Sins that seem innocent, but have consequences

[Aquatic_blue]

There are many things that we recognize are "sinful" and others may do it, but not realize that it's truly a sin, or that it's something that God is displeased with. Here is a few things that seem innocent to the world around us, but do harm to our soul:

Superstitions:

There are different types of superstitions in this world, and some believe this may fall under the category of "idolatry" in some cases of how it's used. However, most of us remember superstitions perhaps because we heard them as kids from a classmate, a friend, or even another adult. A few of the many we may have heard are, "If you break a mirror, you will have 7 years of bad luck."/"It's bad luck to walk under a ladder."/"Step on a crack; you'll break your mothers back."

These may have seemed silly and innocent things to say as kids, but superstitions can hold dark meanings behind them - most meanings not having a godly nature at all:

1 Timothy 4:7 NIV:

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.

Then you have other types of superstition, which involves the dark arts as some call it or black magic, divination, voodoo, sorcery, etc., which is highly prohibited by God and are there to influence Satan and other demonic beings of the spiritual world. It's important that superstition and omens both have the same meaning. A superstition is a type of omen.:

2 Kings 21:6 NIV:

He sacrificed his own son in the fire, practiced divination, sought omens, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did much evil in the eyes of the Lord, arousing his anger.

Isaiah 2:6 NIV:

You, Lord, have abandoned your people,
the descendants of Jacob.
They are full of superstitions from the East;
they practice divination like the Philistines
and embrace pagan customs.

Leviticus 19:31 NIV:

"Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God.

Deuteronomy 18:9 - 12 NIV:

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you.

Astrology:

Not to be confused with the science of astronomy (which astrology used to mean) - astrology is the study and to some, a belief system, that the stars or heavenly bodies can influence how human beings live. This can fall hand-in-hand with occult practices. Horoscopes is probably the most common example of this because we see it all the time on the internet or even in a newspaper. Most often, we see these things in magazines and it's sometimes tempting to see what our horoscope may say even if we don't truly believe in them. It's best not to involve ourselves with astrology in any way even though this may be hard to do because some of us even know our astrological sign or what animal of the Chinese zodiac we are without thinking twice because it's such a common thing out there to know that. Some people involve the beliefs of astrology with black magic and sorcery.

Deuteronomy 4:19 NIV

And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven.


Cursing/Cussing/Swearing

Many people in today's society use curse words so much. Some of us hear it every single day through other people or through media sources. It eventually becomes tempting to say those words ourselves in order to "fit in" or because we feel a curse word can express more than what cleaner words can. Also, taking God's name in vain is something that we truly need to watch our mouths for and if it's something that we regularly do, then it's about time we stop the habit. I also consider derivatives of those words to be sinful - e.g. saying a different word that sounds more innocent to replace a curse word. One may say a more innocent sounding word in place of a curse word, but it still carries the same meaning because it's what is being meant in your heart.

This verse is usually what comes up in my mind on this topic:

James 3:3 - 12 NIV:

When we put bits into the mouths of horses to make them obey us, we can turn the whole animal. Or take ships as an example. Although they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are steered by a very small rudder wherever the pilot wants to go. Likewise, the tongue is a small part of the body, but it makes great boasts. Consider what a great forest is set on fire by a small spark. The tongue also is a fire, a world of evil among the parts of the body. It corrupts the whole body, sets the whole course of one’s life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.

All kinds of animals, birds, reptiles and sea creatures are being tamed and have been tamed by mankind, but no human being can tame the tongue. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison.

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

Colossians 3:8 NIV:

But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.

Not only is bad language bad, but it is displeasing. Some people find it pleasing to hear and use, but that's because they mistake evil for good and good for evil (Isaiah 5:20).

The speech also has anger behind it when people use it, and God does not want us to be filled with anger or hate.

Also, there is a verse on swearing that comes to mind. It is often enough that we hear people swear by someone's grave, make a "pinky swear", etc. but swearing is something that we shouldn't do.

