Why is Christianity so focused on Sin?

[loving precious jesus]

Why can't it be just about experiencing the love of God? Why not just about knowing the Holy Spirit, living by the wisdom in the Bible?

Instead, new believers have to feel guilty about their Sin. Let's be honest, most people are not sinners but are struggling. They struggle in their jobs, their finances, their health etc. 

They struggle to pay the bills, to find someone who actually cares about them.

They feel normal human emotions like anger, frustrations, hate, even lust. 

Why is that evil?

Now such a person would love to experience the love of Jesus & the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

But to reach there, they first have to confess their sins, feel bad about themselves. 

It is almost as if sin is the key concept in the Bible.

My parents know me with all my shortcomings. They still love me, and never ask me to confess my so called "sins" everyday for them to love me. Why is it different with God the Father then?

If Christianity was more about spreading the love and forgiveness of Jesus, and less about the condemnation of Sin - we would have lot more believers. Who doesn't want God as a personal friend?

And just for the sake of argument, here is what other religions say on the topic of sin:

Hinduism: The concept of Sin doesn't even exists. They have more of a guidelines about living an ethical life.
Islam: The concept of Sin exists, and good deeds must be performed regularly to outweight the quota of sin in a person's life.
Buddhism: The concept of Sin doesn't exists. "Paapa" or "Punya" are towards another person, whereas Biblical Sin is against God.

Just to make it clear, I am not supporting Sin. I do believe in working with the Holy Spirit to get rid of the sins, as God and Sin cannot co-exist.

However, my problem is specifically about people having to confess themselves as sinners every day, even though their so called "sins" would be something as insignificant as getting up late in the morning.

 

Edited March 16, 2017 by loving precious jesus

[OneLight]

The bible is about the reconciliation of man and God.  Man broke the relationship with his Creator when he decided to break Gods commandment to not eat from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, which is what sin is - the breaking of Gods commandments.  That's the beginning of the story.

Throughout history, man continued to sin, and to cover his sins a blood covenant was required, for life is in the blood.  Still, man continued to sin and was getting nowhere in their relationship with God, so God, in his loving mercy, sent His Son Jesus to be the final sacrifice for mans sin. Jesus gave His life for us and whomever believes in Jesus and His sacrifice will be forgiven and have eternal life.  Once a person takes that step, they are indwelt with the Holy Spirit whom teaches them and creates a new creation in them, one who's heart is toward God and not self. 

In this new creation, man no longer desires to sin, but to live as God would like them to live.  Sure, we make mistakes, but if we repent, turn away from our sins, He will forgive us.

What is pure love?  Pure love, the best I can describe, is a love without sin, so sin needs to be recognized and turned from.  Since sin separates us from God, sin is a focus, but not the only focus.  Mans heart, by nature, is sinful, and the natural man cannot live without sin.  History has proven that.

Here is some verses to meditate on.

John 3:16-17

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.

Matthew 1:21 - about the birth of Jesus

And she will bring forth a Son, and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

Luke 10:27 - the greatest two commandments

So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’”

Galatians 5:16-26 - the difference between the natural man (flesh) and the new creation (living in the Spirit)

I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

 

So you see, sin is the reason why our relationship with God was broken.  If we ignore the reason, we are bound to repeat it and remain forever lost.  Why is that important?  Sinfulness in man cannot be allowed to live forever with God for He is a righteous God.  We think of love from our natural sinful lives, not understanding what true love is.  Only God can give us true love.  In order to share in what God has to give, we need to accept Jesus and His Spirit.  We cannot have one without the other.

The the question is, which of the religions you mentioned are you going to follow?

[gdemoss]

Q: Why is the confession of sin necessary?

A: Sin separates us from those we sin against.  Confession reunites amd heals that which is broken.

A person who does not confess their sin is capable of deluding themselves into believing a lie and feeling as if they are walking with God when they are not.  This is the type of person Jesus will say depart from me you worker of iniquity I never knew you.

Delusional people feel good about themselves in their sin lile the Pharisees John told to go away because they wouldn't confess sins.

Confess your sins or ve turned away, your choice.

[ravindran]

5 hours ago, loving precious jesus said:

Why can't it be just about experiencing the love of God? Why not just about knowing the Holy Spirit, living by the wisdom in the Bible?

Instead, new believers have to feel guilty about their Sin. Let's be honest, most people are not sinners but are struggling. They struggle in their jobs, their finances, their health etc. 

They struggle to pay the bills, to find someone who actually cares about them.

They feel normal human emotions like anger, frustrations, hate, even lust. 

Why is that evil?

Now such a person would love to experience the love of Jesus & the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

But to reach there, they first have to confess their sins, feel bad about themselves. 

It is almost as if sin is the key concept in the Bible.

My parents know me with all my shortcomings. They still love me, and never ask me to confess my so called "sins" everyday for them to love me. Why is it different with God the Father then?

If Christianity was more about spreading the love and forgiveness of Jesus, and less about the condemnation of Sin - we would have lot more believers. Who doesn't want God as a personal friend?

And just for the sake of argument, here is what other religions say on the topic of sin:

Hinduism: The concept of Sin doesn't even exists. They have more of a guidelines about living an ethical life.
Islam: The concept of Sin exists, and good deeds must be performed regularly to outweight the quota of sin in a person's life.
Buddhism: The concept of Sin doesn't exists. "Paapa" or "Punya" are towards another person, whereas Biblical Sin is against God.

Just to make it clear, I am not supporting Sin. I do believe in working with the Holy Spirit to get rid of the sins, as God and Sin cannot co-exist.

However, my problem is specifically about people having to confess themselves as sinners every day, even though their so called "sins" would be something as insignificant as getting up late in the morning.

 

I take this as a genuine question. You brought up hinduism. As someone from India, I would like to comment on that as well

>> They feel normal human emotions like anger, frustrations, hate, even lust. Why is that evil?

This is simply accepting sin as normal. Bible makes it clear everyone is born in sin. Which mean, sin is inherent. It does not make sin okay. It only means, sin has already separated us from God. And Jesus is the only way to be reconciled back with God (in Jesus own words!!)

>> But to reach there, they first have to confess their sins, feel bad about themselves. 

It is not about making one feel bad. It is about feeling good that God loves us so much that He knew we cannot do anything (as explained above, original sin). And He came down to earth and gave His life for us to be redeemed from sin. Confession of sin is not about making ourselves feel bad. It is acknowledging sin. And trusting God that He has already given His life to forgive that sin.

>> If Christianity was more about spreading the love and forgiveness of Jesus, and less about the condemnation of Sin - we would have lot more believers. Who doesn't want God as a personal friend?

How can we talk about forgiveness if we want to put the thing to be forgiven under the rug?

>> Hinduism: The concept of Sin doesn't even exists. They have more of a guidelines about living an ethical life.

I think you need to study Hinduism more! This is exactly the problem. The religion does not deal with the concept of sin. But people still do not know what to do with the guilt of sin. Hindus believe in sacrifices. It is a big business also. They perform rituals to beg mercy from gods (small g). Because the gods are not able to forgive sin.

The question to you is, what do you do with guilt of sin? Even if you deny existence of sin, there is no way to remove guilt of sin. Even worst murderers and people who commit crime feel remorse. Where does it come from? It comes only because there is something called sin. Only Christianity provides a solid explanation of sin, its consequences and the only proper remedy. Other religions either ignore it, or explain it without remedy.
 

[Willa]

I once taught a class of 7th grade girls in Sunday school.  About half had been baptized and asked Jesus to come into their hearts.  But this evangelical church rarely mentioned repentance or confessing sins.  I mused about this as I led the class one day.  The preacher's daughter asked "what sin! we have never done anything wrong".  So I mentioned just 3 of the 10 commandments.  Don't lie, don't steal, and honor your father and mother.  Since the statement  was "We have never--"  I asked "have you ever?".  The class became very quiet.

You see, we are unaware of our sin without the law,  so the Holy Spirit sort of rubs our noses in our sin till we try to quit and then cry out to God for help because we keep repeating out sin.  The Holy Spirit does this to bring us to repentance. Repentance is agreeing with what God says about our sinful nature, hating it, and turning to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing through His blood sacrifice.  

