Apparently not believing in God. My first introduction to the true mind of religious people was in the 4th grade when a classmate told me "I'm sorry you're going to burn in hell forever" when I told her I was an atheist.
Not sure how old 4th grade is, but I'd have been about 6 or 7 when Amanda Jackson told me I couldn't borrow her colouring pencils because I didn't believe in Jesus. We're in the UK, it's not like it's even such a huge thing over here, and joke's on her anyway because in the end the teacher ruled that she had to share.
Screw you Amanda. Never forget.
Yeah, I never know what age a grade equates to. “4th grade” - is that age 4? Seems a bit young. So, if you start school about age 4, then that would be 1st grade I guess, so 4 + 4th grade would be age 8. Is that right?
It’s usually your grade + 5. Most people start school around 4 or 5 but before first grade there’s kindergarten.
Why do you assume all religious people think the way she does? Isn't that painting with a broad brush just like she did?
Probably.
Should I do better with my thought process on it? Probably.
Please do note, though, I said that was my first introduction. I'll let you guess how many more instances it took before I learned to keep my mouth shut and not reveal my non-belief under any circumstances.
The proper response to that is "At least I'll be in good company."
Joke's on her anyway. I'd say she's going to be disappointed when she dies, but she won't be anything.
Got sucked off in a church once. Wasn't smitten.
Also: it was (luckily) by my gf, not the priest.
yeah but to know what sins actually are you gotta read the bible, and ain't no christian got time for that! Easier to just let Fox tell us what our religion says is good or bad.
I'm imagining you've been the father, the mother and the doctor in these events that you have participated in.
None of the above: I'm a surgical tech, my role is to get the instruments, supplies, and equipment needed for a surgery; establish sterile fields and get those instruments etc on them in a sterile way; facilitate the actual surgery by making sure the surgeon never has idle hands (we have to know the surgeries well enough to anticipate what instrument the surgeon will want in each step), and get the room turned over for the next case.
It's a cool job, but the pay's kinda shit, so I don't recommend it as anything other than a stepping stone to something like nursing, which is what I'm currently working toward.
During covid, I had one teensy moment of not being careful with myself, and I think I spread the virus. Down the line, I'm told someone died from it. I consider myself a woman of faith, and to this day, the idea I caused a death still terrifies me.
Definitely the time I puked all over a homeless guy on the Red Line and then just... got off the train. I was very drunk, but that's no excuse.
without being a dick to others
Well there you go, you've just defined sin(lessness)
Not everyone has the same definition though - but if you're coming from a Christian-influenced culture, that's not far off the core meaning of sin in Christianity, just with an added "easier said than done"
Sin - a deed that sky fairy says is bad and you must jump through this sky fairy’s follwers’ hoops to divest yourself of it to remain in their and sky fairy’s favor. If you don’t, you don’t get to go to sky fairy’s happy place when you die.
Being a dick - no sky fairy involved. You’re just being a dick and need to make amends if you don’t want to be perceived as a dick, or just carry on being one. No divine retribution, no hoops to jump through for Elysium.
So, it's like if you smoke cigarettes next to a pregnant lady, and the sign on the wall says no smoking. If someone asks you to stop, are they currying favour with the wall-fairy? Or are you being a dick by passing smoke to the lady (even if you don't realise it's damaging her health).
Besides, if we're talking Christian belief, said sky fairy is the same who made you and the world you live in, not too mention a bunch of other credentials, so he has a bit more clout than your average pigeon.
And as to the followers' hoops: "the views expressed herein do not always represent the views of the management" (although they ought to, if followers are following well!)
In some Christianity. Many define it in terms of disobeying God, which can conflict pretty badly with the not-being-a-dick thing depending on interpretation
In correct Christianity. (Yes, I am bigoted about what sort of Christianity is correct.)
Obeying God is, a) not being a dick to God, and b) not being a dick is easier said than done and God understands this better than we do.
Agreed the interpretation can turn this to either seem bad or genuinely be bad; and there are other also-valid ways to oversimplify it. But I still contend that in genuine Christianity not-sin is at least essentially close to not-being-a dick as long as you can think ahead to later consequences of your actions and not be a dick with the consequences either.