Matthew 5:33 - 27 NIV:

“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill to the Lord the vows you have made.’ But I tell you, do not swear an oath at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

Telling lies

We live in a society that often thrives off of lies. Looking at the media as well - it seems that some are putting a stamp of approval on telling lies. We see shows on television called "Pretty Little Liars" or "The Lying Game" and these shows do incredibly well, but why is that? Why does the media make lying out to be "pretty" or a "game"? What makes lies so interesting among people? Simply, people must mistake good for evil and evil for good to believe that telling lies is a harmless little game and a beautiful thing.

I remember even hearing a guest speaker once in middle school/junior high. I can't remember exactly what they were talking about, but I do remember how they started their speech. In the beginning of their speech they said, "We should never lie to anybody," however she then followed that with, "but white lies are okay. Like if you are at a persons house and say, 'Thanks for the meal! It was great! When it really wasn't." I couldn't believe I heard an adult say these things after I had thought about it - I was convinced for a while that white lies or partial truths were okay. There's nothing "good" or "pure" about even a white lie. All lies are lies - none are better than others.

I remember another instance in high school when the teacher threw out a few debate topics and one being, "Is it ever okay to tell a lie? Why or why not?" He went around the room asking and I was astounded how many people said "white lies" are okay and "sugar coating" things are fine. Some also said, "No, it's not okay." and then when that happened and one student in the class pulled out a Bible and read a verse mentioning lies were not okay the teacher asked the class, "If you were in court as a witness for someone you knew well whether it be family or friend - would you lie to try to get them out of going to jail?" and some people that said, "No," before said, "Absolutely! Yeah, I'd definitely lie to keep someone I loved out of jail!" and it was just upsetting how a situation like that flipped a person's mindset. However, the student with the Bible never backed down and said still a lie is never okay, which was awesome. It was also saddening to me how many people in the class said that lies were okay.

Revelation 21:8 NIV:

But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars —they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

*Jesus also mentions that Satan is a deceiver and a liar:

John 8:42 - 44 NIV:

Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

*Telling lies is in the 10 commandments:

Exodus 20:16 NIV:

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.

*God's word is truth:

Psalm 25:5 NIV:

Guide me in your truth and teach me,
for you are God my Savior,
and my hope is in you all day long.

John 8:31-32 NIV:

To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

John 14:6-7 NIV:

Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

These are a few examples of common sins, and I am not trying to say that some sins are worse than others. All sins are the same in God's eyes - if we stumble and sin - we are guilty of breaking the entire law.

James 2:10 NIV:

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

The only unforgivable sin I have read about is blaspheming The Holy Spirit (Matthew 12:31 - 32).  

[Ajani Kai]

It's hard, keeping all the commandments. I'll be the first to admit that.
Do not lie, steal, cheat, covet, murder/kill... I don't even remember them all by heart!
The ones that I know by heart are the ones I've stated plus one more:

Thou shalt have no other God's before Me.

But honestly, not to move forward in time too much, but Moses was given these laws by God to teach us where our lives were and what wrongs we had done. The Law is there to reveal our sins and so allow us to repent and change our ways. But as imperfect beings we fall into sin so much that it's almost impossible to get out of it.

However, that is what Christ came for. His death and RESURRECTION gave us the chance to repent and truly become one with God. Through the Son, we have eternal life, through the Son, we have grace and mercy. Through the Spirit, we have hope and love. Through the Father, we have a family. The sins I commit are "everyday" sins so to speak.

I'm living with my fiance, NOT MARRIED, I'm pregnant with his child, and I've done other things that would land me in hell should I refuse the Mercy given by God's Son. But, even though my child is conceived outside of wedlock, God still loves me and the child, He still loves my fiance. So, though I committed sin, I have revealed it before Him, laid it at His feet and left it there clinging to the Son for His mercy and forgiveness. So I have been forgiven.

Sin is dangerous when left unchecked. Sin's penalty is death. Aquatic, your post reveals that truth whole and entirely accurate. But you left out the part of the Son's gift of life and salvation - so I simply added that in my post.

God also states in His word (paraphrasing):
"All have fallen short of the Glory of God"
There is NO ONE, other than the Son, who is blameless.

