What counts as a ‘sin’? I know that sin is synonymous with ‘bad’, but can anyone specify that? What is ‘bad’? Bad for one’s health? Bad for one’s social relationships? Bad for one’s spiritual relationships? Bad for one’s academic and professional career? Bad etiquette? Bad netiquette? Bad moral conduct? Bad set of morals? Exactly what counts as a sin?
Merriam-Webster provides this: “It’s a sin to waste food.”
Translation: It is a very bad thing to waste food. It is deplorable to waste food.
How about this? “Eating meat is sinful.”
Translation: Eating meat is unethical due to the way animals in factory farms are treated.
Does anybody have a clear definition that summarizes all these examples?
Furthermore, a sinner is one who sins. But, it is unclear about the frequency of sinning. Is the sinning perpetual or occasional or rarely? If a person who seldom sins accidentally commits a sin due to loss of self-control of himself (i.e. having a bad day and losing his temper and then throwing an unbecoming temper tantrum), then does that person count as a ‘sinner’ or does that person have to go crazy with committing sins in order to become a ‘sinner’?
Is it possible to find a list of all the sins in the world that one can commit but does not? Is committing a sin just an inevitable fact of life?
Then post #2 probably has the most “factual” answer if you don’t want a debate. A sin is something your God (or religious leader) has told you not to do because it is forbidden.
The reason you can’t find the question answered anywhere is that there is no simple factual answer; it’s a matter of opinion and such unsuited to GQ. This could have gone into the IMHO forum, but since it will almost inevitably become a debate I moved it here.
At my Christian high school, in Bible class a sin was usually defined as thus:
Anything that is the opposite of the nature of God.
So kind of like the WWJD test. So it extended to things that God may not have explicitly commanded about. This also led in to the whole “what happens after we die” thing: humans are sinners, and because we sinned we have been separated from God unless we ask for His forgiveness. Hell is separation from God, heaven is being with God.
Note that these are not necessarily my opinions but they probably represent the opinions of American Protestants fairly well (especially evangelicals).
Thank you so much for sharing. I suppose that the word “sin” is strictly used for religious contexts, huh?
That’s funny. I do remember that my English professor used the term, “sin”, to describe some poorly written sentence as an example. Of course, I doubt that he meant it in a religious context; the University to which I went was secular, and the professor never mentioned religion in class. Surely, there is some non-religious usage of the word that I haven’t found it and that people seem to use to describe some sort of disapproved behavior or action or thought.
Outside of a religious context, it has much less meaning. Wouldn’t you say opposing what you believe God commands you to do is a more serious moral problem than opposing what a friend told you to do?
Using “sin” in a secular context is using it only as a metaphor or an exaggeration. It indicates something is considered serious by implication.
“That painting uses red to clash with green.”
“It’s sinful how that painting uses red to clash with green.”
You do have a point. If you oppose a friend, then it’s no big deal. You can always ask for forgiveness and make up for it. If you oppose God, then it is a very big deal, because God has the power to punish you, and you wouldn’t be able to make up for it unless you give an earnest repentance… unless you are way beyond repentance to the point that nothing can be done to save you. Or maybe I am thinking of Lady Gaga’s song, Judas, too much. Ever since I heard that song, I thought, “what could Lady Gaga mean by ‘beyond repentance’?” Gee, I would be afraid out of my wits, if I were to find out that I am beyond repentance! I never knew that God would be so unforgiving. Then again, the sin must be very grave to deserve such a serious punishment. :rolleyes:
Orthographically speaking, you are correct about ‘sin’. However, I think you are referring to the trigonometric function, sin, which is pronounced with a long i sound. The ‘sin’ that is discussed in this topic is referring to the ‘sin’, pronounced with a short i sound. Two different pronunciations, two different meanings, same spelling.
It is important that you read within context. Trigonometric functions do not apply in this case, unless you can find a compelling excuse or explanation on why or how trigonometric functions, such as sin pronounced with a long i sound, can be used to describe the logic of ‘sin’ that is pronounced with a short i sound – yes, I am specifically referring to the ‘sin’ that is pronounced with a short i sound.
Judaism traditionally teaches that there are 613 Mitzvot, meaning commandments, listed in the Torah, which is the first five books of the Bible. You can see a list of them here:
Some of the Mitzvot are positive, saying that certain things should be done. Others are negative, saying that certain things should not be done. Doing one of the things that the negative commandments forbid was traditionally understood as sin and requiring atonement. The positive commandments are harder to qualify in terms of sin, since some applied only to priests or to chief priests, others to kings and judges, others are group or societal actions, and so forth.
In the Catholic tradition, sin is divided into mortal and venial sins. A discussion of the difference between the two types and a list of venial sins can be found here:
