# How common is sinful thought? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 19, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983 "2015-11-19T15:54:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/21 "2015-11-19T23:35:59Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > The idea that coveting is a sin doesn’t work with what the New Testament teaches–you can be tempted without sin. And what is temptation but wanting to do something? If you’re tempted to steal, you are coveting the item you want to steal. Yet that temptation isn’t sin. If you’re tempted to commit adultery, you must covet the person. But if temptation is not sin, then that coveting can’t be sin. Old Testament Exodus 20:17 > [@](#): > > Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour’s. New Testament Matthew 5:17-19 > [@](#): > > 17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. > > 18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. > > 19 Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. > [@BigT](#): > > Every time Jesus references this sort of thing, he also references an action. You look at a woman to lust after her. You call you brother “Racca” to show your hatred. Matthew 5:21-22 > [@](#): > > 21 Ye have heard that it was said of them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment: > > 22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment… ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/22 "2015-11-20T02:33:22Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > I don’t think I could get through an hour, and rarely is there a minute that some evil thought isn’t bouncing around in my head. The whole world is damn lucky only one of my personalities is evil. Well only one is pure evil anyway. Poor **Skald the Rhymer**! Pure evil, eternally damned and doomed! ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/23 "2015-11-20T04:56:15Z")
Could we go outside of Christian denominations? Years ago I was in Bodh Gaya, India and had a conversation with a Buddhist priest about this subject. He told me that there was nothing wrong with such thoughts and that they should be treated as rain hitting the feathers on the back of a duck. Just let them wash away from your mind. \*Acting \*on such thoughts is wrong, but there wasn’t anything one could do to prevent this kind of thought from entering one’s mind. With practice, he assured me, "washing away"such thoughts becomes second nature. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/24 "2015-11-20T12:52:13Z")
I seem to have the picture, from what I’ve read / heard said, that there is fairly close equivalence between Christian ideas on this issue, and **Mangosteen** ’s cited Buddhist same. The relatively “sane” Christian position, as I understand it, is that a Christian can’t help sinful thoughts coming into their mind: the sin is to deliberately entertain them and dwell on them – rather than to do utmost to banish them, in favour of thinking about good stuff. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/25 "2015-11-20T12:55:24Z")
Look, I really, really try my hardest. Honestly I do my very, very best but…try as I may I can barely push my sinful thoughts above 1 per waking minute. I’m a failure I know ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/26 "2015-11-20T14:07:07Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And the same deal with angry thoughts v. actions as with lustful thoughts and actions - Matt. 5:21-22. > > From pretty much any Christian perspective, we’re continually committing sins in thought, word, and deed. We need God’s forgiveness for what’s in our hearts, even if we don’t act on it. I’m not sure this is Jesus’s main point, but one thing I get from these verses is, don’t think you’re a Good Person just because you’ve never committed murder or adultery. You’re not a better person at heart than an actual adulterer or murderer if the difference between you is, not that you lack the evil intentions, but that you lack the courage or the opportunity to act on them. There’s also the fact that the thoughts we choose to habitually entertain can and do affect our attitudes and actions. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/27 "2015-11-20T14:15:41Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Seems to me like you guys have got too many sins on the books if it’s impossible to get through the day without committing a few. Most people would see that as a flaw in the system. One way of thinking of sin is of missing the mark, or failing to live up to being the kind of person we should be. I don’t know about you, but that’s something I do all too often. Another way to look at it is that the basic problem is the condition of _sin_, of which individual _sins_ are symptoms. Expecting to get through the day without committing a few sins would be like a sick person expecting to get through the day without coughing or sneezing. It’s not a perfect analogy, but then, neither is the analogy of sin as breaking the laws in a criminal code. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/28 "2015-11-20T15:33:52Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Another way to look at it is that the basic problem is the condition of _sin_, of which individual _sins_ are symptoms. Expecting to get through the day without committing a few sins would be like a sick person expecting to get through the day without coughing or sneezing. This is pretty much how I see it. You might as well be praying “Dear Lord, forgive me for not being Jesus. Amen.” ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/29 "2015-11-20T15:41:56Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Another way to look at it is that the basic problem is the condition of _sin_, of which individual _sins_ are symptoms. Expecting to get through the day without committing a few sins would be like a sick person expecting to get through the day without coughing or sneezing. It’s like all those countless building and fire codes. The system’s set up where you can’t help but violate some, and that way they’re sure to have you by the balls whenever they want to. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/30 "2015-11-20T16:07:38Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > This is pretty much how I see it. You might as well be praying “Dear Lord, forgive me for not being Jesus. Amen.” That’s pretty close, actually. Not so much “forgive me for not being Jesus” as “forgive me for not being **like** Jesus”. That is, after all, the only real goal for a Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/31 "2015-11-20T16:59:05Z")
