what is the longest you have gone without sinning?

Albion

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It doesn't sound like you actually are asking for Christian advice, but we know from Scripture that even the just man falls seven times a day. Therefore, any answer would have to be in terms of how many minutes ago.
 
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Dave-W

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Depends on how you define "sinning."

try this portion of a sermon I heard as a kid on for size - at a sunday evening service:

You can come down here tonight and kneel at this altar and get everything alright with God. Then you can get up, grab your coat, leave the building and cross the street to get into your car, get hit, die and GO STRAIGHT TO HELL; because you already committed 10 sins you know nothing about before you ever hit that back door.....
 
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NothingIsImpossible

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Oddly enough my last sin was about 15 minutes ago. Longest I've gone? Probably not long at all. Now what would be interesting is if someone said the longest they have gone without sinning is a week. I wouldn't believe it. Not even a day either.
 
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brightlights

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People who think that they can go extended periods of time without sinning outa re-read the Sermon on the Mount.

As Jerry Bridges once wrote - We are never so good that we are beyond the need of God's grace, and we are never so bad that we are beyond the reach of God's grace.
 
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brightlights

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Sin is spoken of in Scripture in two striking ways:

Sometimes it's spoken of as transgression. This would be very obvious violations of Law, either doing what the Law forbids or not doing what the Law requires.

Other times sin is spoken of as impurity. This is not quite obvious transgression of Law. Rather, it communicates the idea that all of our lives - even our best behavior (even our worship!) is stained with impure motives, desires, thoughts, etc. This impurity must be burned away. But this goes to show that even when we're not transgressing, our most righteous deeds are still impure, stained with sin, and fall far short of what is truly required of us.
 
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brightlights

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Help me understand this please. 10 sins you know nothing about?

We are dimly aware of our sin. We sin every day in ways that we don't even realize.
 
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brightlights

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So the idea is that a person could sin and not know it? while still in the
church building? And that time of sins they did not recognize can send them
to hell?

I agree with the first part. But if a person is in Christ then no sin can send them to hell because Jesus has paid for it. Yet if a person is not in Christ then even their unknown sins will condemn them.
 
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John Hyperspace

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Honestly I'm a little fuzzy on the whole "sin" thing. By what frame of reference, and by what definition of the maxims of that frame of reference. Right now I'm sitting here, smoking a non-filtered cigarette, doing no manual labor, watching television, and thinking about sleeping. Is any of that sinful?
 
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Dave-W

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So the idea is that a person could sin and not know it? while still in the
church building? And that time of sins they did not recognize can send them to hell?
That was their teaching. Any and every sin, no matter how slight, cost you your salvation.**

It may have been stuff way beyond your ability to know - like which foot you put on the floor first getting out of bed, or did you just walk too fast or too slow? Did you feel an emotion that you should not have, or failed to feel what God wanted you to feel? Fleeting thoughts and temptations that are there for a second and then gone. And my favorite: smelling alcohol. It was equated with drunkenness and there were countless sermons on the alcohol content in mouthwash, vanilla extract, etc. Just smelling that stuff would send you to hell.


** I believe that was based on this verse:

1 Jn 5.18 We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.
 
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Dave-W

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But if a person is in Christ then no sin can send them to hell because Jesus has paid for it.
Their thought was that if you sinned, you were no longer "in Christ."
 
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Jim Langston

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The best definition of sin I have seen/come up with is: not loving your neighbor as yourself.

To be totally sin free one would be broke all the time, as if we buy something for ourselves we would be obliged to buy something for a less fortunate. I believe Jesus hits on this when He says it is harder for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God than a camel to go through the eye of a needle.

Everytime I buy lunch, and do not treat a poor man, I am sinning. Every time I go to bed and don't invite a homeless man to share my house, I am sinning.

If you look at the sinless life of Jesus you will see the son of man had no where to lay his head. Jesus also had no money to pay the tax collectors, someone had to go fishing to get it.

So, yeah, all of us sin every single second when we are not helping others. In fact, I believe the only time I'm not sinning is when I am helping others, which is one of the reasons I choose to volunteer for homeless shelters, soup kitchens and food banks.

I can, and do, repent and try to help others but it is human nature to care for ourselves first, although if we are not in good health how can we help others?

I think the question should be more along the lines of, when are we not sinning.
 
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