I apologize for the length...
Sincerely,
Kai  

[Aye Banyez]

Ajani Kai

It's hard, keeping all the commandments. I'll be the first to admit that.
Do not lie, steal, cheat, covet, murder/kill... I don't even remember them all by heart!
The ones that I know by heart are the ones I've stated plus one more:

Thou shalt have no other God's before Me.

But honestly, not to move forward in time too much, but Moses was given these laws by God to teach us where our lives were and what wrongs we had done. The Law is there to reveal our sins and so allow us to repent and change our ways. But as imperfect beings we fall into sin so much that it's almost impossible to get out of it.

However, that is what Christ came for. His death and RESURRECTION gave us the chance to repent and truly become one with God. Through the Son, we have eternal life, through the Son, we have grace and mercy. Through the Spirit, we have hope and love. Through the Father, we have a family. The sins I commit are "everyday" sins so to speak.

I'm living with my fiance, NOT MARRIED, I'm pregnant with his child, and I've done other things that would land me in hell should I refuse the Mercy given by God's Son. But, even though my child is conceived outside of wedlock, God still loves me and the child, He still loves my fiance. So, though I committed sin, I have revealed it before Him, laid it at His feet and left it there clinging to the Son for His mercy and forgiveness. So I have been forgiven.

Sin is dangerous when left unchecked. Sin's penalty is death. Aquatic, your post reveals that truth whole and entirely accurate. But you left out the part of the Son's gift of life and salvation - so I simply added that in my post.

God also states in His word (paraphrasing):
"All have fallen short of the Glory of God"
There is NO ONE, other than the Son, who is blameless.

I apologize for the length...
Sincerely,
Kai

AMEN

, for you have stated the Gospel Message within the Bible, in understanding that Just believing in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit does not get you into heaven, and that there's more to it than that, and there is.

you read from Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God".
explaining no-ones perfect, therefore all have sinned

Romans 6:23 " For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life"

Romans 5:8 "but God commandeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us

Acts 2:38
"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"

2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people,which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways (repent); then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land"

also can look up Romans 10:8-13 for more details to as how we are to have salvation.

Within these words of God, we understand that we are to:
Repent, to humble ourselves, repent literally meaning to be willing to turn away from wicked, from the bad things and ask God for forgiveness, and believe and have faith that the Lord Jesus Christ came down, to put his own life on the Cross at Calvary as the hymnal we sing "Burdens, are lifted at Calvary" for he died cruel death and rose again the third day so that we all, may be able to enter into heaven, simply by believing in the Gospel Message of Christ.

here is a link of my post on the Gospel Message:

have you called out to God? True Gospel Message of Salvation

explaining in depth of the bible:

why we are saved
How we get saved
who gets saved
What we need to do to be saved
keeping our salvation and never losing it

God Bless the true seeker that heareth the words of God.  

[Aquatic_blue]

Ajani Kai

It's hard, keeping all the commandments. I'll be the first to admit that.
Do not lie, steal, cheat, covet, murder/kill... I don't even remember them all by heart!
The ones that I know by heart are the ones I've stated plus one more:

Thou shalt have no other God's before Me.

But honestly, not to move forward in time too much, but Moses was given these laws by God to teach us where our lives were and what wrongs we had done. The Law is there to reveal our sins and so allow us to repent and change our ways. But as imperfect beings we fall into sin so much that it's almost impossible to get out of it.

However, that is what Christ came for. His death and RESURRECTION gave us the chance to repent and truly become one with God. Through the Son, we have eternal life, through the Son, we have grace and mercy. Through the Spirit, we have hope and love. Through the Father, we have a family. The sins I commit are "everyday" sins so to speak.

I'm living with my fiance, NOT MARRIED, I'm pregnant with his child, and I've done other things that would land me in hell should I refuse the Mercy given by God's Son. But, even though my child is conceived outside of wedlock, God still loves me and the child, He still loves my fiance. So, though I committed sin, I have revealed it before Him, laid it at His feet and left it there clinging to the Son for His mercy and forgiveness. So I have been forgiven.

Sin is dangerous when left unchecked. Sin's penalty is death. Aquatic, your post reveals that truth whole and entirely accurate. But you left out the part of the Son's gift of life and salvation - so I simply added that in my post.