I'm not Christian, so I don't have a view on what interpretations are "correct." But if I might ask, how did you come to the conclusion that your interpretation is the right one?
Ooh, this one I want to give much more time to answering then I have...
Many different aspects, some weaker, some stronger, that come together enough that I feel very confident in my confidence.
And not every belief within Christianity is something I'd say I'm sure I'm right, or it's vital for every Christian to believe/agree.
But my main logical foundation would be something like this:
Those are pretty much axioms/dogma, and it would certainly take more time than I have now to describe why and how I think they are true. But I feel confident to say anybody who rejects those has no business calling their beliefs 'Christian'.
(Essentially. ...there are a handful of subtleties depending on how you interpret what I've written.)
From those axioms there are a bunch of things that I think are essential for healthy Christian thinking & living, and a bunch more that I value highly, and/or think correct, but I'll still respect you as a Christian if you disagree.
And for the most part, this core foundation (including many of the corollaries) is shared by pretty much every Christian group that considers Jesus their lord rather than some other person or 'humanity' or 'human logic'. Although the different groups will often discuss and express it in very different terms and perspectives.
For the question above of what is 'sin', Christians will talk of obedience, broken relationship with God, rebellion, evil spiritual influence, corruption, decay, human nature, foolishness... all things that have connection, and some become just different starting points to talk about the same thing.
Part of the problem is whether you start with a concept and choose a word (e.g. sin) for it; or start with a word and ask what other people (e.g. the Bible authors, Christian history etc) have meant by it.
And of course on the way people will twist and abuse it all sorts for their own ends, which is a major reason we always go back to the Bible for authority.
All that said - I think there is a strong argument from the Bible, backed up (for myself) by my experience of my relationship with God and (for others) by common church teaching, that the core meaning of sin is being not-loving, not-kind, selfish, hateful, evil, towards people and towards God. I.e., being a dick. That judgement is recognising publicly between wrong (being a dick) and right (not being a dick) and rewarding/punishing appropriately. And that most of how sin and righteousness is discussed and characterised beyond that, is framework around that, taking into account long term effects, the reality of God, and so on.
I don't expect every Christian to agree that my way there of analysing it is the best, or even helpful, but I would expect most if not all - if they fit my axioms of Christianity above - if they really study and consider their beliefs and the Bible, to come to a similar conclusion as part of their understanding.
Phew! I wonder if I made any terrible mistakes as I wrote. (And on my phone, at that!) Eh, it's the internet, you can get what you want from it and assume I'm a dick for the rest ;-p. And I'll try and answer any more questions if you like.
Oh, a final note. My description of 'judgement' seems to miss out the central thing of Christianity, that is we are saved (from our sin, and from judgement regarding it) by trusting in Jesus. That is central, (and maybe I've not written it well), but it's of key importance that that - that salvation through Jesus - is built on top of that plain meaning of right/wrong and judgement.
I'm not from a religious background but I always thought sex before marriage is a sin, no? I'm not sure how in modern times sex before marriage between two consenting adults is being a dick.
what i meant by sin was the most evil act , (like someone said puking on homeless person) , but i am still satisfied with the answers that you gave me about how being a atheist is considered the greatest sin , i didnt expected atheism to be such a huge sin in religion but i guess i was wrong.
you didn’t expect the complete denial of religion for oneself being a sin of following a religion??? the whole point of following a religion is following that religion. not following it is in large part a sin. of course there are exceptions, but if we are speaking about judaic religions (the most common use of the word sin), literally not following the religion is a sin.
According to the inventors of sin, sin is a crime or offense against God. If there is no deity, sin is impossible to commit. Also, they say all sin is equal: you are equally condemned for committing murder or for looking at someone lustfully. So this question, as worded, is deceptively hard to answer.
If you're asking "what's the most awesome thing you've done that people would consider a sin" well, I'd probably add to the list of people who answered with atheism, as questioning and searching for the truth is taboo in Abrahamic societies.
If you're asking "what's the most awful thing you've done?" Well, it might be somewhat tame, but I wake up in a cold sweat sometimes when I think about it. Imagine a 13-year-old kid confident of having the answers to someone's questions, when a life is on the line.
What is the definition of greatest sin? Deadly sins in bible, the mworst crime commited or do I get to pick?