Rank My Sins!

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Well, the title may be a little misleading-- I haven’t committed all of these ‘sins’-- some probably aren’t even ‘sins’ in the Biblical sense.

But I was recently committing one of these acts (won’t say which one) and I got to wondering how heinous this act is considered compared to other not-so-nice deeds.

So, I ask you to rank these ‘sins,’ using any criteria you may so desire (God’s laws, man’s laws, nature’s laws, etiquette rules, gut reaction, or any combination of the above).

Rank 'em 1-5, 1 being the top-of-the-list worst, most heinous of the bunch.

Smoking in a non-smoking hotel room
Masturbating while at work
Peeing in your neighbor’s pool
Taking 5 newspapers out of a newsstand while paying for only one
Driving 50 in a 30 mph zone

Feel free to toss your own list of sins out there for additional Doper ranking.

Happy

2

Those are all pretty run-of-the-mill, depending on circumstances.

3

I have a question about one of the “sins.” Masturbating while at work would rank differently depending upon what kind of job you have. IMHO, if you’re a school bus driver, masturbating on the job is a lot worse than if you’re a lighthouse keeper.

4

I’ll take a…um…yank at them.

Ranked from worst to, errr, least bad.

Taking 5 papers - straight up theft. No excuse for it.

Driving 50 in a 30 - depending on circumstances. Legality does not equal morality to me, and the mere fact that you’re violating a law does not, to me, mean you’re “sinning.” Now, if you’re endangering someone, this one goes up there above taking the papers.

Peeing in a pool/smoking in a non-smoking room - minor nuisances, really, but stop being a dick.

-as in, off the bottom of the scale-

Masturbating at work - really, who the fuck cares? If it makes you happier at work, I say let 'er rip.

5

As a general assessment, I’d rank them:

1- Peeing in your neighbors pool (especially from the diving board)
2- Smoking in a non-smoking room
3- Taking 5 newspapers while paying for one
4- Masturbating at work
5- Driving 50 in a 30 mph zone

The rankings are mainly based on amount of direct harm to a single individual. I think. :smiley:

6

…depending on yer job, of course. :slight_smile:

Thanks, pinkfreud!

7

Well I have done all of them and have been busted for several.

Punishment wise driving would be the worst because of all the fines and isurance, and has the potential of injuing someone.

Driving potenial harm high fines
taking theft
smoking mild harm
peeing no harm/dilution and clorine
masturbating cold improve performance because one may accualy thing about . work and not sex for a couple min.

8

Hmmm …

Taking 5 newspapers out of a newsstand while paying for only one - most direct harm, the newspaper guy probably had to eat the cost

Driving 50 in a 30 mph zone - you could have killed someone. However it’d depend on where you were, what time it was, were there any pedestrians, etc.

Masturbating while at work - no harm to anyone, but pretty trashy – the whole there’s-a-time-and-a-place-and-its-at-home-on-your-own-time thing (I’d fire an employee that did that)

Smoking in a non-smoking hotel room - ehh

Peeing in your neighbor’s pool - eh, the chlorine probably took care of it

9

#1.) Taking the papers was theft, and what the hell are you gonna do with five identical papers anyway?

#2.) Smoking in a non-smoking room. Come on. The next person in there is gonna be pissed.

#3.) 30 in a 50 zone is not too bad, assuming it’s like the 30 zones at home in Middlebury, where there is never any traffic, or pedestrians.

#4.) Peeing in the pool? C’mon, dude, don’t be a dick.

#5.) Masturbating at work… eh, no harm, no foul.

10

Seeing as I am staying in a hotel this week, that 1st one rates capital punishment. Of course, that makes all the others moot.

11

Taking 5 newspapers - Simple theft. Greedy, too, since you only really need one.
Driving 50 in a 30 mph zone - Depends on the circumstances, but usually this isn’t too bad.
Peeing in your neighbor’s pool - This and the smoking one are about equal. Nuisances that probably don’t hurt anyone. This just seems much more disrespectful, though.
Smoking in a non-smoking hotel room - Not very nice, but meh.
Masturbating while at work - As long as you’re not using up the office supplies, leaving evidence behind or making enough noise to disturb your co-workers, who cares? If you work in food prep, however, the kitchen is most definitely out of bounds (knew a kid in high school who got busted for that by a customer while working at Donut Maker)

12

Driving 50 in a 30 mph zone—Possibly the most apparently-damaging activity on this list. Think about why a 30-mile-an-hour zone is there in the first place.

Taking 5 newspapers out of a newsstand while paying for only one—Petty theft. Fairly unmitigated as well, as far as I can see.

Smoking in a non-smoking hotel room—Maybe harmful, maybe not—but certainly bad for someone who cannot stand cigarette smoke.

Masturbating while at work—While harmless in itself and encompassing of a variety of activities that fall under this definition, the type of workplace wasn’t directly established.

Peeing in your neighbor’s pool—Forget chlorine; assuming that this isn’t a kiddie-pool we’re talking about, the mere facts that healthy urine is sterile and already in a greatly diluted state upon its immediate exit from the body in this circumstance makes this a non-event. You may as well try not to sweat in the pool.

13

If you were in a confessional, ranking the sins would not be the point. The questions would be 1) Were these intentional acts? Uninteded actes are not sinful - if your mind wandered and you sped that was not necessarily a sin. 2) Did you know them to be sins? Was there sincere doubt in your mind as to the doctrine of sin about your action? Or did your conscious tell you that in this instance an overwhelming good, saving a life, justfied a smaller sin, stealing the papers? 3) Are you contrite? That is are you sorry for your sins and seek forgiveness and absolution? That is, if they were sins, do you seek a release from the burden of those sins and forgiveness from God?

