When does it become a problem?

[Maven]

Apologies in advance if anything I post here breaks the site's rules.

Where does sin that we are almost 'expected' to commit (by being human) become a serious problem?

I know we all fall short of the Boss' standards, that to me indicates that some level of sin is almost expected of us. But at which point does it become a problem where we just do whatever we like? I guess I'd agree with the argument that as Christians we should want to do "whatever we like" however many are backsliders.

Sorry if I'm sounding a bit muddled but I'm trying to establish where the boundaries are with regards to 'acceptable' (I used that word in the terms of we are mortal therefore prone) sin and 'problematic' sin.

 

[Chad]

Well, if I can say this correctly the best way to put it is that there is no way to say "when" but "repent" only. We shouldn't even spend time trying to figure out where the line will start to hurt us but instead pray and repent instead. Spend time and use your thoughts on repentance. There is no purpose whatsoever to figure out when the sin begins to become a serious problem. Sin itself is a problem enough that it is rebellion against an awesome loving merciful GOD, so why even care for "when"?

Romans 6:16
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Romans 5:12
[ Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ ] Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:6
The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace

James 1:15
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death

 

[Pedronewt]

As Christians we are called to be "holy". Holiness is not about what I am abstaining from but what am I doing with every part of my life.

"Where does sin that we are almost 'expected' to commit (by being human)"
Sin is not natural, God did not create us to sin. This is what brings forth death. The victory of the gospel is in the fact the sin no longer has a hold on us and that we can live free from it's grasps. Sin is a bad habit that we are fully expected to break free of.

take courage and be of good faith!

 

[Maven]

Sin is a bad habit that we are fully expected to break free of.

Thanks for the replies so far but with respect I disagree with the above - how can we be expected to break free from something we cannot break free from? Big J was the only guy who was capable of that, surely?

 

[scrappy]

Isaiah 1:18
"come now, let us reason together," says the Lord. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.”

Job 14:15-17
You will call and i will answer You; You will long for the creature Your hands have made. Surely then You will count my steps but not keep track of my sin. my offences will be sealed up in a bag; You will cover over my sin.

Psalm 32:1-5
blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. when i kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. for day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah then i acknowledged my sin to You and did not cover up my iniquity. i said, "i will confess my transgressions to the Lord "— and You forgave the guilt of my sin.

Romans 4:7-8
blessed are they whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. blessed is the man whose sin the Lord will never count against him.

1John 1:5-10
this is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all.if we claim to have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. if we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. if we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives.

We are sinners, fact. Though we try and walk in the love and light of Christ we fail, for we are human and we fall. what are we to do, we are to repent. For it is through our repentance of our failings that we allow Christ into our lives. Little by little, step by step, day by day Christ shapes us and moulds us in His ways; the more we let Him into our lives the more He can change our lives. For He changes us through love, He changes our thinking, He changes our attitude, He changes our ability to love. For it is in loving with the loved given to ourselves by Christs grace that we can and do conquer the ways of satan.

So i will daily repent of my sins, i will daily thank the Lord for the day ahead with all its challenges and with all its opportunities to love and serve not only Him but His people He places before me. At the end of the day i will daily thank Him again, for the day i have lived for Him and offer my gratitude for the ways He has blessed my day, whilst also appealing to His mercy for the times i have strayed during the course of the day.

i know i will fail, i know i will fall, and i know i will come short, but i also know that the Lord loves me, and so i try, and so i live.

God bless

scrappy

 

[Yeshua]

This Time I got here to late.

Thank You God for teaching us your WORD.

Good Job Chad.


In of JESUS the Christ, Our LORD, the ONLY begotten Son of GOD.

Well, if I can say this correctly the best way to put it is that there is no way to say "when" but "repent" only. We shouldn't even spend time trying to figure out where the line will start to hurt us but instead pray and repent instead. Spend time and use your thoughts on repentance. There is no purpose whatsoever to figure out when the sin begins to become a serious problem. Sin itself is a problem enough that it is rebellion against an awesome loving merciful GOD, so why even care for "when"?

Romans 6:16
Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey—whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?

