This would be covered under don't give false testimony against your neighbor.

PDM,

I don't think I carry around this huge gob of guilt everyday. When I say I'm a sinner, it simply means that I can never *fully* live up to God's standards. I accept that. Doesn't mean I don't try to live up to HIs standards, it means that I try my best to b/c I love Him & want to do what He asks of me. But, being human, I am bound to screw up. I challenge you or anyone else to find the perfect human. You can't do it. This is what is meant by everyone falling short of the glory of God.

You don't need to challenge me - I'm certain there is no such thing as a perfect human. But does that mean that they are all 'sinful': 'full of sin' / 'wicked' (OED)?

I just don't like the idea that many Christians have about being 'sinners' and carrying round the guilt of original sin.

You may not do this, but I know many who do. And I know that this was preached to me when I was at Sunday School and even a non-religious state school.

Humans were sinful; they were 'only human' so they had to be sinful. Jesus had to die for our sins they were so awful. Sin. Sin. Sin. We had to repent;' to pray for forgiveness.

For Catholics I think it seems worse. Certainly the ones I know seem to carry a burden of guilt.
Kateyes said: 'I ... always thought being Catholic was a good deal because you could sin, confess, do penance and start all over again' but I see it differently - being obliged from young childhood, whether you have done anything particularly wrong or not - to dredge up any thought, word or deed that might be in the slightest bit negative, confess this great sin and then do penance - believing in your own wickedness. An easy way out? Not in my opinion.

I can agree with the guilty part, that would certainly be a good way to decide if you had been sinful or not, (although in truth--I feel guilty when I eat dessert for dinner-or don't clean my plate, both are I am sure a hangover from childhood, and I don't think are really sinful--does the bible mention gluttony as sinful). There is an old saying "To err is human, to forgive is divine." I do not remember if it is in the bible or if it is another of those Victorian Grandmother sayings (she had alot of them). Anyway I think it is part of our human nature to sin--but that doesn't mean we should not try not to. With reference to the Catholic confession thing--many of my perceptions are based on Catholic friends--who found it easy to do what they wanted, confess, do penance and start over again. Perhaps it is a matter of how sincere your confession and penance are? I think it was WJ who said the original words were 'Thou shalt not commit murder". Clearly there are alot of translation issues with the various versions of the Bible, and each version says its intent is to correct mis-translations of the previous version. There was an interesting bit in our local paper yesterday about abortion and the Bible--They quote Exodus:21:22-25 (including the eye for an eye..... bit), then spoke to 2 biblical "experts" regarding the verses. 1 clearly considers these verses to be against abortion--the other says it is not. If anyone would like the exact wording let me know and I will fill it in.

The whole idea behind Christianity is that no one measures up to God's standards. When we come before Him at the end, will we be able to say innocent or guilty in His laws? If we break even one, we are guilty. None of us can live up to that. None of us has the perfect life that we can say, God I've obeyed all of your commands perfectly. And to stand before God blameless, we can't do. So God loved us & didn't want to see us punished for not being able to live up to those standards so He sent Himself in the form of a human as His son to take the punishment on Himself on that cross. Now, when we stand before God we can be blameless, b/c Jesus paid the punishment for us all.

They explain it real well at Way of the Master . Of course, if one doesn't believe that, then they have nothing to worry about do they?

For us all?

Regardless of what 'our' sin might be? Whether 'we' told a little white lie or murdered a child? Hmmm...

Lets peel the layers off of the onion and go to the core for a moment.
As humans we sin/make mistakes/cause harm either to ourselves or to others.

I believe there is truth in every religion. I believe the utmost valuble truth tought in christianity is forgiveness. Un forgivness eats away at out very soul. We are usually the most unforgiving to ourselves. If we could see deeper or on another level we would realize that even the others we have not forgiven are doing or have done the same thing as we, just perhaps on another extreem. Thus "Judge not lest ye be judged" How much more would you hate your self if you relized that you were guilty of the same thing.

If you hated yourself, how could you be close to the devine? Surley there is great wisdom in the teaching that stears you away from sickness and harm.(sickness of the soul in this case)

Forgiveness!!!Blamelessness. we must forgive ourselves,ask for forgiveness and above all else BELIEVE that we are forgiven.When I think of christ I just keep thinking , If I dont believe anything else of that whole confusing mess just let me take with me the knowledge that all is healed and all is forgiven. Even if he or this whole situation was just the messanger of this concept.

I dont know much about buddism but I dont think the carry guilt around anyway. Im pretty sure they teach that it is unhealthy for you..Perhaps a pigmy might have done wrong but has no concept of connecting this mistake with some ultimate judgement on his soul...In both cases I would see freedom, freedom from judgement and freedom from guilt. A free happy little soul

I feel that this is a devine truth..
I think all of the confusing dogma stuff is just silliness. I just like to go in and pick the dimonds out of the monkey turds.

For us all? Regardless of what 'our' sin might be? Whether 'we' told a little white lie or murdered a child? Hmmm.

This one does seem a little mind boggling doesn't it? Imagine for a moment though the person who repeatedly tells little "lies" & does not repent or the murderer who gives his life to Jesus in prison? Which has the greater heart?

If we're looking at it from a human standpoint, a murder is a lot harder to forgive than a lie. HOwever, God is greater than us humans. He forgives the littlest thing to the biggest thing. In God's eyes, one man's sin is no greater than another.

In the time of Moses, God set certain punishments for certain sins here on earth so that has people thinking that God does have degrees of sinful behavior. But I believe that was so we could live harmoniously here on earth, not b/c He thinks they're any greater.

I thought this link fit in here--he makes some interesting arguements about context in the Bible.

http://www.comereason.org/bibl_cntr/con090.asp

Kateyes, I think that link pointed to something an ex-pastor & me talked about.

The instructions of Jesus, however, are general admonitions for life. They are guidelines for how we can be more loving to our fellow human beings and they help instill a spirit of selflessness in our individual characters. Also, they are not to be taken as hard and fast rules. When Jesus Himself was struck on the cheek by an officer of the Sanhedrin, He did not turn to offer His other cheek, but challenged the officer who had struck Him (ref. John 18:22-23

She had told me that back then, striking your fellow Jew on the cheek was an insult. You were slapped with a back of the hand. When Jesus said to 'turn the other cheek', that possibly He meant to offer him the other cheek also so they could slap you with the palm of the hand, an equal status. That He was actually promoting equality, not lowly status.

I thought that was quite interesting.

I also found it interesting that he said:

So the character of God remains consistent throughout the Bible. This would confirm the fact that God is 'the same, yesterday, today & tomorrow'. The character of God is the same. He has many aspects to His character.

Consistent yet contradictory - and pretty worrying in parts!