Sexual sin: A bigger sin?

[Classik]

Why is sexual sin always 'culturally' (if I may put it that way) considered a huuuuuuuge sin? Young women/men who lose their virginity (especially Christians)... when they come to full realisation of their sin feel so remorseful and bitter about the sin...(and more than they would feel when they commit sins like, lying, fighting etc)


Seems the bible also condemns it as one of the worst sins: thus, Flee from sexual immorality

 

[Obadiah]

It's an issue of power and control. Many church leaders of the distant past when these attitudes were first coming about were more interested in power than in God. The church was a powerful entity back then, and it's leaders were powerful people. Controlling with an iron fist the most basic of human needs (one of which is the sex drive) gives a person tremendous power over those below him. What better way to control than to convince people of "Do it my way or go to hell"?

But I think it's far more important to worry about how God sees it than how other people see it.

The Bible says "For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one [point], he is guilty of all." (James 2:10) That sounds to me like sin is sin, no matter what particular sin it is. And of course, if this is a real question you have, and you really want to research it, you will find the word of God never condemns many of the things church leaders of today tell us is sin in the first place. (The fact that something may not be the wisest choice doesn't necessarily make it a sin against God!)

 

[Classik]

Thanks for your reply. I just wonder why (and even these days) preachers who preach during youth programs always lay more emphasis on this particular sin...and not only during youth programs: anything that has to do with sexual immorality (to them) attracts the biggest criticism and very serious warnings. unno

 

[for_his_glory]

There are many scriptures that speak about fornication and to absatin from it. It was not uncommon in Biblical times for someone even at the age of 12 to be married. It's usually around this age that thoughts come to a young mind, but in todays culture laws govern the age of a minor (under the age of 18) and parental concent needs to be made. Sin is sin as there is none bigger or smaller than another and sin only comes from unbelif of what God already spoke. What did Jesus say to the women at the well, go and sin no more. There needs to be instruction in the Church to the youth about sex and the parents also need to be involved.

1 Corinthians 7:9 But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.

 

[Jake]

Sexual sin also includes looking upon another with lust.

Teens need to learn self-control and this is one of those issues that can teach that.

 

[Slider]

I don't have time to elaborate or connect it, but we must remember that sexual sin in the Bible (whore, fornication, adultery, etc) were often if not always representative of false worship and fellowshipping false believers. So talking about the literal sexual sin is fine, but we shouldn't forget that the spritual sexual sin is more grevious.

 

[Sparkey]

What Scripture says something about this and warns that this type of sin is different in that it actually takes (transports?) sin into the body?
There is also another Scripture that likens this type of thing to joining Christ to sin. The one that I'm looking for would be the first one because it may be one of the better answers to the question. The concept of joining and becoming one is included but there is a Scripture that says that sexual sin (puts, brings, takes?) sin into our bodies. It is an intimate and personal corruption beyond other sin, if my memory serves well (and the Scripture bears me out here).

 

[Classik]

1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.


Is this your verse?

 

[Sparkey]

1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.


Is this your verse?

Yes. Thank you, now I may go there and try to figure out my basic question, "Where did I get the idea that we are taking sin or allowing sin into us?"

 

[Sparkey]

Yes. Thank you, now I may go there and try to figure out my basic question, "Where did I get the idea that we are taking sin or allowing sin into us?"

Got it. Ektos and Eis.

ektos = Outline of Biblical Usage

1. outside, beyond
2. the outside, exterior
3. outside of
4. beyond, besides, except

eis = Outline of Biblical Usage
into, unto, to, towards, for, among


It's okay for me to slip up sometimes but I very much like it when memory serves well. I thought I'd been down this path before. I appreciate the pointer, Classic.

1 Corinthians 6:18
Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside [Gk. ektos] the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against [Gk. eis] their own body.

 

[Claudya]

Why is sexual sin always 'culturally' (if I may put it that way) considered a huuuuuuuge sin? Young women/men who lose their virginity (especially Christians)... when they come to full realisation of their sin feel so remorseful and bitter about the sin...(and more than they would feel when they commit sins like, lying, fighting etc)
Seems the bible also condemns it as one of the worst sins: thus, Flee from sexual immorality

Well honestly I don't know why sexual sins should be greater sins than other sins. They are mentioned in the Bible along with other kinds of sins, but it's nowhere said that they are worse in any way.
So probably sexual sins - especially those of other people - are more interesting than other kinds of sins.
All of us adult persons know sexuality as a force within ourselves, so everyone has an opinion about it and wants to judge people that they think live in sin.

