In today's world, people often hear about God or the Bible on TV, radio, or from friends. Many words from the Holy Scripture are heard, including the word “sin”. Faced with the unknown, we do not know what it is and how new knowledge is applicable to our lives.
To find answers to questions of interest, we will go on an interesting tour of the Bible and the Koran, consider the concept and types of sin, what are the punishments for sin and how to save the soul from eternal suffering.
What is sin?
Sin is a word of Greek origin and literally translates as "miss", "past the target." God, creating man, prepared a wonderful plan for all of us, but people did not hit the target, but missed the target. If you literally translate from Hebrew, the language in which the Old Testament is written, then the semantic word, which is identical with sin, means "shortage", "shortage." The first people did not have enough trust in God, inner strength, devotion to implement the plan conceived by the Creator regarding human participation in the universe.
In legal terms, sin is a violation of the norm, that is, the mandatory rules of conduct. Norms are divided into two types: moral (public) and state.
When we are sitting at a table as a guest, it is customary not to champ, not to burp food. They will not be kicked out or punished for this, but there are rules that do not allow such acts at the table. In many cases, moral (psychological) condemnation is much harder to bear than official, public.
There are rules of conduct established by the state. For theft, hooliganism, insult, slander can be followed not only by condemnation by society, but also large fines, mandatory community service and even imprisonment.
God set the rules of behavior so that people would be happy by observing them. But people wanted to live their own way, and did not want to fulfill divine norms. This is sin (disobedience, disobedience).
Sin can be committed involuntarily, by weakness, or consciously and deliberately (lawlessness). These are two types of sin, but each person will be responsible to God.
If sin is done on purpose, intentionally, then this is lawlessness. Speaking in the Christian spirit, lawlessness is a deliberate violation of the rules of conduct established by God.
Lawlessness is a grave form of sin. If, because of his sinful nature, a person does not specifically commit an offense before God, then lawlessness is a sin that can give a person pleasure, and he commits it, knowing the consequences. This is rebellion, disagreement, pride.
How sin came into the world
God created Adam and Eve, having certain views on the first people. One of the important functions that the Creator entrusted to man was the care of the world that He created in Eden. The Creator placed people in ideal conditions and gave one commandment (law) so that a person would not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. In Genesis 2: 16.17 we read:
And the Lord God commanded man, saying: from every tree in the garden you will eat, but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you do not eat from him, for on the day that you eat of him you will die.
The devil appeared in Eden. He did not want a person to have an ideal relationship with God, and therefore began to tempt Eve. He argued that, having tasted the forbidden fruit, people will become like gods and will distinguish what is good and what is evil. It seemed interesting to Adam and Eve: to be God and not to depend on anyone - this is the dream of mankind since ancient times. Eve knew about the ban on eating from the tree where the fruit was, and she knew that God told Adam: if they try the fruit, they will die by death. But despite such harsh warnings of God, people showed freedom of choice and wanted to become equal to the Creator.
Adam and Eve did not obey God, violated the law and sin, through this disobedience came to the world. And at the level of genetics, and we are born already sinful.
We can conclude that sin sits in people from the moment of conception, sits in our cells, veins, blood. In our whole being. Because we are the descendants of Adam and Eve.
First consequences of sin
When Adam and Eve were expelled from Paradise for violating the commandment of God, they had children - Cain and Abel. The eldest son, Cain, was a good farmer, and the youngest, Abel, was a herder. It happened once to them to sacrifice to God. Abel brought the best meat, and Cain the best and ripe vegetables and other fruits of the earth.
God liked the offering of Abel, and He rejected the gifts of Cain. The Creator saw Cain's sad heart and his thoughts, and said to Cain (Genesis 4: 7):
if you do good, do you look up? and if you do not do good, then sin lies at the door; he draws you to him, but you rule over him.
Sin, like a magnet, pulls people towards us so that we do bad deeds, but we can have power over it. However, Cain could not defeat sin in his heart. Sinful nature gave birth to envy in Cain, and envy prompted him to kill his brother. And he realized the intentions of his heart: Cain brought his brother into the field and there he dealt with Abel.
