What is Sin to a Person Who Never read the Bible?

[BARNEY BRIGHT]

I tried to tell my late Mother that Jesus died to save us from our sins. She said, "I don't sin." She had had a Bible, an old one with sepia toned pictures, for as long as I could remember. Her Bible had names and birthdates of grandparents in it. Towards the end of her life she she didn't know what had happened to her Bible.

Yeah the scriptures also teach me that both Adam and Eve joined the serpent(Satan) in his rebellion against God's Ruler ship. Satan(the serpent) brought a world into existence in which sin and death exists. We all are still living in this world in which sin and death exists. We all inherited sin from Adam, so all human beings sin everyday. The scriptures teach me that if we believe ourselves to be a servant of the True God but we don't bridle our tongue we're deceiving ourselves and our worship is futile.(James 1:26)
The scriptures let's me know that with the Holy Spirit help we can bridle our tongue, but not perfectly. If we could bridle our tongue perfectly then we could also refrain from any act of sin.(James 3:2) The only human being who has done this is Jesus Christ. He didn't inherit the sin we did, he was always a sinless human being right from birth and remained a sinless human being when he sacrificed his sinless human body for mankind. So we all sin everyday, hopefully it won't be a major sin like adultery or murder etc but we all sin. If we are repentant and ask forgiveness and exercise faith in what John 3:16 says we will get everlasting life.

 

[Ave Maria]

I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly, so I apologize if my answer doesn't make sense. Anyway, sin is the same to all people, regardless of whether they have a Bible. There are two types of sin: original sin and actual sin. Also, there are two types of actual sin: venial sin and mortal sin. Original sin is the sin that we inherit from Adam and Eve. Actual sin is the sin that we commit on our own once we reach the age of reason. Venial sin is a minor sin and will not send you to Hell, but mortal sin is a serious sin and will send you to Hell. Thanks be to God that Jesus died on the cross and rose again to redeem us. And thanks also be to Him that He gave us a Church and sacraments to give us sanctifying grace.

 

[dlamberth]

I'm not sure if I understand your question correctly, so I apologize if my answer doesn't make sense. Anyway, sin is the same to all people, regardless of whether they have a Bible.

Nope. I don't believe that's true.

 

[Estrid]

Nope. I don't believe that's true.

It certainly is not true. 'Sin" is not even a word
In our language. It is about the preferences of
the Christian concept of God. How could it even
exist as a word / concept in Chinese? It cannot, does not.

It's essentially the same for all non Christians, ie,
billions of people!


I've been a bit surprised that instead of simply accepting or discussing implications of this so- obvious fact,
the posters here preach to each other and attack me for
simply stating how we Chinese see the idea of sin- whether we've read the bible or not.


Makes me think nobody actually wants the answer.
But why?

 

[anetazo]

Amos chapter 5 . God doesn't listen to false brethren. Those who engage in traditions of men and false doctrine. Whether in the congregation or in position of shepherds.

Our grand fathers, ancestors, were brought up in churches and conditioned by the churches to accept traditions of men. They are spirtualty dead or biblically illiterate.

It doesn't make them bad people. Thier programmed from early age and set in thier ways.

Ezekiel chapter 40 to 48. This is the millennium. It's time of teaching and discipline for the spirtualty dead.

Those in sheol, will have opportunity to during millennium to obtain eternal life on judgement day. Get the picture.

 

[Lukaris]

Faults in general, secular understanding are examples of sin.

 

[RDKirk]

The Christian concept of sin, in terms of any specific actions, is irrelevant to the spiritual condition and destiny of an unbeliever, because it's not by their acts that unbelievers are saved or condemned, but by faith or lack of faith. Sinful acts only affect the spiritual condition of believers.

 

[Robban]

I tried to tell my late Mother that Jesus died to save us from our sins. She said, "I don't sin." She had had a Bible, an old one with sepia toned pictures, for as long as I could remember. Her Bible had names and birthdates of grandparents in it. Towards the end of her life she she didn't know what had happened to her Bible.

Anyone who "pushes" the Bible should know that they themselves maybe the only Bible their neighbor read.

 

[Robban]

Anyone who "pushes" the Bible should know that they themselves maybe the only Bible their neighbor read.

Practice what you preach?

Better still, practice what you study.

 

[Rescued One]

Some people just rub the Bible for good luck.

 

[Robban]

Some people just rub the Bible for good luck.

Haha, a good one.

Maybe some just do a Genesis 28:20-21.

 

[BrendanG]

Going at it from a phenomenological/psychological perspective (how people experience or perceive sin), I think sin is when a person's actual values do not align with their stated values.

