Why do Christians sin so much?

[FreakOnALeash]

I've never met an atheist who sins or is going to hell but Christians just cant seem to stop sinning, why do they do it so much?

 

[Sketcher]

I've meet multiple atheists who sin. They even freely admit it.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

If you have met a Christian who is sinning so much that it is noticeable they are certainly not a Christian. They probably just have Christian relatives and call themselves "Christian". The bible actually says that "the one who sins is of the devil". A true Christian as the bible says "does not sin". It should be very rare for a Christian to sin. Sure there is not one person alive who is perfect, and has no sin. But if a christian goes around deliberately sinning it is a sure sign that they do not know God.

I thought I would edit this to clarify something. There are times in a Christians life where they may be under such a strain that they will turn to sin for a time. That does not mean they are not saved, or "of the devil". It just means that they have been "overcome with a transgression", these ones should be restored gently to faith. The type of person I was referring to above, are those who have no true knowledge of God, they might call them selves Christian but their works deny Christ.

 

[terryjohn]

Sin is a uniquely spiritual term used to define the nature of our relationship with God. The man who sees his sin, sees his own unworthiness and falls on his face before God crying out, we are unclean men with unclean lips. The law of sin and death condemn us and all believers must confess all have sinned and all fall short of the glory and grace of God, for only like the alcoholic and drug addict can our healing begin once we confess our problem and need for help. It would be correct to say that an athiest not believing in the righteousness of God would have little understanding of sin and have no basis by which condemn others for their sins, however, since they claim to see the sins of others, do they then freely admit that those who commit such sins are worthy of the wrath of God? In doing so are they also not found guilty of doing the same things? If believers just escape the judgement of God by the skin of their teeth, what chances have those who do not believe? Given your keen sense and God given knowledge of sin, what is your response to God? In the end, we may claim to be sinless (that would be to call God a liar), but if we do not accept Christ as Lord the wrath of God remains on us for we do not glorify him as God nor give thanks to him. A consciousness of sin proceeds belief and repentance and acceptance of grace and forgiveness. You who claim to see sin are nearly there.

 

[BeStill&Know]

?

 

[1watchman]

I've never met an atheist who sins or is going to hell but Christians just cant seem to stop sinning, why do they do it so much?

Perhaps you don't know who is a real Christian or what sin is??? An Atheist sins by the very fact he/she is not ignorant of what they do, for they oppose God, which is very real sin. They are certainly headed for Hell. If one is agnostic and doesn't know if there is a god, then perhaps God will bring them to the truth in time ("quickening"). One should be able to see that as God says: "not everyone who says: Lord, Lord, will enter into the Kingdom"); so consider that many who call themselves "Christian" are not "born again" as needed to be saved and go to Heaven. Other real Christians may sin because they have become "carnal" as God says and live to indulge self and enjoy the world's values. Now, where are you in this differential of beliefs?

 

[aiki]

I've never met an atheist who sins or is going to hell but Christians just cant seem to stop sinning, why do they do it so much?

You've may never have met an atheist who thinks of their behaviour in terms of sin and who believes there is, in fact, a hell in which they will end up, but this has nothing to do with whether or not their behaviour is actually sinful or if there really is an eternal hell awaiting the unrepentant sinner. Mere belief doesn't make anything true - or false. A person may believe there is no danger in crossing in front of a speeding bus, but that makes no difference to the reality of the death that person will suffer as the speeding bus smashes into them. I believe an atheist who dies in his sins will suffer God's divine and eternal judgment. Am I right just because I believe this? No. The question isn't what and how strongly I believe but whether or not I am justified in believing it.

Selah.

 

[graceandpeace]

I've never met an atheist who sins or is going to hell but Christians just cant seem to stop sinning, why do they do it so much?

Well, from a Christian perspective, all people sin, including Christians. Some Christians contend that they are above sinning, but frankly I consider that to be an incredibly arrogant view.

Everyone sins because, short answer, no one is perfect. We all fail to completely love God above all & fail to love our neighbors as ourselves. The good news is, God is loving & merciful. Most Christian liturgies include a corporate confession of sins, & assurance of God's forgiveness. Also, most Christians privately confess as well, whether in the prescence of a minister or when they're alone (or both).

As to discussion about who might "go to hell," Christians disagree about what hell is or whether it even exists, so that's one issue. The bigger issue on which most Christians would agree is that we don't get to judge others. It's just not for us to speculate on the fate of another. Some Christians will contend they can make such a judgment, but I think this is another incredibly arrogant view.

 

[Neogaia777]

Guilt or conviction can make one go one of two ways, they either clean up their act, or they go into a downward spiral of sin, but I don't think Christians sin any more than the rest of the world...?