That was the first consequence of sin - envy and murder.
What sins exist
There are a lot of sinful acts in life, some of them are rare, and others are part of our nature:
- Envy. "I hate a work colleague, he is happy all the time, and my life is a solid problem!" This feeling gnaws at you until you finally pour out all the anger on the person. A vivid example of envy is the story of Cain and Abel described above.
- Pride. Very often we hear such exclamations "Where is your pride!", "I also have pride." In this context, many confuse pride with willpower, firmness. Pride is a terrible sin, and means that in the center of everything a person has his own "I". "I want," "you have to do it because I want to."
- Fornication and adultery. Fornication - sexual intercourse before marriage, adultery - this is betrayal of a spouse in a marriage. Adultery is described in the Old Testament as a serious sin. When God gave Moses commandments on Mount Sinai, one of the decrees was “Do not commit adultery.”
- Murder. God gives life to man, and only He can take this life. When one person forcibly takes the life of another person - this is one of the worst sins of mankind.
- Love of money. The literal translation is “to love silver.” A typical sin of the world in which we live. Money is important in life, but if it begins to occupy all our thoughts, it leads to slavery and dependence on sin.
- Idolatry. One of the most inconspicuous and barely perceptible sins of modern civilization. If something in our life is in a dominant position, and not God, then this is an idol. For example, TV, books, money attract us to ourselves, and we spend all the time on them, forgetting to devote at least an hour to the day during the day to God.
Hidden sins
People themselves do not notice how they sometimes commit sin. It seems to us that we are doing the right thing or acting quite normal for a person. Usually such things are called in the modern world “natural impulses”, “well, I am what I am,” “here I am such a person”, “it’s hard for me to change, and which of us is without sin.” People state the facts, but do not want to resist or fight sin.
Sins also include the following manifestations of our flesh and thoughts, which are imperceptibly revealed in our lives. Among them are sins such as:
- Anger.
- Quarreling.
- Hatred.
- Cheating.
- Slander.
- Foul language.
- Selfishness.
For part of humanity to commit such sins is the norm, but it should be remembered that the works of the flesh lead to condemnation by God. You need to monitor your actions, deeds, language and heart.
Before Christ and After
It is logical that if there is an offense, then punishment will follow. In the Old Testament, the punishment for mortal sin was death. In those days, witchcraft, sexual intercourse with animals, adultery, murder, the use of physical force against their parents, the sale of a person into slavery, idolatry were considered deadly sins. The sinner was taken out of the city and thrown from the mountain or stoned.
There were sins that God forgave if a person sacrificed an animal. These were mainly sins committed by accident, by mistake or ignorance, for example, non-observance of the commandments. In Leviticus 4: 27-28, we read that God allowed in this situation to slaughter a young goat without blemish and sacrifice it. Then the sin of man was forgiven. The sinful man brought a pure animal to the Levite (priest), and the Levite made a sacrifice, and sin was “washed” by God.
The Lord incarnated in the human body, was born of a woman and died on the cross, shedding blood. He sacrificed himself, was slain instead of the lamb (sheep), so that humanity could live without sin if people believe and accept God in their lives. And the punishment for mortal sins will not be remembered by God if people accept Jesus Christ and follow the commandments of God.
The wages of sin is death
If a person lives and enjoys life, but does not think about eternal life and does not try to change anything in his sinful nature, then after death a second death awaits him - spiritual death. Then the God of people will punish hell for sins, where there will be a "grinding" of teeth and eternal torment. In Romans 6:23 we read:
For the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Each person dies, as God has defined because of our fall. But it’s very scary if in eternity we are not waiting for eternal life with Jesus Christ, but torment and pain.
Through the Bible, the Lord tells us that all people have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God, that is, humanity cannot live in the presence of God if we are sinful. And for sin, God still in Eden determined the punishment for man - physical death, pain and suffering. Turning to Adam, the creator tells him that if he does not obey the orders of the Lord, he will die a death. But physical death is not the worst punishment for sins. The terrible thing that awaits people after death.
