Let's talk about "sin" for a moment.
The Holy Bible, especially the Old Testament, is filled with very specific examples of what is considered "Sin". So if we are going to call one of those a "serious sin", and take it literally, then it would be actually a sin of Blasphemy not to take ALL of them literally.
Let's start with this one, for example:
Deuteronomy 22:25
But if the man meets the engaged woman out in the country, and he rapes her, then only the man must die. Do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no crime worthy of death. She is as innocent as a murder victim.
Man rapes woman, he must DIE. That's what it says.
1 Corinthians 6:9 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Sexual immorality means sexual immorality, there's not one that's "more okay".
You don't get to PICK THE ONES YOU WANT to be either "okay" or "not okay", if you're using the Bible to condemn OTHER people, and to rationalize and excuse your own behavior.
And since we're being literal, MOST of the Bible books are written in male point of view, BY males, FOR males, as if the only "real" humans WERE males, so when it specifies women, it only means women, and when it specifies men, it only means men, like in the above Cor. passage. There is no condemnation of female homosexuality in the Bible, and most of the instructions about sin and behavior were directed specifically AT MEN, not at women. So keep on taking it all literally... and watch out for those CONTRADICTIONS... you can't exactly Honor Thy Mother (or any other of God's children) if you're going to judge her, condemn her, or stone her to death, can you?
If you are going to use the Bible for an excuse to condemn people, then the first person you need to examine is yourself, because being Christian is about SELF-REFLECTION, Humility (the genuine kind, not the stage act), and controlling one's OWN BEHAVIOR and sinful tendencies. We need ALL OF OUR TIME AND ATTENTION FOR THIS if we're actually DOING IT, we wouldn't have the time (or the right) to stare at and scrutinize everything someone else does, or place judgement or condemnation on them.
(Pretty sure the other religions that follow the Bible or the God of Abraham are ALSO about SELF-REFLECTION, SELF-control and SELF-education, not about condemning others as well, but I can't speak from a personal point of view about it.)
And to "haters" of Christianity and Christians, shove it far, and shove it wide, my incredibly hypocritical pal, if you are one of those who CONDEMN and JUDGE Christians and Christianity... because you think Christianity is about CONDEMNING and JUDGING other people... YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T "GET IT" EITHER, and you don't get that you're a hypocrite, so why are you even HERE? Go pound.
So, anyway, let's briefly review some things if we're going to use the Bible to judge, condemn, or control other people, either who are OUTSIDE or WITHIN the church :
~If you EVER had sex outside of marriage, ANY kind of sex, you committed sexual immorality.
~If you desired/ LUSTED AFTER a person outside of your marriage, you committed sexual immorality. And yes, that includes any person on the street, in a magazine, on tv, at your work, on your computer, in your neighborhood... ANY person.
~If you ever lusted after a person in your family, blood related OR NOT, you done REALLY screwed up... there's a WHOLE LOT about that. (as it should be... gross...)
~If you "explored" different kinds of sexual acts, you committed serious sexual immorality.
~If you watched Porn, hard OR soft, you committed sexual immorality.
~If you ever cheated on anyone, that's called "adultery", and you are an ADULTERER.
~If you ever cheated WITH anyone on THEIR sig. other, you are an ADULTERER.
Jude 7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Here's a SIN that no one seems to pay attention to, but if you "get" anything at all about humility, Christianity, personality disorders, and just generally not being a JERK:
If you COVET others, sexually or otherwise, you are committing serious sin, breaking a commandment. "Covet" means "ENVY".
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
So if you don't like the pretty girl at work, or on TV, or at Church, or at school, not because she actually did something terrible to you, but because you think she gets more attention because she's pretty, then you are ENVIOUS, and that's one of the more serious sins, because envy is at the root of a good percentage of a lot of the other sins.
(That's just common sense psychology, never mind religion. Envy is the most common motivator behind bullying, sabotage, gossip, and cruel agendas).
If you think your brother or sister gets paid "too much", or gets too much credit or recognition, or YOU think that HE/SHE thinks that he or she is "all that" because he or she is "smart", "talented", or successful, then you are ENVIOUS.
If you think YOU DESERVE your neighbor's cool car more than he does, then you are not only COVETING and ENVIOUS, but you are ALSO HAUGHTY.
If you think YOU DESERVE more attention, recognition, or love than one of your relatives or friends, then you are COVETOUS, resentful, and hateful.
If you ever caused another person to suffer in any way, you DEFINITELY committed a serious sin.
If you have DISRESPECTED your MOTHER or your FATHER, you have broken a commandment and committed a serious sin.
If you have "sold out" by doing anything for the sake of obtaining MONEY, you have committed a serious sin.
And...
If you're going to take one thing literally, and condemn another for it, then you'd better be prepared to take ALL of them literally, and pay your own price.
But really, the bottom line is this:
The Holy Bible, especially the Old Testament, is filled with very specific examples of what is considered "Sin". So if we are going to call one of those a "serious sin", and take it literally, then it would be actually a sin of Blasphemy not to take ALL of them literally.
