What is sin? That is a question that generation after generation people not just from a Christian or Jewish backround has been asking.

Sin is more or less defined as that obstacle that keeps us away from God.

But the obstacle is not the same for everyone or for every geneartion.

Thus, neophytes, who are beginning to read the Bible cannot understand why for example Abraham married his niece, yet Moses makes that a sin.

The lis goes on.

Also, what impact does sin make on the person commiting it. Even Jesus had to deal with that in his generation. His people, even today, believe that blindness, ....and other physical or mental conditions are the result of the person sinning or the parents sinning.

With this in mind, what constitutes sin for you and what doesn't. The reason I ask this is because we all seem to go in circles about what salvation is.

The Christian Yahwist

The Man of Yahweh

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonval@yahoo.com), March 01, 2005

Answers

For me these don't constitute sin.

1. Marrying a first cousin, but I discourage it. Jacob and rebekah seemed to have been first cousins.See Genesis.

2.Getting a divorce and then remarrying.

Jesus had a more strict See (Mathew 5)interpretation. Though in John he somehow is more lenient with the Samaritan woman even though she had five husbands and the one she was living with was not her husband.

3. I don't believe that people born with certain diseases, or mental, or physical conditions were born because their parents sinned. That was the case of the blind man in John.

4.I don't believe that haven't premarital sex is sinful, but I discourage it. In our society, marriage strengthens the bond between the couple by making it a legal bonding instead of just to see what happens. Adam and Eve were not married.

5. Sex is not evil. It is our way to preserve our species.

.....

Add your 6,...7...

The Christian Yahwist

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonval@yahoo.com), March 01, 2005.

Adam and Eve were not married because the institution of marriage had not yet been given.

-- Gail (rothfarms@socket.net), March 01, 2005.

That's true in a sense, Gail.But what is marriage in your personal opinion?

6. Is it a sin for a brother to marry his brother's wife after he dies? At one time it wasn't. I discourage this type of marriage.

The Christian Yahwist

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonval@yahoo.com), March 01, 2005.

nice said about the marriage elpidio...

pre-marital sex...well it depends how you take it,if you have sex with anyone just for fun,it personally think it's a wrong thing,it reduces the true value and meaning of it...

but if you really love each other,i don't see what is wrong with it...yes marriage can strengthen the bond between 2 people,but marriage is not insuring you that your relationship will last and it's not a condition to really love each other,marriage by itself is not a perfect thing,like the man marrying his brother's wife if this one dies(how can someone possibly believe this comes from god btw?),marriage without love is nothing...

-- sdqa (sdqa@sdqa.Com), March 02, 2005.

Abraham married his step sister - the daughter of his father, but not his mother. That was part of my morning reading today :-)

David

-- non-Catholic Christian (no@spam.com), March 02, 2005.

Ive recently got spammed online by a lady who accused me of fornication. She got to me, though cuz it is what the bible says but what exactly is fornication and marriage? Ive been with the same guy for 3 years and we're not legally married. Nor do we want to be, we dont follow the traditions. To me, we are married.

According to Strong's concordance..

Fornication = 2181 Zanah To commit adultery 8457 taznuwth To commit harlotry

Harlot = 2181 Zanah To commit adultery 6948 Qedeshah Sacred female prostitute

Marriage = 3427 Yashab To dwell, to remain, to settle 3947 Laqach To take Ive wondered about this. In Lev, some chapters thoroughly explains what to do with leprosy.. But i cant seem to find the method of marriage. Isnt that weird? i feel marriage is far more important and sacred than how to treat leprosy. And i would really want to do it His way instead of the American Tradition of marraige.

Id like to know all of your opinions on the method of marriage.. :)

-- a temple (nuhhuh@nopenope.com), March 02, 2005.

Gen 11:27 Now these [are] the generations of Terah: Terah begat Abram, Nahor, and Haran; and Haran begat Lot.

Gen 11:28 And b>Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees.

Gen 11:29 And Abram and Nahor took them wives: the name of Abram's wife [was] Sarai; and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran, the father of Milcah, and the father of Iscah.

Since Jacob, Abraham's grandson married a cousin, and here Nahor married Milcah the daughter of Harran, his niece, then Sarai(later Sarah) was also probabbly his niece, David.

The Christian Yahwist

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonval@yahoo.com), March 02, 2005.