> [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > That’s pretty close, actually. Not so much “forgive me for not being Jesus” as “forgive me for not being **like** Jesus”. That is, after all, the only real goal for a Christian. But the goal is _not_ real, and that’s the point I’m trying to get across-the game is rigged, and you can’t win. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/32 "2015-11-20T17:21:08Z")
Lutherans (ELCA) are either more strict than Catholics ------ or much less. It depends on your viewpoint. From our perspective, anything humans do has a certain level of possible sin attached due to our nature and the stain of Original Sin. In a manner of speaking, its built into our free will and we can lessen it but not totally avoid it. We don’t stress “thought” the way the RC church does but they do accept a level of avoidance we don’t. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/33 "2015-11-20T17:25:45Z")
As a 12 year old boy going through puberty I really struggled with this. I stopped going to church, problem solved. I think the concept of sinful thinking is widespread. I am also thinking religion is becomming more tolerant in general regarding thought issues. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/34 "2015-11-20T17:32:05Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > Matthew 5:28 Slight nitpick but it says ’ to look at with lust’ which seems a step removed from simple thought. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/35 "2015-11-20T17:38:37Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > I cannot conceive of getting through a day without at least one lustful or violent or greedy thought. > > “Inconceivable!” And this time, the word means what I think it means. > > I feel sad for believers who are so afraid of their God that they can’t even enjoy the privacy of their own thoughts. Their God is worse than the KGB or Gestapo. :rolleyes: If you only knew what I was thinking about your daughter or your wife. Not personally, of course. These rules make perfect sense in societies that want to lessen violence…especially before the inventions of a police force and the telephone. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/36 "2015-11-20T21:10:14Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > . . . try as I may I can barely push my sinful thoughts above 1 per waking minute. . . . Don’t work on long-term averages, but specialize in the “sprint.” It’s quite possible to have sixty sinful thoughts in a single minute. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/37 "2015-11-20T21:13:27Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > . . . These rules make perfect sense in societies that want to lessen violence…especially before the inventions of a police force and the telephone. More to the point, in societies that haven’t invented individual human moral agency, and the ideal of liberty. Tribal societies are collectivist, beyond anything Stalin could have dreamed of. We’re talking about the kind of society that would kill a man by stoning…for picking up firewood on Saturday. Their goal isn’t lessening violence: their goal is absolute control of every phase of tribal life, both public and private. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/38 "2015-11-20T21:15:02Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Don’t work on long-term averages, but specialize in the “sprint.” It’s quite possible to have sixty sinful thoughts in a single minute. Is thinking about having an orgy with a room filled with 60 people one sinful thought, or 60? ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/39 "2015-11-20T21:37:48Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But the goal is _not_ real, and that’s the point I’m trying to get across-the game is rigged, and you can’t win. What do you mean? What’s winning? What’s losing? \*There’s no score being kept. \* It’s like being in a marriage: my wife and I let each other down in various little ways on a regular basis, and there’s no way we’ll ever get to a place where it never happens But we’re not keeping score. _Winning_ is that we love each other. _Losing_ would be if our relationship fell apart. Same with God. Winning is that God loves me, and is present in my life. Losing would be if I blocked him out, which I can do by being dishonest with him and myself about who and what I am. He can’t help me if I don’t open to him the parts of me that need healing. It is silly to think in terms of _how many_ sins, by the way. Sin just _is_. Infinity + 1 = infinity. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2015, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983/40 "2015-11-20T22:03:17Z")
If there was a god and he loved me, he wouldn’t have come up with this “Sins of the father/Original Sin” crap to begin with. _That’s_ what I mean by a stacked deck. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-common-is-sinful-thought/737983.md?page=3)