James 2:10
"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."Let's start with this one, for example:
Deuteronomy 22:25
But if the man meets the engaged woman out in the country, and he rapes her, then only the man must die. Do nothing to the young woman; she has committed no crime worthy of death. She is as innocent as a murder victim.
Man rapes woman, he must DIE. That's what it says.
1 Corinthians 6:9 "Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Sexual immorality means sexual immorality, there's not one that's "more okay".
You don't get to PICK THE ONES YOU WANT to be either "okay" or "not okay", if you're using the Bible to condemn OTHER people, and to rationalize and excuse your own behavior.
And since we're being literal, MOST of the Bible books are written in male point of view, BY males, FOR males, as if the only "real" humans WERE males, so when it specifies women, it only means women, and when it specifies men, it only means men, like in the above Cor. passage. There is no condemnation of female homosexuality in the Bible, and most of the instructions about sin and behavior were directed specifically AT MEN, not at women. So keep on taking it all literally... and watch out for those CONTRADICTIONS... you can't exactly Honor Thy Mother (or any other of God's children) if you're going to judge her, condemn her, or stone her to death, can you?
If you are going to use the Bible for an excuse to condemn people, then the first person you need to examine is yourself, because being Christian is about SELF-REFLECTION, Humility (the genuine kind, not the stage act), and controlling one's OWN BEHAVIOR and sinful tendencies. We need ALL OF OUR TIME AND ATTENTION FOR THIS if we're actually DOING IT, we wouldn't have the time (or the right) to stare at and scrutinize everything someone else does, or place judgement or condemnation on them.
(Pretty sure the other religions that follow the Bible or the God of Abraham are ALSO about SELF-REFLECTION, SELF-control and SELF-education, not about condemning others as well, but I can't speak from a personal point of view about it.)
And to "haters" of Christianity and Christians, shove it far, and shove it wide, my incredibly hypocritical pal, if you are one of those who CONDEMN and JUDGE Christians and Christianity... because you think Christianity is about CONDEMNING and JUDGING other people... YOU OBVIOUSLY DON'T "GET IT" EITHER, and you don't get that you're a hypocrite, so why are you even HERE? Go pound.
So, anyway, let's briefly review some things if we're going to use the Bible to judge, condemn, or control other people, either who are OUTSIDE or WITHIN the church :
~If you EVER had sex outside of marriage, ANY kind of sex, you committed sexual immorality.
~If you desired/ LUSTED AFTER a person outside of your marriage, you committed sexual immorality. And yes, that includes any person on the street, in a magazine, on tv, at your work, on your computer, in your neighborhood... ANY person.
~If you ever lusted after a person in your family, blood related OR NOT, you done REALLY screwed up... there's a WHOLE LOT about that. (as it should be... gross...)
~If you "explored" different kinds of sexual acts, you committed serious sexual immorality.
~If you watched Porn, hard OR soft, you committed sexual immorality.
~If you ever cheated on anyone, that's called "adultery", and you are an ADULTERER.
~If you ever cheated WITH anyone on THEIR sig. other, you are an ADULTERER.
Jude 7
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
Here's a SIN that no one seems to pay attention to, but if you "get" anything at all about humility, Christianity, personality disorders, and just generally not being a JERK:
If you COVET others, sexually or otherwise, you are committing serious sin, breaking a commandment. "Covet" means "ENVY".
“You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's.”
So if you don't like the pretty girl at work, or on TV, or at Church, or at school, not because she actually did something terrible to you, but because you think she gets more attention because she's pretty, then you are ENVIOUS, and that's one of the more serious sins, because envy is at the root of a good percentage of a lot of the other sins.
(That's just common sense psychology, never mind religion. Envy is the most common motivator behind bullying, sabotage, gossip, and cruel agendas).
If you think your brother or sister gets paid "too much", or gets too much credit or recognition, or YOU think that HE/SHE thinks that he or she is "all that" because he or she is "smart", "talented", or successful, then you are ENVIOUS.
If you think YOU DESERVE your neighbor's cool car more than he does, then you are not only COVETING and ENVIOUS, but you are ALSO HAUGHTY.
If you think YOU DESERVE more attention, recognition, or love than one of your relatives or friends, then you are COVETOUS, resentful, and hateful.
If you ever caused another person to suffer in any way, you DEFINITELY committed a serious sin.
If you have DISRESPECTED your MOTHER or your FATHER, you have broken a commandment and committed a serious sin.
If you have "sold out" by doing anything for the sake of obtaining MONEY, you have committed a serious sin.
James 2:10
"For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it."And...
Matthew 7:1-5
“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye.Romans 2:3
Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God?James 4:11-12
Do not speak evil against one another, brothers. The one who speaks against a brother or judges his brother, speaks evil against the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy. But who are you to judge your neighbor?If you're going to take one thing literally, and condemn another for it, then you'd better be prepared to take ALL of them literally, and pay your own price.
But really, the bottom line is this:
