A living being, one of the Lord's creations.
I must be honest. That answer doesn't satisfy me, but it will do for now.
I wish to know what controls "me", but I guess I won't find that out for a while.
Thank you for your time, my friend.
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A living being, one of the Lord's creations.
From eating from the wrong tree. One little sin is all it takes to get the ball rolling. Once the relationship is broken then death is on our doorstep.
You might want to read 1. John again, to understand. John, by the Holy Spirit, isn't saying "you will always sin, nobody can be holy"; but that if you say you have no need of the Blood of Christ, if you haven't sinned and are a "good person who doesn't need a saviour" you are a liar.
1 John 1:6-10
If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1 John 2:1
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Doesn't say "I say all this but you are going to sin anyways" does it? It says "if" you sin, not "when" you sin, right?
1 John 2:6,
He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
1 John 3:5-9
And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.
Didn't I answer your question? You control you. You can choose heaven - the Lord showed you the path. Or you can choose not heaven.I must be honest. That answer doesn't satisfy me, but it will do for now.
I wish to know what controls "me", but I guess I won't find that out for a while.
Thank you for your time, my friend.
All that is not within the created intent of God is evil, and for this week, for His own reasons, He has allowed something beyond His intent to exist.I see. But God created that fruit, so does that mean that God created evil and sin?
So sin is the absence of God. That is a beautiful answer.
Because that means that sin is not something that God has created,
Which in turn means that sin in and of itself isn't "bad". It is only bad in the eyes of God, who is good and did not create sin.
This answer satisfies me, because it means both sinning and not-sinning are not inherently good or bad. It is only God that says that.
Thank you for your response, my friend.
Hello men and women of God! This is my first post here.
I have been thinking a lot lately about the nature of sin, and I would dearly appreciate it if you guys would help me with answering this question. So thank you in advance!
Here is my question. Plain and simply: "Is sinning bad?"
Of course we all assume that sinning is bad, because it is written in the bible, but there are some questions that lead me to doubt that. Namely...
"Why did God create evil and sin in this world?"
You could say that that God did not create us to do evil, but that he gave us free will, so that if we choose evil, we face the consequences and it we choose good, we are rewarded with God's grace.
But then here is my real question: "If God is all-powerful and all-knowing, then why does he create people that he knows will sin? And is sinning then really bad?"
Let's say God creates a person and grants him free will. However, God also created that person with a mental instability / weak will (which, let's assume makes him prone to murderous acts). Subsequently, let's say God then also places that person in an environment with abusive parents at home and frequent bullying at school (which, let's assume, combined with his mental instability causes him to commit murder) And so, he shoots up his class. This is an example, but I'm sure cases like this have actually happened in real life.
In such a case, can the murderer then really be held responsible for his actions? I mean,
-(1) He was born and raised with triggers that would undoubtedly (to God) lead him to commit a murderous act.
-(2) God, while all-powerful and all-knowing knew he would murder, yet did nothing about the sinful act.
If God created the person's will and circumstance, knew the outcome of his sin, and did nohing about it, was is then truly 'bad' for the murderer to commit murder?
"Is sinning bad?" may sound like a strange question, but I am seriously pondering it, and I would appreciate it greatly if you fellow Christians would help me out. So thanks!
Greets, Kees
It says you are allowing your flesh to overrule the Spirit. The closer you get to God, the less you will love the things he hates. But in my view, it is a life long journey and no one reaches perfection. Did you ever wonder why Monks would live by themselves in caves? Less temptations. If you're not around other people there are less opportunities to sin. I'm not saying to live that way, but getting alone will God now and then is a good practice.But if God hates pornography and I love it, what does that say about me?
Then you are saying you do not sin. 1 John calls you a liar.
Paul also calls you a liar since he confessed about his struggles with the flesh.
1 John 1:8 is not a Christian. You see because Adam ate of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil - not just Evil, but Good also, there are those, like those keeping the law who are perfectly able to keep the law (they don't kill and steal), but will still have iniquity in themselves, in their thoughts and hearts. Since Adam made us inherit the sin nature by way of his sin, all - everyone since Adam, sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God. But some look at themselves and their own efforts to be good and say "I have not sinned." They are a liar, who think they can get to heaven without Christ, no matter how well they keep the law. It is only through Christ, and His removal of our sin nature, that we will be saved.
Romans 7 is again part of the false teaching that we cannot escape sin, and the power of the blood of Jesus is weak. Putting 1 John 1:8 out of context, and Romans 7 out of context, together is a big 'tell' of the teachers you are listening to and gathering unto yourself.
CONTEXT, CONTEXT, CONTEXT.
1 John 1:8-9
8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 (But) If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
Do you see the before and after Christ? It is the same with Romans 7. What you cleave to is Paul's experience UNDER THE LAW. It is all about the law, and how it is not enough to make us righteous. Why, because of the SIN NATURE. And who is it that saves us from the sin nature, removing it and giving us a new nature? JESUS CHRIST.
I'm not making this up; I'm quoting PAUL! Now read it in context Romans 7:4 - 8:10 Here I'll color code it for you.
Law
Sin
Spirit
4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. 5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. 6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
(Sin’s Advantage in the Law)
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, “You shall not covet.” 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good.
(Law Cannot Save from Sin)
13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. 16 If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the law that it is good. 17 But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. 19 For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. 20 Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me.
21 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. 22 For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!
So then, with the mind I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
I respect the fact that you admit not to know the origin of the spirit.
Although this is exactly what I seek. I do not know if my thoughts and feelings are my own, because I do not know if something else inside of the thing I call "me" is controlling my actions.
As to why I ask these questions; I wish to know what I am and what it is that makes me want to sin. Then, I would like to figure out if that thing is something that God created (if he did, he would be responsible for all my actions, including my sinning), or if the origin and core of my free will is something entirely different from God (in which case I will doubt God's judgements on the nature of Good and Evil).
Does that make sense?
So tell me where you got "unknown non-deliberate sins" from?
You quoted an old testament law and used it to say that "all sins" only means non-deliberate sins.
You have still not answered my question: have you sinned knowingly at any point after accepting Jesus?
Read my posts on this thread, #40 and #76, and #133.
I've already done it however with pornography and I can verify to you that indeed, I should be dead right now because of this addiction. On top of that, I made multiple suicide attempts because I had lost my ability to even be sane anymore and was attacked and still am attacked without rest.
Though he be saved, he is still of the flesh during this period. Being fleshly denotes being governed by the flesh. What is most pitiful is for a believer, hitherto enlightened by heavenly light to know the wickedness of the flesh and to desire with full heart victory over it, to find himself too weak to overcome. This is the moment when he sheds many tears of sorrow. How can he not be angry with himself, for though he harbors a new desire to destroy sin and to please God his will is not steadfast enough to subdue the body of sin. Few are the victories; many, the defeats
The Lord taught us not to engage in sin, yet he is the one that creates the sinner's desire to sin.
So then how is sinning bad?
I did. You still haven't answered my question.
Would my experience make the Word of God, any more or less true?