Can sin be rationalized away?

[firehill]

I think my downfall is not understanding your original question.

Maybe you could use smaller words. . .

What does, 'Can sin be rationalized away?', to you mean?

[patricia1]

I think my downfall is not understanding your original question.

Maybe you could use smaller words. . .

What does, 'Can sin be rationalized away?', to you mean?

God calls to his child...come Let us reason together... Is. 1:18 Come let us reason together says the Lord,though your sins are as scarlet They will be white as snow though they are red like crimson they will be like wool.. Moses did reason with God about going to egypt, God in his compassion set aaron with Moses but was there sin there no. Job reasoned with God, Even Jesus in the garden...David so many yet watch out god always wins and whatever God says is usually final. You will be held to it. Sort of like a oath. If Jesus will not allow your excuse anymore you need to change that sin faster than you thought.

let us think of some things here. 1. getting pregnant during rape...does it excuse abortion

2.refusal to take medicine to keep me sane, i go out , i kill; its your kid. i should be set free

3. Both parents are alcoholics so I will be too

4.my dad beat me, so I will be a bully and get into fights

Now what I do agree with is that some people come from ungodly homes that offered no alternative to cope with everyday life and need help . I had a horrible Mom. I really did. I took a course to understand what was not off the charts so to speak as to bring up my daughter correctly. I could give her all the knowledge I had of God, I can give her all validation and security but I also could overdo it crippling her. After all we ar more than spirit.

[st. Worm]

I brought this idea over from another thread titled, 'Naming the Name of Christ, And Wickedness'

Can it without being in opposition to logic therefore in the absolute sense? Can sin be rationalized away? Can the breaking of God's Law be rationalized away by a christian at some point in their sanctification process?

LOL!

Are you serious? I would like to know of one Christian that does NOT rationalize away sin in their life. Who among us either keeps the Law perfectly or confesses perfectly each failure to do so. Have you loved God and neighbor perfectly and without failure today? If you think you have then you have major problems. If you haven't, can you even begin to identify how and when you haven't and confessed it? If you can't acknowledge that you rationalize away sin on a daily basis it indicates yet one more time that you are rationalizing away sin!

sw

[eric]

Rationalising sin>> That's the same as justifying your sin. If anyone is doing or behaving sinfully, and knowing that what they are doing is sin, IMO the only way to justify it. is to repent of it and stop doing it. No good saying, I just can't help doing this or that. Rationalising it is only making excuses or looking for a loop hole to let you off the hook.

Sorry, sw, you are totally wrong inyour opinion of rationalizing. I, like all others probably sin or slip every day of my life, but I don't make excuses or try and justify my sin, I confess it in my devotion time and ask forgivenss and repent on a daily basis. If you are lying or cheating, then stop lying or cheating. Jesus said repent, not try to repent. Who ever it is that sins, can only blame theselves. Deliberate sinning I'm talking about, not stumbling. Scripture says it...not me.

and fyi, I most certainly do not try and rationalise my blunders. I fess up.

[tsth]

I might add to this mix, that if the Word is what tells us the truth about who we are, and what we are to be living, as Christians, then how much easier is it to "rationalize" our sins away, when we're not in the Word? Who's responsible for telling us the Truth/The Word? Is it the preachers who are failing, OR is it us? Are we to be responsible for reading God's Word and hearing what HE has to say about our lives and sin, or are we hoping that we can put the blame on preachers, for not telling us what we need to hear, rather than what we want to hear?

As I read this thread, I am reminded of the OT prophets and what they were commanded to speak about the people of the day and how they had gotten so far away from God.

Jeremiah 5:30 "A horrible and shocking thing has happened in the land: 31 The prophets prophesy lies, the priests rule by their own authority, and my people love it this way. But what will you do in the end?

Jeremiah 23:16 This is what the Lord Almighty says: "Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. 17 They keep saying to those who despise me, 'The Lord says: You will have peace.' And to all who follow the stubbornness of their hearts they say, 'No harm will come to you.' 18 But which of them has stood in the council of the Lord to see or to hear his word? Who has listened and heard his word? 19 See, the storm of the Lord will burst out in wrath, a whirlwind swirling down on the heads of the wicked. 20 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until he fully accomplishes the purposes of his heart. In days to come you will understand it clearly. 21 I did not send these prophets, yet they have run with their message; I did not speak to them, yet they have prophesied. 22 But if they had stood in my council, they would have proclaimed my words to my people and would have turned them from their evil ways and from their evil deeds.