Genesis 20

1Now Abraham journeyed from (A)there toward the land of (B)the [a] Negev, and settled between Kadesh and Shur; then he sojourned in (C) Gerar. 2Abraham said of Sarah his wife, "(D)She is my sister " So (E) Abimelech king of Gerar sent and took Sarah.

3(F)But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, "Behold, (G)you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married."

4Now Abimelech had not come near her; and he said, "Lord, (H)will You slay a nation, even though blameless? 5"Did he not himself say to me, 'She is my sister'? And she (I) herself said, 'He is my brother ' In (J)the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands I have done this." 6Then God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know that in the integrity of your heart you have done this, and I also (K)kept you from sinning against Me; therefore I did not let you touch her. 7"Now therefore, restore the man's wife, for (L)he is a prophet, and he will pray for you and you will live. But if you do not restore her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours." 8So Abimelech arose early in the morning and called all his servants and told all these things in their hearing; and the men were greatly frightened. 9(M)Then Abimelech called Abraham and said to him, "What have you done to us? And how have I sinned against you, that you have brought on me and on my kingdom (N)a great sin? You have done to me things that ought not to be done." 10And Abimelech said to Abraham, "What have you encountered, that you have done this thing?" 11Abraham said, "Because I thought, surely there is no (O)fear of God in this place, and (P)they will kill me because of my wife. 12"Besides, she actually is my sister, the daughter of my father, but not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife;

That should remove all doubt.

David

-- non-Catholic Christian (no@spam.com), March 02, 2005.

The changing definition of sin . . . 'yes' the definition of what constitutes a sin has changed, but the actual, core definition of sin has not.

"Sin" is disobeying or not obeying God in what we think, say or do. The result of sin is separation from God and ultimately eternal death.

The reason the list of what is considered sin changes is because God adapts His criteria and rules based on circumstances and covenants. In the Old Covenant, it was unlawful to eat certain "unclean" animals. In the New Testament, God made a declaration calling those same animals "clean" and thus opened the door allowing man to eat those same animals without sinning.

In the beginning, there was no choice but to marry one's sister - there was no one else. In the beginning, God allowed men to marry mulitple wives and to keep concubine. This was to fulfill his ultimate purpose of populating His Creation. Over time, these rules changed to fit the need. Today, God's rule is that marriage must be a formal sacrament (covenant) performed by a priest/minister to only one spouse of the opposite sex - period. A "marriage" performed byu a judge is not considered a marriage in God's eyes - thus the parties are sinning when they have sex.

Most sins are clearly discussing in the scriptures for the covenant that applies. The New Testament provides a clear list of what is or is not sin which applies to all Christians. At the same time, each individual can sin apart from those specified in the NT for everyone. If I make a vow before God and then break it, I've sinned. Or if God is speaking to me and asking me to do something and I refuse, it's sin. For instance, God might be convicting someone about their weight and tell them to stop eating too much, specifically ice cream. The Lord is working on the person's gluttony. So He tells them not to eat ice cream anymore. If he or she does, then it's a sin. But clearly, it's not a sin for everyone else - or maybe it is :-)

David

-- non-Catholic Christian (no@spam.com), March 03, 2005.

In the beginning, there was no choice but to marry one's sister - there was no one else. In the beginning, God allowed men to marry mulitple wives and to keep concubine. This was to fulfill his ultimate purpose of populating His Creation. Over time, these rules changed to fit the need. Today, God's rule is that marriage must be a formal sacrament (covenant) performed by a priest/minister to only one spouse of the opposite sex - period. A "marriage" performed byu a judge is not considered a marriage in God's eyes - thus the parties are sinning when they have sex. -David

That does make sense. :)

Still i wonder.. is there a method of how to marry in the bible..? "For better or worse, till death do you part." Is that from the bible..? Ive looked before but if there is, i havent found it.. If anyone knows, help me out. :)

-- temple (jahsmine@netzero.com), March 03, 2005.

That's an interesting question, temple. I don't think the Bible has specific rules for how to conduct a marriage ceremony itself. It's likely that Moses, the Law Giver, established the practices and ceremonies for Israel and the Church picked that up and put their Christian stamp on it. In the end, it must involve vows exchanged betwen both parties and before God with a priest/minister officiating.

David

-- non-Catholic Christian (no@spam.com), March 03, 2005.