by Shannon Rayford

Created on: October 30, 2008   Last Updated: December 23, 2008

Sin is any action or thought that is done while knowing in one's heart that the thought or action is wrong and going against what God wants from you. This is not Webster's definition of sin and I am no religious scholar, but I base my belief and definition of sin on the book of Romans. In Romans, Paul is addressing Jews and Gentiles. Apparently, these two groups were having disagreements on what is sinful and what is not. In Romans 14:5-6 Paul says, "One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regardeth the day, regardeth unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the Lord he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks."

In this passage, Paul is explaining to the Jews and Gentiles that if one man believes in is heart that a day is holy, then he observe the day accordingly, but if he does not believe a day is holy, then he should not. As long as you have God on your mind when you are observing or not observing the day, then you are not being sinful. For example, I believe in my heart that it is important for me to go to church on Sunday, but my best friend believes in her heart that it is unnecessary to go to church. When I skip church, I am committing a sin because I am going against what I believe God wants me to do, but she is not sinning because she believes God is not concerned about her church attendance. I know it sounds strange, but this is just one example.

In Romans 14:14 Paul also says, "As one who is in the Lord Jesus, I am fully convinced that no food is unclean in itself. But if anyone regards something as unclean, then for him it is unclean." Many may find this confusing. Some may ask how can it be a sin for one person to do something, but not a sin if another person does the same thing. I believe this is possible because rather than focusing on the action of sinning, I believe God looks more closely at the thoughts and the beliefs that lead up to the action.

When considering my theory on sin, you may wonder how The Ten Commandments coexists with my ideas. Well, according to Ten Commandments, thou shall not kill, yet when the Amalekites attacked the Israelites after they crossed the Red Sea, Moses said, "I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands" (Exodus 17:9). Exodus 17:11-13 says, "As long as Moses held up his hands,

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