 

[Mountain Man]

I doubt that greater or lesser sins will matter that much or be of any consolation or comfort in Hell....only in this life do we concern ourselves with such triviality.

 

[Eugene]

As believers our practical sanctification is judged for reward, and there can be consequence. 1 Peter 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? This is a comparison of the believer and non believer; our walk is judged, and the sin of the world is to be judged.

1 Corinthians 5:1 It is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 "For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication." Is this sin worse than speeding?

1 Corinthians 6:18 "Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body." This is one sin you can't blame circumstance or anyone else for.

As to judgment of the world there must also be lesser and greater judgments. Matthew 10:15 Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.

My thoughts.

 

[Obadiah]

Is this sin worse than speeding?

No, it's not. I think this is the problem when Christian teachers rant and rave about one particular sin so much more than they do about other sins. It's not that the sexual sin shouldn't be preached against (the actual thing that God has said is a sin: fornication and adultery, not holding hands, kissing, being alone together, etc. That's more an issue of wisdom.) it's that when we overemphasize one thing to the point that some teachers overemphasize sexual sin, other sins start to look like they aren't so bad and people don't think twice when they commit them. We are supposed to obey the law, including the traffic speed limits. But how many times have you seen a sweating red faced teacher ranting and raving in front of a group of teenagers about driving a couple of mile per hour over the speed limit? Compare that to how many times you see the same ranting and raving about sexual sin. It really is out of balance in some churches, especially among those who minister to groups of younger people.

 

[Sparkey]

I see the discussion initiated by John in one of his letters as centered on the passage that promises believers that if we ask anything according to God's will, He hears us. John gives a specific example for what we are to do if we see our brother offend or sin. Within that example he mentions that there is sin that leads to death, and that he is not saying that we should pray about that.

Again, the passage discusses prayer according to the Will of God. See 1 John for me (and I don't mean any one chapter in particular because the whole book is worthy in this discussion).

Concluding Affirmations from the First Letter of John, chapter 5

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

If you see any brother or sister commit a sin that does not lead to death, you should pray and God will give them life. I refer to those whose sin does not lead to death. There is a sin that leads to death. I am not saying that you should pray about that. All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.

We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin; the One who was born of God keeps them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

 

[Obadiah]

Do you know what the "sin that leads to death" is? I've never heard anything other than speculation on this and have always wondered what it was.

 

[thisnumbersdisconnected]

Thanks for your reply. I just wonder why (and even these days) preachers who preach during youth programs always lay more emphasis on this particular sin...and not only during youth programs: anything that has to do with sexual immorality (to them) attracts the biggest criticism and very serious warnings. unno

God gave man and woman the joy and pleasure of sexual relations within the bounds of marriage, and the Bible is clear about the importance of maintaining sexual purity within the boundaries of that union between husband and wife.

Ephesians 5
31 FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND SHALL BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH.
​

Humans are well aware of the pleasing effect of this gift from God but have expanded it well beyond marriage and into virtually any circumstance. The secular world’s philosophy of “if it feels good, do it†pervades cultures, especially in the West, to the point where sexual purity is seen as archaic and unnecessary. This is the reason, Classik, that the pastors of our churches so strongly speak out against sexual sin, not just among young people -- but it is an appropriate message for them -- but to all of us.

Look at what God says about sexual purity. You should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God.

