Might be a dumb question, but for those of a Christian background, what were you taught in regards to permissibility of sinning.

I was talking to someone the other day, and we were discussing religion and stuff, and they said something that confused me. Upon further clarification, it sounds as though they were taught that Christians are allowed to sin, but it's all good so long as you believe in Jesus.

Now, I believe the classical teaching is that we're not perfect, and we sin, but we should do our best to avoid sin, and repent if we do sin and try and avoid it in the future. Am I wrong? Or is this something new that is being taught these days?

Depends who you ask:

Grigori Rasputin:
Sin is given so that we may repent, and repentance brings joy to the soul and strength to the body, understand? You want me to show you what sin is? Next week Lent ends. Come to me after having taken Holy Communion, when there will be heaven in your soul... then I will show you what sin is.

Basically the more you **** around and find out the more you get you repent and that's good.

I'd like to believe it anyway

I was taught that sin is permitted as in free will. God allows it. But that does not imply that we have the right to sin.

What type of sins are you referring to? (Read St. Paul)

ETA: There are different types of sins. Some are more grave than others. Thankfully, God gave us 10 commandments as a rule to follow. " Thou shall not steal" and a few others deal with grave sins against your neighbor; then there are grave sins against God, "worshipping false Gods", "Keeping holy the Lord's day."

There are some "lesser sins" like lying, provoking your children, cursing, that should be avoided. This takes time and prayer to arrive at a pure state. I struggle with a number of things even now.

Thankfully, the more you know Jesus, the more you will see the things that you need to work on in your life!

Deliberate sinning and expecting God to forgive you is a sin itself- the sin of presumption.

traxter said:

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Might be a dumb question, but for those of a Christian background, what were you taught in regards to permissibility of sinning.

I was talking to someone the other day, and we were discussing religion and stuff, and they said something that confused me. Upon further clarification, it sounds as though they were taught that Christians are allowed to sin, but it's all good so long as you believe in Jesus.

Now, I believe the classical teaching is that we're not perfect, and we sin, but we should do our best to avoid sin, and repent if we do sin and try and avoid it in the future. Am I wrong? Or is this something new that is being taught these days?

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Unfortunately that's how you get the once saved always saved notions that turn into the idea that anything goes. If you sin with intent, then your repentance has to be with true contrition. Because if you are asking for forgiveness but know in the back of your mind you will do it again…that is not true repentance and we will all be judged on how we have lived. That's not to say sins that we didn't truly repent of will keep us from final salvation but this is where the idea of purgatory comes into play. It's a final cleansing of sin. Christ does not negate Christs sacrifice bc we will still be saved, but sin cannot entire Gods presence

traxter said:

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Might be a dumb question, but for those of a Christian background, what were you taught in regards to permissibility of sinning.

I was talking to someone the other day, and we were discussing religion and stuff, and they said something that confused me. Upon further clarification, it sounds as though they were taught that Christians are allowed to sin, but it's all good so long as you believe in Jesus.

Now, I believe the classical teaching is that we're not perfect, and we sin, but we should do our best to avoid sin, and repent if we do sin and try and avoid it in the future. Am I wrong? Or is this something new that is being taught these days?

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Technically the Hebrew describes two different classes of sin... One is a "cleanness" and it is a procedural/spiritual state that has nothing to do with morality. The other is a "moral" sin, and it involves murder, false witness etc.

Quote:

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I was talking to someone the other day, and we were discussing religion and stuff, and they said something that confused me. Upon further clarification, it sounds as though they were taught that Christians are allowed to sin, but it's all good so long as you believe in Jesus.

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When we say, Christians are allowed to sin, we need to be very clear what we mean.

1. Does allowed mean God gives His permission and blessing for us to sin or
2. Does allowed mean God hates our sin, but God allows us to live until our appointed time knowing that we will sin?

I see it as option 2.

The pages of the Bible are filled with God's opposition to sin. We see consequences of it from Genesis through Revelation and God doesn't look upon sin with favor. Sin separates us from God and one another which is the opposite of what we were created for.

Love is not possible without free will. This may be the highest moral ethic. God wants us to share our love with Him and others. Free will takes on the risk of us choosing to rebel and sin against Him and one another.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned (past tense verb) and fall short (present tense) of the glory of God

For the Christian, sin is not "all good" as long as you believe in Jesus. We see believers in God from Moses to David suffer the consequences of their sinful choices. We see this in the NT as well. Sin can cause great loss in this life as well as the next.

But for the Christian, because of their faith in Jesus, all of their sins are paid for in full by Jesus. Their faith has been credited as righteous on their ledger and they are declared righteous. In the future, God will make them righteous and make the outside match the declaration.

Side Note: The doctrine of "once saved, always saved" is not a license to sin. It's a statement about the completeness and satisfactory nature of Jesus' sacrifice and His ability to keep His promise as well as the ability of His Spirit.

Yeah, I think #2 sounds like it makes sense. But I didn't get the impression she was saying it more in the #1 sense.

Amen brother. Great post.