God Bless!

 

[ViaCrucis]

I've never met an atheist who sins or is going to hell but Christians just cant seem to stop sinning, why do they do it so much?

I've never met anyone who doesn't sin.

I have a feeling your definition of sin might be fairly different than what most Christians would understand. Sin is, in its most basic sense, to error, to fail to do what ought to be done (either through intention or omission).

The Hebrew word that is translated as "sin" is somewhat of an archery term, it literally means "to miss the mark", the Greek word used in the New Testament has a more broad sense of "error" or "to stumble". In English the word "sin" has an etymology connected to the idea of "trespassing" or "offense".

While different Christian traditions are going to approach the topic of sin slightly differently, a fairly broad definition might be this: to sin is to fail to do what one ought to do, whether by action or inaction. What one ought to do is typically categorized by the idea of "the Law", or what we might call God's "moral law", that which is summed up in the Great Commandment: "Love the Lord your God ... love your neighbor as yourself."

For many Christians, when we gather for worship, we begin the service by corporately confessing our sins in what is known, in liturgics, as the penitential rite, here is a standard prayer that we say together (this, specifically, comes from the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer),

"Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We are truly sorry and we humbly repent, for the sake of your Son Jesus Christ, have mercy on us and forgive us; that we may delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of your Name. Amen."

In this confession we address our sins in "thought, word, and deed" and "what we have done, and [...] what we have left undone".

In standard Christian thought it is not merely the outward acts that are themselves sinful, rather sin exists first in us, in our thoughts, in our emotions, in the ways we think and feel from which comes our words and our deeds. And thus when Christians talk about repentance it is not merely a saying of "sorry" for deeds, it is a recognition of something more deeply wrong with us that needs to change. In Greek the word translated as "repentance" is metanoia, in a strict sense it means a "change of mind" but more than that, it's about changing the way we think and operate and putting it into another direction altogether. Repentance means recognizing that we need more than behavior modification, it means we need to put to death the deepest parts of ourselves that are out of alignment with God's will--God's will being that we love Him and love and do good to our neighbor. We are bent wrong in our will, and our thoughts, and our feelings, we are bent inward toward ourselves and our own appetites, in Lutheran jargon, we are incurvatus in se, "curved inward" bent and driven by concupiscience, by the lusts and appetites of our own self gratification, thus we are bent away from God and bent away from our fellow man, rather seeking to fill our own bellies rather than the belly of our hungry neighbor.

Sin isn't doing something unspeakably evil. It's in our failure to treat others with the full respect and dignity that is theirs as human persons made in God's image, it is in our passions, our competition, our greed, our anger, our lusts.

The issue of Hell is a separate topic; but on this topic of sin, it seems rather strange to suggest that only Christians sin even as it is strange when I have heard the occasional Christian on the fringe say that ["true"] Christians never sin. There are few things that are common to the human race as a whole--our rather total incompetence to do right and our absolute failure to be just toward one another is one of those few common denominators. We have all botched this being human thing up quite royally, we have done it, we continue to do it. This doesn't mean that we are, as a whole, totally evil rotten scum--for the most part we, as a species, at least try and do things right now and then. But the overall fruits of our labors has been, historically speaking, pretty lousy.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[Neogaia777]

Those who get deep into the bible have the strongest or most persuasive demons, that could be why...?

 

[Spiritlight]

Why? It gives us something to do between times of confession and repentance..Jk.

 

[chilehed]

I've never met an atheist who sins...

Total nonsense.

 

[Eight Foot Manchild]

Wrong forum.

 

[BrotherDave]

I've never met an atheist who sins or is going to hell but Christians just cant seem to stop sinning, why do they do it so much?

Everyone sins whether they acknowledge it or not. The price of that sin is death (Ro 6:23). I think graceandpeace defined it nicely.

We are all made in the image of God. We were destined for eternal life (until Adam who represented the human race, chose to sin by disobeying God). On that day death and all the bad stuff we have to deal with entered the world forever (Ro 5:12)

I believe we are chosen to salvation by God’s grace and mercy alone (Eph 2:8, John 3:27). Those whom he saves will continue to struggle with sin because their new soul (or “inner man”) is still housed in an unsaved physical body (Ro 8:10, I Peter 2:11, Ro 7) living in a doomed world (2 Peter 3:10).

The evidence of a truly saved person (Christian) is that the frequency of sin greatly reduces and cares for things of this world that used to bring pleasure loose their attraction (Eph 2:1-3) as God and spiritual cares become the priority (psalm1:2). In times of weakness when a Christian does sin he or she will know it in their heart and feel terrible, he will pray for strength in turning from that sin. Recall how even David fell into sin and was sincerely remorseful and begged for forgiveness and help (Psalm 51).

