Honesty

Honesty is something all Churches praise. But I am afraid most churches don't do. Not that they lie to you, they just don't tell the whole truth. They tell you what is good and bad, what is wrong and right. They do their best to be correct. Try their best to lead in a way that glorifies God. What they don't do is tell the whole truth. And that truth is this:

WITH ALL THE RULES AND IDEALS WE PREACH, WE FAIL THEM DAILY.

Thats right, we want to do good. We really do. But we fail. EVERY DAY. The Church tends not to mention this. We call ourselves sinners. We admit we aren't perfect. We mainly do this at the time of original repentance. We are sinners and we ask Jesus to forgive us. He does. And then you are born again. Cleansed of yours sins and forgiven. Thats past, present, and future sins.

In other words, you continue to sin. The difference is you become convicted of those Sins. You begin to see the consequences of sin. You no longer want to commit these sins for what it does to others. Others become more important than yourself.

But that is off the point.

What we do is act like we have become perfect because we have found Jesus. And to him, we are. But here on earth, we continue to sin. This is where we make our mistake with honesty. We try and show others what their sins are, and why they should stop committing them. And this is a good thing. The bad thing is that we forget to mention that we can't even follow our own rules. That we try and fail. Try and fail. So it comes across as condemning, or judging. Don't get me wrong, some are definitely judging, but I don't think most do. I think most just make a sad error.

What we have to begin doing is saying to everyone, we know you are making these mistakes. We know they are causing you harm whether you know it or not. We know this because we have made and are making similiar mistakes. We don't love you in spite of your sins, we love you cause you are just like us. No better, no worse. We are all alike. So if a Church says you are doing something you shouldn't. They may be right, they may be wrong. Just remember, they do it out of love. They do it for the same reason a parent tells their child not to put their hand in the fire. Because it will hurt them, and that is the last thing they want.

Sin

So what is sin exactly? We focus so much on it, I decided we should at least try to figure out what it is. And I think I have it. At least for me......

For me, Sin is anything you do (or don't do) that hurts one of God's Children. And keep in mind, You are one of God's children. Lets look at some examples.

Is drinking a Sin?
Having a glass of wine with dinner. No.
Having 5 glasses of wine with dinner and saying something that hurts someone. Yes.
Having 5 glasses of wine and waking up sick and hungover. Yes. (Hurting yourself counts)
Having 5 glasses of wine, staying of sound mind, hurting no one, and waking up feeling good. No.

Is smoking a Sin?
Smoking a cigarette or Cigar once a month? No.
Smoking a pack a day? Yes.

Is having money a Sin?
(I know this may sound odd to some, but I have friends who are struggling with this as we speak)
Being wealthy, and not being generous with those in need. Yes. (Not doing can be as bad as doing)
Being wealthy, giving, but focusing you life on what you have. Yes.
Being wealthy, giving genorously, and focusing on Jesus. No.

Sound easy to apply? Not always.....

How about sex before marriage? Does it hurt you? Does it hurt the person/persons you are having sex with? Some would say yes, some say no. And what does it do to your relationship with your future wife (should you chose to get one).

The point is, no matter what definition you give to sin. It is up for discussion. I can't say what is or is not a sin. But I do believe that anytime you hurt someone God loves, you are sinning.