I believe that reconciliation with God and seeking forgiveness is really the only point of recognizing sinful behaviour. Sinful behaviour is a problem not just because it hurts us and others, but because it makes us guilty and makes us feel unworthy to approach the presence of God and full participation with the Church. By that I mean not the hierarchy of the church, but the community of the faithful gathered around the table of the Lord each week that recognize that in our humanity we are all sinners and we must regularly seek God’s forgiveness.

Reconciliation and forgiveness is a gift that we can receive from God with genuine contrition and faith that can heal those wounds, but sometimes requires acts of repair beyond a few Our Fathers and a Decade of Hail Mary’s. And contrary to popular belief, in Roman Catholic theology, while certain things are doctrinally sinful, the role of the conscious and free will play a strong role in determining which actions are and are not sinful.

This is not a free ride. If the papers are stolen to clothe a naked baby who is about to freeze to death in a snowstorm and you plan to pay the newspaper company back the life of the child supercedes the needs of the newspaper company for immediate revenue. If they are stolen to help support your crack habit they are part of a larger pattern of sin and addiction, which may or may not be mitigated by your victimization and loss of free will.

I am not an expert here on such matters. I am not a confessor or an expert theologian. This is just my understanding. If there is a priest in the house feel free to step in.

This is of course only one take on sin. Other faiths and traditions may differ. I am not trying to impose my beliefs on others, but if you are going to bring up the subject of sin in a public forum, expect to get some sincere responses.

Peace,

Peter

14
  1. Peeing in your neighbor’s pool (it’s extremely disrespectful of your neighbor and his property)
  2. Taking 5 newspapers out of a newsstand while paying for only one (theft + greed)
  3. Masturbating while at work (c’mon; it’s just inappropriate. And if it’s during a meeting, then it moves up to #1. If it’s during a consultation with the HR department, you don’t deserve to be posting on this message board.)
  4. Driving 50 in a 30 mph zone (reckless, but that’s about it)
  5. Taking a joke MPSIMS thread too seriously
  6. Smoking in a non-smoking hotel room (hurts no one)
15

1 - Driving 50 in a 30 mph zone - Even if you don’t get into an accident, you could get a very big ticket for this offense and your insurance will most likely go up. If you do get into an accident and hurt someone besides yourself, the guilt will stay with you for the rest of your life - along with the arrest record and possible jail time.

The rest of these are pretty minor.
2 - Taking 5 newspapers out of a newsstand while paying for only one - this is theft plain and simple. However, I can’t imagine you’d do much time for it if caught though so it’s more of an inconvenience for the people who come after you and find the box empty.

3 - Smoking in a non-smoking hotel room - Whether an allergy to smoke exists or not, you should really refrain from doing this. The smell lingers a long time and it really does bother people. Yes, I am a smoker and I was trapped in a nonsmoking room for 2 days during hurricane Francis.

4 - Peeing in your neighbor’s pool - as long as there’s no one near enough to feel the warmth, who cares? With all the crap that people put in their pools, I don’t think there’s any harm. However, the warmth is very gross when it’s not yours. I don’t think I’ve ever done this put it’s possible I did when I was a kid.

5 - Masturbating while at work - depends on where you do it. If you do it in a single bathroom, have good aim (when applicable), and wash your hands after, I don’t see the harm. After all, taking a dump is pretty gross when you think about it, especially if you don’t wash your hands. But you can still do it at work :smiley: Besides, thinking of all the other things people have done at work, this one is VERY minor. While working in food service, I met more than one former employee who admitted to some pretty strange acts while on the job - including but not limited to sex (of many varieties), drugs (again, many varieties), and nasty things done to food. However, if you’re caught, don’t be surprised if you get reprimanded or fired.

So, are you ever going to tell us which one you did? Can we guess? Will you tell us if we get it right? :smiley:

16

Alright, alright. I smoked in a non-smoking room. But I didn’t enjoy it due to the guilt.

17

Okay, my first five were pretty lame sins apparently.

Here’s another five:

(Note: I am not condoning or suggesting anyone do any of these things, nor have I done any of these, or plan on doing them. Just curious about people’s ideas on morality/ethics.)
Tripping an elderly person on purpose
Parking in a handicap parking spot at a hospital
Writing ‘Balls’ in red magic marker on your mother’s forehead while she sleeps
Mooning a congregation at Sunday Mass
Farting on a baby’s head

Again, 1-5, one being the worst

18

Tripping an elderly person on purpose - 2 - they break hips, you know

Parking in a handicap parking spot at a hospital - 4 - exercise is good for anyone

Writing ‘Balls’ in red magic marker on your mother’s forehead while she sleeps - somewhere from 1-4 depending on if it is permanent marker and if you tell her to look in the mirror before she goes out

Mooning a congregation at Sunday Mass - 4 - not very evil

Farting on a baby’s head - 5 - baby won’t care, might find it funny.

Did you at least try to blow the smoke out the window, or were you totally in the middle of the room with the window closed?

19

  1. Driving 50 in a 30 mph zone.

  2. Peeing in your neighbors pool.

  3. Taking the Newspapers.

  4. Smoking in the non smoking hotel room.

  5. Masturbating while at work.

20

  1. Tripping an elderly person on purpose.

  2. Mooning a congregation at Sunday Mass.

  3. Parking in a handicap spot at a hospital.

  4. Farting on a baby’s head.

  5. Writing “balls” on your mom.