If a saved person continues to struggle with sin then the Lord may chastise him (Hebrews 12:5-7). This is never a pleasant experience but through this correction the believer will be strengthened and he will turn from the troublesome sin.

Now, there are people who believe they are Christians because they acknowledge in their mind or confess with their mouth that God exists and they chose to be saved. But anyone can do this and not truly love God with all their heart and soul. They may even find it a chore to read or listen to the bible. Satan for example absolutely knows better than anyone that God exists; but he will not be spared (Mark 1:24,Luke 4:34). These “Christians” will continue falling into sin, perhaps even increasingly because they are not really saved. God warns us of this (Phil 3:18,Matt 7:22-23,8:15 – 24, 13:15,15:8). Recall how even the congregations of first seven churches fell away from the true gospel as they pursued a gospels from the minds of men (Rev 2 – 3). They called themselves Christian. God warns us with each tick of the clock as time draws to a close false prophets and false gospels will be everywhere. Those people participating should have known better, this why judgment starts at the house of God (I Peter 4:17).

Everyone sins and no one can experience the joy of living forever in a perfect world with Christ unless God saves them. The amount and degree of sinning in a truly saved Christian life will significantly decrease as praying, passionately studying the bible and rejoicing in the Lord significantly increase.

 

[Caleb-D]

Not believing in Jesus Christ, The son of God who died on the cross is a sin.

 

[Radrook]

Maybe the very act of regular confession and regular proclamations of forgiveness by a priest contributes to repetitive sin?

 

[Demetrius194]

If you have met a Christian who is sinning so much that it is noticeable they are certainly not a Christian. They probably just have Christian relatives and call themselves "Christian". The bible actually says that "the one who sins is of the devil". A true Christian as the bible says "does not sin". It should be very rare for a Christian to sin. Sure there is not one person alive who is perfect, and has no sin. But if a christian goes around deliberately sinning it is a sure sign that they do not know God.

I wouldn't personally agree. I believe some Christians are Christians even though they sin all the time, they fall all the time, but they also get up again, and this is where they "know God" -- they know a merciful and understanding God, who knows they have many weaknesses, and they try not to sin or wished they did not sin, and when they do, they are sorry about it, even if they don't currently have repentance in that sin. God blesses the mourning too, according to the Beatitudes, and if we sorrow for over our inability to live a perfect life, that is a perfectly open door to receive Christ's forgiveness, just as the repentance/turning away from sin is one. True, God will sometimes shut the door until we do enough to move Him to open it, and sometimes this does involve the need to repent in a sin, but to categorically say that no, no one who often sins knows God, is not true imo.

I would say that if the author of this thread is right, of which I will not be a judge, it could be because atheists have seared conscience (as I personally believe), at least in some areas, to no longer notice the reproof of God, telling them to forsake the life of unbelief. And because their conscience is seared, it simply is not aware of the sins they do on regular basis, while a Christian is, and that is why he or she is preoccupied in constant prayer, to keep his or her conscience clear.

 

[FutureAndAHope]

I wouldn't personally agree. I believe some Christians are Christians even though they sin all the time, they fall all the time, but they also get up again, and this is where they "know God" -- they know a merciful and understanding God, who knows they have many weaknesses, and they try not to sin or wished they did not sin, and when they do, they are sorry about it, even if they don't currently have repentance in that sin. God blesses the mourning too, according to the Beatitudes, and if we sorrow for over our inability to live a perfect life, that is a perfectly open door to receive Christ's forgiveness, just as the repentance/turning away from sin is one. True, God will sometimes shut the door until we do enough to move Him to open it, and sometimes this does involve the need to repent in a sin, but to categorically say that no, no one who often sins knows God, is not true imo.

I would say that if the author of this thread is right, of which I will not be a judge, it could be because atheists have seared conscience (as I personally believe), at least in some areas, to no longer notice the reproof of God, telling them to forsake the life of unbelief. And because their conscience is seared, it simply is not aware of the sins they do on regular basis, while a Christian is, and that is why he or she is preoccupied in constant prayer, to keep his or her conscience clear.

I am not going to judge a Christian who has trouble overcoming. There are times in a Christians life where they may be under so much emotional and spiritual pressure that they may give into sin. However there is a lot of difference between sloppy living, and a battle. God has not given us grace so we can just do as we like.

Proverbs 15:24 To the wise the way of life goeth upward, That he may depart from Hell beneath

A believer will do as the above verse in proverbs says, move upward (away from sin), that he may move away from hell.

 

[JoeP222w]

I've never met an atheist who sins or is going to hell but Christians just cant seem to stop sinning, why do they do it so much?

1 John 1:8-10 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (10) If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.