Romans 5:12
[ Death Through Adam, Life Through Christ ] Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned

Romans 6:23
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:6
The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace

James 1:15
Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death

 

[Theosebes]

The law asks where is the line? The heart doesn't need to know.

This is all about relationship. However many sins we commit and are forgiven for it is all about relationship and not the law.

God looks at our heart and always draws our own personal line depending what is in our heart. One person in our church who had recently become a Christian and came from a challenging up bringing, took the microphone at the front of church during our open prayer time and prayed the most heart warming, devoted prayer to God mixed with praise and adoration. The fact that every second word was a swear word used as punctuation was quite arresting at the time but i don't believe it was sin 'to him' as he did not know any other way of communicating. He has changed a lot since..lol and does not swear at all any more. If i were to do this, it would be sin 'to me' as i am aware and can do differently.
Parents know when their children are really trying their best at being obedient and when they are just trying to get away with as much stretching of the boundaries as they can. God is no different in this respect.

If i told a friend my personal boundaries and the next question from them was "Ok, so, exactly how close can i walk to your boundaries without stepping over them?", I would wonder why they wanted to know. Surely they should be more concerned with not, how far can they go to the limit of them but how close they can be to me.

As a therapist, if you came into my office with this puzzle, my first question to you would be:
How wide would you like the boundary of 'acceptable sin' to be?

Hope this feedback helps

 

[vlooi]

as a christian i think that you would know that what you are doing is crossing the lines and then you would feel guilty (that is how i know (most of the time) how i over stepped it).
i hope this helps!!
vlooi

 

[Rahni]

No easy answer!

Dear Maven,

We were all born into sin.
"...just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin..." Rom 5:12
"...just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men..." Rom 5:18
"...just as through the disobedience of the one man the many were made sinners..." Rom 5:19

By accepting Christ as our Lord and Saviour we die to sin and live for Christ.
"...count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus." Rom 6:11
"For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace." Rom 6:14
"But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life." Rom 6:22

God expects the unsaved to sin...
"... though you used to be slaves to sin..." Rom 6:17
"...you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness..." Rom 6:19

God expects His children,(followers of Christ) to live by the Holy Spirits power and bring ourselves under submission of Christ.
"Those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires." Rom 8:5
"...the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace..." Rom 8:6
"you, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you." Rom 8:9
"...we have an obligation...those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Rom 8: 12,13

Sin becomes a problem in our society when our behaviour begins to disrupt others, naturally, but all sin is immediately a problem with God. The best indicator of when we are sinning is when we are not obeying the Word.
"Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
James 1:22

Some things, though, are not black and white. For these God has given us the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to us.
"...when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth." John 16:13

God has also given us a conscience.
"...our conscience testifies that we have conducted ourselves in the world... in the holiness and sincerity that are from God." 2Cor 1:12
"...they show that the requirements of the law ae written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them." Rom 2:15

Personally, here's the advice I'd give you. It's worked for me. Generally we all know when we sin. The Bible points sin out quite clearly and if it's not in there our consciences will let us know by making us feel bad, (as vlooi said in an earlier post). Other than that, don't go looking for boundaries, just spend time with Jesus. The more time we spend with Him the more influence He'll have in our lives, and the more sin we'll be aware of as He works on us. A life with Jesus isn't like other religions where you define the wrongs and rights and then everything else is allowed. It's not always clear cut and what applies to one doesn't always apply to another. Ultimately sticking with Jesus is the only answer; not just to eternal life, but to struggling through this one as well.

 

[coco]

dont worry too much

Jesus Loves U

 

[Jei_263]

i agree with Vlooi, by being a christian, you kinda know what is expected of you, you you would know when you have crossed that line. But i guess sometimes, like when you are a new Christian, you don't really know where that line is.
Stay Real
Jei
X

 

[snowflake]

i agree with Vlooi, by being a christian, you kinda know what is expected of you, you you would know when you have crossed that line. But i guess sometimes, like when you are a new Christian, you don't really know where that line is.
Stay Real
Jei
X

I agree with you there totally.

Ruth

 

[pixie]

I like coco's answer, in light of all of your answers. Simply "don't worry so much", Jesus loves you. Blessed be our sinless and blameless God Jesus Christ and may we always know that He will help direct us from sin. Jesus loves you. amen