Isn't it the responsiblitity of Christians to always be in God's Word, to be able to hear His Words to us? And if not, that may be why we are not feeling convicted over our sins.

In His Love,

Suzanne

[kari21]

The human mind can rationalize ANY behavior...no matter how wicked.

Just look at the ACLU, NAMBLA, and the homosexual agenda.

Edited August 16, 2007 by kari19

[Guest shiloh357]

I brought this idea over from another thread titled, 'Naming the Name of Christ, And Wickedness'

Can it without being in opposition to logic therefore in the absolute sense? Can sin be rationalized away? Can the breaking of God's Law be rationalized away by a christian at some point in their sanctification process?

I think it is important to understand HOW the idea of rationalizing sin away was being used in the other thread. Unfortunately, firehill fails to do a very good of job of providing the context in which the phrase was used.

The issue pertained to homosexuality and how that a person who is a homosexual would rationalize their their homosexuality is not a sin despte the Scriptures which clearly teach that it is isn.

The argumet being made is that since a homosexual acknowledges that we no longer stone adulterers and idolaters or own slaves and that since there are a host of other OT commandments that do not apply to us in this day and age, that it justifies their rejection of homosexuality. In that sense they are "rationalizing" that homosexuality is not really sin and that the commandments of concerning homosexuality have no moral authority over us today.

The issue being debated is whether or not a person can be a practising homosexual and at the same be considered a full brother or sister in Christ even if they fail to recognize that homosexuality is a sin. Unfortunate those in the sloppy theology camp are asserting that a person can live in that lifestyle and be "just as Christian as you and I" even if they rationalize that it is not sin. It is being portrayed as "sinning in ignorance."

We don't need to debate that issue over on this thread; I am just providing some context to firehill's question that she should have provided herself.

[nebula]

Can it without being in opposition to logic therefore in the absolute sense? Can sin be rationalized away? Can the breaking of God's Law be rationalized away by a christian at some point in their sanctification process?

Well, people can try and convince themselves they have succeeded in doing so. But in God's eyes - no.

[Scarletprayers]

Here, I'll add some more of my "sloppy theology"

I think if you refuse/don't see, that something is a sin, BUT you are honestly, truly and prayerfully turning your life over to Christ, and wanting to live in a way that is pleasing to Him, then HE will convict you of it in His time, not mans.

[st. Worm]

Rationalising sin>> That's the same as justifying your sin. If anyone is doing or behaving sinfully, and knowing that what they are doing is sin, IMO the only way to justify it. is to repent of it and stop doing it. No good saying, I just can't help doing this or that. Rationalising it is only making excuses or looking for a loop hole to let you off the hook.

Sorry, sw, you are totally wrong inyour opinion of rationalizing. I, like all others probably sin or slip every day of my life, but I don't make excuses or try and justify my sin, I confess it in my devotion time and ask forgivenss and repent on a daily basis. If you are lying or cheating, then stop lying or cheating. Jesus said repent, not try to repent. Who ever it is that sins, can only blame theselves. Deliberate sinning I'm talking about, not stumbling. Scripture says it...not me.

and fyi, I most certainly do not try and rationalise my blunders. I fess up.

Sorry eric but your statement that "I probably sin ... ", indicates a dangerous delusion about sin on your part that I see from so many posters here. When we look at the Law at full strength and its impossible demands honestly we can never say that we probably are sinning. The Christian life is one of constant repentance. Law keeping is simply not possible. That idea is the heresy of Pelagianism. As sinners we always fall into denial about the sins we commit in thought, word and deed whether it be through the negative prohibitions or the positive requirements of the Law. We cannot even begin to identify the specific ways in which we fail to keep the Law each minute of our existance. Frankly any discussion of this type that fails to understand that is a total delusion in itself.

sw