Sinful life leads people not only to spiritual death, but also to physical. The more sin in life, the faster the ending can come. According to the Scriptures, the punishment for sin is hell after physical death. If a person does not change his mind and does not take the righteous path, he will not accept the Lord into his life.
Spiritual death, or second death, is God's most important punishment for sin.
Sickness and sin
Man is imperfect, and on the path of life even believers make mistakes, mistakes. What punishments for sins can God use in our earthly life? The most important punishment is death. However, in rare cases, God uses disease as a form of punishment. The Creator carries out God's punishment for sins by illness when he wants to stop a person from rash acts, or so that people think about their behavior in life.
King Hezekiah lived in Judea, who loved God. Once Hezekiah fell ill, and the prophets announced that he would not recover. The famous prophet Isaiah came to Hezekiah, he advised the king to prepare a will in order to leave power to the descendants, since the time of his life was running out. But Hezekiah did not rush, he turned away from him and prayed to God in tears. The Creator heeded the king’s prayer and blessed him with health for another fifteen years. This story can be read in 2 Kings, chapter 20. Here we see that illness is a consequence of the sinful nature of man. God did not want King Hezekiah to die, but the disease is common to all people, and no one can escape from it.
Through illness, God does not punish people, as many think. “Behold, I, the Lord, have given the disease.” No. A disease is a manifestation of sin, a person’s sinful body, which we have from the very moment of birth and, accordingly, are initially susceptible to disease.
There are times in the Bible when God punishes sickness for disease. For example, the sister of Moses Miriam was leprosy. Miriam rebuked Moses for his wife, and for this was covered with leprosy, the skin on her face became snow-white. Moses took pity on his sister, and through his prayer God healed Miriam
But in the modern world, God often uses the punishment for people's sins - death, and illness as a test or an opportunity for a person to see God's healing and believe in the existence of the Creator through ailments.
Repentance and salvation
All people are afraid of death, everyone is afraid of dying. But someday everyone must appear before God. The punishment for sins is death, eternal death. But there is only one way to receive forgiveness and to avoid the punishment for sin is Jesus Christ.
The Lord himself, when he walked the earth, spoke these words (Gospel of John 14:16):
Jesus said to him: I am the way and the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father as soon as through Me.
The Lord is the only way to see God. To do this, each person must repent and allow the Lord to change his heart and life. And then all sins will be forgiven.
And in the famous verses of the same gospel of John 3: 16,17 we read:
For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world would be saved through Him.
God came up with an amazing plan to save humanity. He sacrificed his Son so that each of us would be saved and gain eternal life.
Salvation from sin lies in the Lord Jesus Christ. By accepting in our lives the good news that God has descended to earth and died for our sins, we gain salvation and forgiveness. We can stumble, but God finally forgives us sin, and sin no longer has power over us.
In order not to depend on sin and sinful thoughts and live in anticipation of meeting with God, people need to accept Jesus Christ as a personal savior, let Him into their lives and fully trust the Creator. To do this, a person needs to kneel down and ask God to enter life and change it.
The only thing God will not forgive, according to the Bible, is if a person blasphemes (blaspheme God); if in public he will deny Jesus Christ.
Islam about sin and the punishment for sin
Islam, like Christianity, also develops the thought of sin. According to the Qur'an, the most terrible and serious sins are:
- Murder.
- Witchcraft.
- Cessation of prayer.
- Do not abide by the post.
- Do not obey or obey your parents.
- Do not make a mandatory Hajj.
- Homosexuality.
- Treason in marriage.
- False evidence.
- Theft.
- Lying.
- Hypocrisy.
- Curse your neighbor.
- Dispute.
- Harmful neighbors.
There is a punishment of Allah for sins in Islam, but the Almighty forgives all sins, except unbelief, if the believer himself asks for forgiveness. If a person has sinned, then, according to Islam, he just needs to sincerely repent, and then Allah will forgive him.
In Islam, it is believed that the sin of Adam does not pass on the genetic level, and each person is only responsible for the actions that he committed during his earthly life.
Islam preaches that a person has freedom of choice, according to which he makes a decision: to have salvation or to live in sin. If a mortal man lives and works honestly, but stumbles and apologizes to Allah, then he will be saved and will see Paradise.