So the message has to be that God requires us to be perfect to live with Him in heaven.  Without receiving His help provided by Jesus on the cross, the whole world is going to hell in a hand basket, including me and you.  God wants to rescue us from this mess, but we have to receive Jesus as His only Son, God in human flesh, Who came to demonstrate His Father's love to us by dying in our place, for our sins on the cross.  When we believe that He arose from the dead He gives us a fresh new life with power to live as He lived, and ascribes righteousness to our account balance.  Our sin debts are paid in full.   That power comes from His own life born within us.  

Once we are born again the blood of Jesus keeps on cleansing us from all sin.  But if we do willfully sin, all we have to do is agree with God about our sin and He is faithful to cleanse us .  God doesn't condemn us;  that is what satan does and he is a liar so we don't have to listen to him.  God just points out our error so we can be cleansed again.  

So the problem with gay pride, for instance, is that we should never flaunt our sin or be proud of it.  As long as we boast about our sin we cannot be forgiven.  Pride is evil because it resists God's grace and refutes what God says about sin in the Bible.  Disbelief of God's word is the first step toward hell, as when in the Garden Eve doubted what God had said "If you eat of that tree, you shall surely die."

 

[Guest BacKaran]

Instead, new believers have to feel guilty about their Sin.

No, many sinners never feel guilty about anything, that's why we have jails. And it's the Holy Spirit that's convicting sinners, their conscience tells them what is wrong it sinful.

 

Let's be honest, most people are not sinners but are struggling.  Really? Let's be honest, that's a lie straight from the devil and lots of people choose to believe him and not God.

They struggle in their jobs, their finances, their health etc. The good, the bad, we all have issues and all fall short the glory of God, no one does good, no not one.

Keep asking questions, you'll grow as you learn His truths. ?

Edited March 16, 2017 by BacKaran

[warrior12]

An unbeliever does not feel the guilt of sin, because he does not believe in God and Jesus Christ, whom God sent to be the redeemer of sinful man.  We inherited that sin from our first parents and every man since is guilty of that sin.  When we believe and come to see the nature of sin and what Jesus Christ has done for us to free us from that guilt, then we are  no longer slaves to sin.   But we do live in this fallen world and we are of flesh and blood and has an enemy that hates us and wants to  entangles us  back to sinful desires which we formerly was consistent with.  

As a new believer, you rejoice in the fact that your sins are paid for and while we may commit sinful acts that is not deliberate, we  are not to go around holding that guilt.  When we do commit willful sinful act, then, yes we are to repent and ask God to forgive us of those sins, as God hates sin.   But know this, the Christian, be it new or whatever status, we are made righteous through Christ and his righteousness.   

Christ has freed you, not to live in fear and bondage, but to know that you have an advocate you can turn to, when the sins of this world trouble you and you are to rejoice in that, even through the hardship and trials that may come your way.

2 Corinthians 5King James Version (KJV)

²¹ For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him

[Paper mache]

The first step to getting saved is to feel guilty about your sin. All have sinned. Including the sweet old grandma down the road that always donates to charity. Christianity is so focused on sin because sin is what damns us all (before we get saved). Because of sin, everyone deserves death. Sin is a serious issue. That's why it seems to be a major point of focus.

I do see your point, though. In a Christian's life, worship and love are very important. God did create us for His glory, after all.

But, the reason we focus so much on sin and why it's bad is because without repentance (turning away from and therefore feeling guilt for) from our sins is necessary for salvation.

[shanee]

4 hours ago, eileenhat said:

Adam was the very first to sin against God, he went against God's word.

It is called 'original' sin.

It created a situation where we are all fallen from God's good graces.

God made this clear by throwing Adam and Eve out of the Garden and covering them in 'skin' (ie. flesh forms).

So our original form is not what we have today.

We are all born sinners and no amount of 'good works' can change that fact.

You might not like feeling guilty or anything but pleasure, but that is where sin lies.  In the flesh, where we all suffer from emotional burdens which we strive to forget by digesting food and drink and spoiling ourselves.

