Name: Anonymous 2008-01-15 19:32
I've been talking to a lot of people about Christianity and the ideas of repentance, God's grace and mercy, and if all sins are equal. I've only lived in the United States so I don't know too much about everyday culture in other countries. Anyway, most polls show somewhere around 80% of Americans consider themselves Christians, yet they don't even act close in accordance with the teachings of Jesus. The pornography business is making billions of dollars, Americans are one of the world's largest consumers of illicit drugs, fornication and adultery are common, divorce is common, abortions are common, the use of contraceptives is common, gambling, violent crime, theft, hate, intentional ignorance, and so many other sinful things are common.
The comebacks I usually hear when I bring this up is "What are your sins?" and "All sins are equal, so whatever sins you've done no matter how small are just as bad as the things you listed". First off the idea that "all sins are equal" comes from Romans 3:21-25 which simply says we have all sinned and 1 John 3:4 which says whoever practices sin practices lawlessness. Where you draw the conclusion that all sin is equal, I don't know.
Another comeback I've heard is "The grace of God allows anything to be forgiven". Most churches and Christians I've seen only follow repentance, not atonement and remorse. They intentionally sin and believe at the last minute they can say "Dear God I'm not sure exists or not, I'm sorry for what I did in my life, if you're up there accept me into Heaven". When I repent for a sin I actually atone for it and I have remorse. If there's a victim I apologize and try to settle our disputes. If it's a victimless sin such as using curse words or playing a rated-M video game there is not much I can do but I try things like reading more from the Bible, making promises to limit me doing those things, and sometimes even fasting.
One other comeback I've heard is "Judge lest ye be judged". What does that statement mean? It means if I judge someone else's sexual behaviour they can judge mine which hardly exists. Or if I judge someone else's drug use, they can judge mine which doesn't exist. If I were to do those things though, yet judge other people I would be a hypocrite. That's what that statement is about. Also, I'm not exalting myself, I'm not acting holier-than-thou. I'm saying the majority of Christians are hypocrites.
Alright, let's just ignore all the teachings of the prophets and Jesus. Let's ignore the entire Bible and do whatever the Hell we want, because we're going to Heaven no matter what when we die, as long as we "accept Jesus". [/sarcasm]
The comebacks I usually hear when I bring this up is "What are your sins?" and "All sins are equal, so whatever sins you've done no matter how small are just as bad as the things you listed". First off the idea that "all sins are equal" comes from Romans 3:21-25 which simply says we have all sinned and 1 John 3:4 which says whoever practices sin practices lawlessness. Where you draw the conclusion that all sin is equal, I don't know.
Another comeback I've heard is "The grace of God allows anything to be forgiven". Most churches and Christians I've seen only follow repentance, not atonement and remorse. They intentionally sin and believe at the last minute they can say "Dear God I'm not sure exists or not, I'm sorry for what I did in my life, if you're up there accept me into Heaven". When I repent for a sin I actually atone for it and I have remorse. If there's a victim I apologize and try to settle our disputes. If it's a victimless sin such as using curse words or playing a rated-M video game there is not much I can do but I try things like reading more from the Bible, making promises to limit me doing those things, and sometimes even fasting.
One other comeback I've heard is "Judge lest ye be judged". What does that statement mean? It means if I judge someone else's sexual behaviour they can judge mine which hardly exists. Or if I judge someone else's drug use, they can judge mine which doesn't exist. If I were to do those things though, yet judge other people I would be a hypocrite. That's what that statement is about. Also, I'm not exalting myself, I'm not acting holier-than-thou. I'm saying the majority of Christians are hypocrites.
Alright, let's just ignore all the teachings of the prophets and Jesus. Let's ignore the entire Bible and do whatever the Hell we want, because we're going to Heaven no matter what when we die, as long as we "accept Jesus". [/sarcasm]