I’m not sure if this topic will spark much discussion, but we shall see.
Jesus is said to have lived a sinless life. He did not commit even one venial sin. Now, all wrongdoing is a sin. That means that even the slightest, tiniest, wrong act is a sin.
What I want to know is how hard would it really be to live a sinless life, and what would such a person be like (please don’t answer Jesus)? To me, it seems like an unimaginably strict existence and a virtually impossible feat to accomplish. Is this sinless life business just hogwash?
I’m not sure I’d consider that living. Its more like waiting to die, even though it would be a sin to hope you die soon.
Can you imagine though, if you spent 80 years trying to live the sinless life, and at the very end stubbed your toe, felt rath, then fell to your death!
You are making the mistaken assumption that we are expected to lead sinless lives.
If God wanted a world full of sinless beings, he would have created a world full of angels. Instead, he created a world of human beings; mortal, fallible, and temptable human beings. As such, God is aware that He created flawed beings and takes that into account.
Suppose for a minute that you were a computer programmer and wrote a simple program that balances your checkbook. Would you then be angry at it when you find that it will not also diagnose the clunking noise in your car’s motor? No, of course not, because that’s not what it was designed to do.
The same with us. We were not designed to be perfect. We have our flaws. Our job is not to lead perfect lives, but to be the best that we can be. Self-perfection - being the best that you can be, is what God is looking for in us.
There is an old Jewish saying that (adapted to myself) goes like this: When I arrive before the heavenly court (after many, many years), God will not ask me why I was not as righteous as Moses, as pious as Aaron or any othe religious figure. He will ask me if I was as good as Zev Steinhardt could have been.
Jesus did it because He was God.
The Bible says NO human can ever do it.
So i don’t try very hard.
Of course, the more you know jesus, the less you Want to sin.
Atheists sin; they just don’t know or care.
Doesn’t absolve em.
Because there is nothing to absolve. There was a recent thread about the nature of sin.
Interestingly, is violence a sin? I need a definitive answer on this (from a Christian or Muslim) before I get to my point. I will qualify this by saying - not in self-defence.
I apologize. I should have said that I was talking about sin and sinners from a Christian perspective, not a Jewish one. All that you say is probably correct (I wouldnt’ know) from a Jewish perspective, but not from a Christian perspective.
I’m not sure where I made that assumption, and I doubt that I would have because I was talking about Christians, and it is impossible for them to lead sinless lives since they are fallen.
Well, even from the Christian POV, I don’t believe God expects you to be sinless. After all, if people lived sinless lives, then what was the point of Jesus dying for people’s sins? Why a need for someone to die for the world’s sins if people were not expected to do so? Would you build a bridge over a river that no one ever wanted to cross?
Sin is in the eye of the beholder anyway. What you consider sinful might not be what I consider sinful. Not that I believe in sin anyway. I believe in being a good person. Sin is a human construct based on a god and an arbitrary set of rules. Those rules may or may not fit with your idea of living a good life.
I didn’t think this through well enough. I didn’t mean to imply, if I did, that God expects people to live a sinless life. That would be impossible. Instead of asking whether people can lead sinless lives, or how hard it would be, let me ask this instead.
Jesus supposedly lived a sinless life. But how realistic is that? It seems to me impossible for one to live here on earth and not commit even the slightest venial sin. And it also seems to me that sinless life would be impossibly strict. One couldn’t tell even the slighest lie or fudge the tiniest fact or hurt someone even in the slightest way. Would it even be possible to lead a sinless life? What kind of maneuvering would have to be done to not commit a single venial sin?
Also, I asked earlier whether it would be hard. Never mind that.
Actually, I think the first post made sense, except the “how hard would it be” when applied to Jesus. I apologize.
Zev,
God doesn’t expect one to be sinless, because that would be impossible. I’m not sure where I made the assumption that God expects us to lead sinless lives.
Well, if you hold the position that Jesus was part of the Trinity and therefore, a part (or aspect, or however it should be termed) of God, then it probably wasn’t very difficult at all.
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Yes, but we’re not expected to be sinless.
Well, first of all, you are making the assumption that all lying is a sin. That is not the case. If Arnold the Assassian comes up to you asking where your buddy Ralph is, lying to him about Ralph’s location would not be a sin – you’d be saving Ralph’s life!
In any event, since we’re not expected to lead a sinless life, I’m not sure what the point of your question is.
First remove your sexual organs - including the brain, since that definitely counts as one. reason: even thinking sex without marraige (and possibly pro-creation) is a sin. NB: I think Jack Chick has already removed his brain.
Second: remove the possibility of any pleasurable physicla sensation. eg: tastebuds etc.
Third: die. The reward of religion is, after all, death.
If it were possible, yes, it wouldn’t be hard for Him. I suppose that I am asking whether it is even possible. I guess we cannot really know that. But it seems (to me at least) impossble. Impossibly strict.
Right.
It is still telling an untruth. I think that it is still a sin, but a very slight one, considering the situation.
I know that we are not expected to live sinless lives. I’m not sure why you keep saying this. I’m confused.
Thanks for the posts.
As with many issues though, there is a thin line to tread; Christian doctrine is definitely against the idea that it is OK to sin because it is all paid for in advace, but it also says you can’t avoid it, ho hum.
Is that the normative Christian position, that forbidden acts are absolutely and always forbidden in every circumstance and that committing that act is always wrong (to one degree or another) regardless of the circumstances?
That is not the normative Jewish position. In Judaism, for example, saving a life overrides almost every commandment. As such, in the hypothetical I described above, not only would one be allowed to lie to Arnold the Assassian, one would be required to.