Not a good way to live.

To come once more back into God's light, we must strive for salvation.

Much more ardently than we strive for pleasure (ie. a sinful will).

1 John 2:15-17 ESV

"Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever."

Hello Eileenhat Shalom,I was thinking...Didnt Eve sin first?  (KJV)

Gen 3:1  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? 
Gen 3:2  And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: 
Gen 3:3  But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 
Gen 3:4  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 
Gen 3:5  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil. 
Gen 3:6  And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 

im not saying Adam would not have fallin for what the serpent said but its looks to me like the Women(first) did and then give to the man.

Edited April 9, 2017 by shanee
KJV

[Willa]

 

On 3/16/2017 at 1:44 AM, loving precious jesus said:

Why can't it be just about experiencing the love of God? Why not just about knowing the Holy Spirit, living by the wisdom in the Bible?

Rom 5:8  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Rom 5:9  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

Instead, new believers have to feel guilty about their Sin. Let's be honest, most people are not sinners but are struggling. They struggle in their jobs, their finances, their health etc.  All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. We are sinners saved by grace

They struggle to pay the bills, to find someone who actually cares about them.

They feel normal human emotions like anger, frustrations, hate, even lust. 

Why is that evil?   Because God says it is evil in the Bible  

Now such a person would love to experience the love of Jesus & the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

But to reach there, they first have to confess their sins, feel bad about themselves. 

It is almost as if sin is the key concept in the Bible.   Forgiveness  through Christ's sacrifice on the cross is, but there is no forgiveness without sin.  

My parents know me with all my shortcomings. They still love me, and never ask me to confess my so called "sins" everyday for them to love me. Why is it different with God the Father then? It's not if you are saved.  If you are not born again, people must deal with their sins to have fellowship with God.

Rom 5:8 ESV but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.  Rom 5:9  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God."  God doesn't stop loving us either.  

If Christianity was more about spreading the love and forgiveness of Jesus, and less about the condemnation of Sin - we would have lot more believers. Who doesn't want God as a personal friend?  It is satan who accuses and condemns, not God.

Rom 8:33  Who shall bring a charge against God's elect? It is God who justifies. Rom 8:34  Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.

And just for the sake of argument, here is what other religions say on the topic of sin:

Hinduism: The concept of Sin doesn't even exists. They have more of a guidelines about living an ethical life.
Islam: The concept of Sin exists, and good deeds must be performed regularly to outweight the quota of sin in a person's life.
Buddhism: The concept of Sin doesn't exists. "Paapa" or "Punya" are towards another person, whereas Biblical Sin is against God.

 Act 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

 Jhn 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Just to make it clear, I am not supporting Sin. I do believe in working with the Holy Spirit to get rid of the sins, as God and Sin cannot co-exist.

However, my problem is specifically about people having to confess themselves as sinners every day, even though their so called "sins" would be something as insignificant as getting up late in the morning.

 Rev 12:10 Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.

It is satan who accuses and condemns us, not God.  He has forgiven us.  Inadvertent sins are automatic covered by the blood of Christ.  Willful sins should be confessed and turned from.  

 

 Mat 4:17  From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

 Act 2:38 Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

 Act 3:19 “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

 Act 26:20 but declared first to those in Damascus and in Jerusalem, and throughout all the region of Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent, turn to God, and do works befitting repentance.

This was the message of Jesus and still is that of the church. 

Some pastors are overly zealous in having everyone confess their sins every time they walk into the church in order to be saved again.  This is false doctrine. Sometimes they try to control us by heaping guilt on us. What church makes you confess and feel guilty about sins every day.? If it were a ritual I probably wouldn't do it.  We only need to confess a sin once unless we continue to do it.  If you oversleep because you are rebellious-- you always do it because you stay up too late and purposefully miss church, it might be a slothful sin. Sins of the heart especially must be confessed and repented,, such as pride, rebellion, lust, resentment toward parents, hatred, vengeful thoughts, seeking after other gods or religions, the occult.  Walking in darkness.

1Jn 1:7  But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.  [and the blood of Jesus His Son keeps continually cleansing us from every sin--Wuest]