. People looked at me kind of funny. I made it through the whole Bible in a year.
Anyway, I was reading with a focus on rules and regulations. I was checking to see if I was following all the rules and regulations found in the Bible. I guess I was thinking of failure to follow the rules and regulations as sin. Then I ran across James 4:17, “Therefore, to one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.”
Do you know the difference between right and wrong? I sure do. It is my belief that everybody knows the difference between right and wrong, especially Christians. This means that we choose to do right or wrong. We choose to sin.
But God is gracious and kind. 1 John 1:9 says “if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins and cleans us from all unrighteousness.” PTL