For instance, if a person claims to love his neighbor, but does not help his neighbor or tells nasty gossip about his neighbor behind his back, this is sin. And the person will feel convicted of sin when they become aware of this contradiction.

A person can have no concept of sin without having a set of ideals, because otherwise, he doesn't realize that he's done anything wrong. You have to have an ideal, and then break them, in order to have an experience of having sinned. But all people with ideals intuitively understand the concept of sin, even if they don't use that word.

Now, if you are a Christian, then your stated values are supposed to be the same as God's values. In this case, my definition of sin converges with the Christian's definition of sin as falling short of the expectations of God.

 

[Open Heart]

I tried to tell my late Mother that Jesus died to save us from our sins. She said, "I don't sin." She had had a Bible, an old one with sepia toned pictures, for as long as I could remember. Her Bible had names and birthdates of grandparents in it. Towards the end of her life she she didn't know what had happened to her Bible.

The Merriam Webster dictionary says:

sin​

1 of 4

noun (1)​

ˈsin

a: an offense against religious or moral law
b: an action that is or is felt to be highly reprehensible
it's a sin to waste food
c: an often serious shortcoming : FAULT


Going by that definition, you would not need a Bible to have an idea what sin is. An atheist has a sense of morality, and can violate that sense.

 

[Stephen3141]

The Apostle Paul writes that God gave to each of us a conscience, or moral consciousness. So we know what sin is.
Through abuse, we can damage our conscience so much that it no longer works.

12 All who sin outside the law will also perish without reference to it, and all who sin under the law will be judged in accordance with it. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God; rather, those who observe the law will be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus
New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Ro 2:12–16.

2 Rather, we have renounced shameful, hidden things; not acting deceitfully or falsifying the word of God, but by the open declaration of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), 2 Co 4:2.

 

[Estrid]

The Apostle Paul writes that God gave to each of us a conscience, or moral consciousness. So we know what sin is.
Through abuse, we can damage our conscience so much that it no longer works.

12 All who sin outside the law will also perish without reference to it, and all who sin under the law will be judged in accordance with it. 13 For it is not those who hear the law who are just in the sight of God; rather, those who observe the law will be justified. 14 For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. 15 They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts, while their conscience also bears witness and their conflicting thoughts accuse or even defend them 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge people’s hidden works through Christ Jesus
New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), Ro 2:12–16.

2 Rather, we have renounced shameful, hidden things; not acting deceitfully or falsifying the word of God, but by the open declaration of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God.
New American Bible, Revised Edition. (Washington, DC: The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, 2011), 2 Co 4:2.

Id not believe anything paul said after
that obviously phony snake- story

 

[jacks]

Id not believe anything paul said after
that obviously phony snake- story

Maybe it was a dry bite.
Venom delivery is voluntary -- snakes squeeze their venom glands with muscles to deliver venom. All venomous snakes could deliver dry bites. Estimates show that 20-25% of all pit viper bites and 50% of Coral Snake bites are dry bites. Occasionally, the venom may be prematurely expelled from the fangs before they puncture the skin, which can also result in a dry bite.

 

[Tinker Grey]

Id not believe anything paul said after
that obviously phony snake- story

Maybe it was a dry bite.
Venom delivery is voluntary -- snakes squeeze their venom glands with muscles to deliver venom. All venomous snakes could deliver dry bites. Estimates show that 20-25% of all pit viper bites and 50% of Coral Snake bites are dry bites. Occasionally, the venom may be prematurely expelled from the fangs before they puncture the skin, which can also result in a dry bite.

It's worth noting that Paul never claimed this happened; it's a story by the author of Acts.

 

[Estrid]

Maybe it was a dry bite.
Venom delivery is voluntary -- snakes squeeze their venom glands with muscles to deliver venom. All venomous snakes could deliver dry bites. Estimates show that 20-25% of all pit viper bites and 50% of Coral Snake bites are dry bites. Occasionally, the venom may be prematurely expelled from the fangs before they puncture the skin, which can also result in a dry bite.

I know what a dry bite is.
Cobras often just bump, dont actually bite at all.

But anyway the isle in q has no venemous
snakes.
And vipers dont cling.

 

[Estrid]

It's worth noting that Paul never claimed this happened; it's a story by the author of Acts.

So the author of acts made up this detailed story
as if hed seen it?

 

[RDKirk]

So the author of acts made up this detailed story
as if hed seen it?

We don't know how the fauna has changed in 2000 years. It certainly happens that fauna on islands do change as a result of human activity in much shorter time, even before the modern age. It wouldn't be the first time humans have wiped out a species in such a small, isolated territory. It's also possible that the writer simply erred in the type of snake it was.