God also states in His word (paraphrasing):
"All have fallen short of the Glory of God"
There is NO ONE, other than the Son, who is blameless.

I apologize for the length...
Sincerely,
Kai

No need to apologize for the length of your post biggrin any length of post is welcome!

Also, that is true that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God 3nodding and I do agree - keeping God's commandments is a challenging thing in this world - it truly is. There is always temptation and always that split second where maybe we decide to tell a lie or something of that sort. We can only be blameless through Christ and not on our own. I thank you for your post and your point is good 3nodding  

[Ajani Kai]

Aye Banyez

Ajani Kai

It's hard, keeping all the commandments. I'll be the first to admit that.
Do not lie, steal, cheat, covet, murder/kill... I don't even remember them all by heart!
The ones that I know by heart are the ones I've stated plus one more:

Thou shalt have no other God's before Me.

But honestly, not to move forward in time too much, but Moses was given these laws by God to teach us where our lives were and what wrongs we had done. The Law is there to reveal our sins and so allow us to repent and change our ways. But as imperfect beings we fall into sin so much that it's almost impossible to get out of it.

However, that is what Christ came for. His death and RESURRECTION gave us the chance to repent and truly become one with God. Through the Son, we have eternal life, through the Son, we have grace and mercy. Through the Spirit, we have hope and love. Through the Father, we have a family. The sins I commit are "everyday" sins so to speak.

I'm living with my fiance, NOT MARRIED, I'm pregnant with his child, and I've done other things that would land me in hell should I refuse the Mercy given by God's Son. But, even though my child is conceived outside of wedlock, God still loves me and the child, He still loves my fiance. So, though I committed sin, I have revealed it before Him, laid it at His feet and left it there clinging to the Son for His mercy and forgiveness. So I have been forgiven.

Sin is dangerous when left unchecked. Sin's penalty is death. Aquatic, your post reveals that truth whole and entirely accurate. But you left out the part of the Son's gift of life and salvation - so I simply added that in my post.

God also states in His word (paraphrasing):
"All have fallen short of the Glory of God"
There is NO ONE, other than the Son, who is blameless.

I apologize for the length...
Sincerely,
Kai

AMEN

, for you have stated the Gospel Message within the Bible, in understanding that Just believing in God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit does not get you into heaven, and that there's more to it than that, and there is.

you read from Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God".
explaining no-ones perfect, therefore all have sinned

Romans 6:23 " For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life"

Romans 5:8 "but God commandeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us

Acts 2:38
"Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost"

2 Chronicles 7:14 "if my people,which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways (repent); then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and will heal their land"

also can look up Romans 10:8-13 for more details to as how we are to have salvation.

Within these words of God, we understand that we are to:
Repent, to humble ourselves, repent literally meaning to be willing to turn away from wicked, from the bad things and ask God for forgiveness, and believe and have faith that the Lord Jesus Christ came down, to put his own life on the Cross at Calvary as the hymnal we sing "Burdens, are lifted at Calvary" for he died cruel death and rose again the third day so that we all, may be able to enter into heaven, simply by believing in the Gospel Message of Christ.

here is a link of my post on the Gospel Message:

have you called out to God? True Gospel Message of Salvation

explaining in depth of the bible:

why we are saved
How we get saved
who gets saved
What we need to do to be saved
keeping our salvation and never losing it

God Bless the true seeker that heareth the words of God.

I'm not saying I know and understand the full message of God, but I do know that EVERYONE has their own opinion of how they get to heaven, my post was simply stating that Sin is a difficult thing to overcome without God to help us.

No matter what you believe, or HOW you believe, as long as your relationship with God is correct and you have faith in the Son - for through the Son you have salvation. Thus our sins are washed away through Faith in the Son who was sent by the Father and who gave us the Holy Spirit.

So please do not take my post and twist it to your cause for YOUR opinions, for I also agree with Aquatic's view point, as well as yours. But I have my own view too.
No matter which bible you read, as long as the message remains the same, tells you about the birth, life, death and message of Salvation from our Sins.

Also, Please do not remove my posts out of Context - doing so destroys the whole post in itself.

Thank you for your opinion though.

Sincerely,
Kai