1 Thessalonians 4
3 For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;
4 that each of you know how to possess his own vessel in sanctification and honor,
5 not in lustful passion, like the Gentiles who do not know God;
6 and that no man transgress and defraud his brother in the matter because the Lord is the avenger in all these things, just as we also told you before and solemnly warned you.
7 For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification. [Emphasis added]
​

This passage outlines God’s reasons for calling for sexual purity in the lives of His children. First, we are “sanctified†and for that reason, we are to avoid sexual immorality. The Greek word translated “sanctified†means literally “purified, made holy, consecrated [unto God].†As Christians, we are to live a purified life because we have been made holy by the exchange of our sin for the righteousness of Christ on the cross and have been made completely new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Our old natures, with all their impurities, sexual and otherwise, have died and now the life we live, we live by faith in the One who died for us (Galatians 2:20). To continue in sexual impurity (fornication) is to deny that and doing so is, in fact, a legitimate reason to question whether we have ever truly been born again. Sanctification, the process by which we become more and more Christlike, is an essential evidence of the reality of our salvation.

We also see in 1 Thessalonians 4:3-5 the necessity of controlling our bodies. When we give in to sexual immorality, we give evidence that the Holy Spirit is not indwelling us because we do not possess one of the fruits of the Spirit—self-control. All believers display the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) to a greater or lesser degree depending on the length of time they have walked with God. Uncontrolled “passionate lust†is a work of the flesh (Galatians 5:19), not of the Spirit. So controlling our lusts and living sexually pure lives is essential to anyone who professes to know Christ. In doing so, we honor God with our bodies (1 Corinthians 6:18-20).

​

 

[Eugene]

Do you know what the "sin that leads to death" is? I've never heard anything other than speculation on this and have always wondered what it was.

Below are illustrations of three that were put to death.

Moses

Numbers 20:12) And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

Deuteronomy 32:48-51
48) And the LORD spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
49) Get thee up into this mountain Abarim, unto mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho; and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession:
50) And die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people; as Aaron thy brother died in mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people:
51) Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah-Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin; because ye sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.

Ananias & Sapphira

Acts 5:1-2 But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession, . . 2 And kept back part of the price . .
Acts 5:4 thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God. . .
Acts 5:5 And Ananias hearing these words fell down, and gave up the ghost . .
Acts 5:8-9 And Peter answered unto her, Tell me whether ye sold the land for so much? And she said, Yea, for so much. 9 Then Peter said unto her, How is it that ye have agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord? behold, the feet of them which have buried thy husband are at the door, and shall carry thee out.

Were they saved? We see Moses with Jesus after being baptized.

 

[Sparkey]

Do you know what the "sin that leads to death" is? I've never heard anything other than speculation on this and have always wondered what it was.

A sin which is not unto death - This is an extremely difficult passage, and has been variously interpreted. What is the sin not unto death, for which we should ask, and life shall be given to him that commits it? And what is the sin unto death, for which we should not pray?

I shall note three of the chief opinions on this subject: -

1. It is supposed that there is here an allusion to a distinction in the Jewish law, where there was חטאה למיתה chattaah lemithah, "a sin unto death;" and חטאה לא למיתה chattaah lo lemithah, "a sin not unto death;" that is,

1. A sin, or transgression, to which the law had assigned the punishment of death; such as idolatry, incest, blasphemy, breach of the Sabbath, and the like. And

2. A sin not unto death, i.e. transgressions of ignorance, inadvertence, etc., and such is, in their own nature, appear to be comparatively light and trivial. That such distinctions did exist in the Jewish synagogue both Schoettgen and Carpzovius have proved.
​

2. By the sin not unto death, for which intercession might be made, and unto death, for which prayer might not be made, we are to understand transgressions of the civil law of a particular place, some of which must be punished with death, according to the statutes, the crime admitting of no pardon: others might be punished with death, but the magistrate had the power of commuting the punishments, i.e. of changing death into banishment, etc., for reasons that might appear to him satisfactory, or at the intercession of powerful friends. To intercede in the former case would be useless, because the law would not relax, therefore they need not pray for it; but intercession in the latter case might be prevalent, therefore they might pray; and if they did not, the person might suffer the punishment of death. This opinion, which has been advanced by Rosenmuller, intimates that men should feel for each other's distresses, and use their influence in behalf of the wretched, nor ever abandon the unfortunate but where the case is utterly hopeless.

3. The sin unto death means a case of transgression, particularly of grievous backsliding from the life and power of godliness, which God determines to punish with temporal death, while at the same time he extends mercy to the penitent soul. The disobedient prophet, 1 Kings 13:1-32, is, on this interpretation, a case in point: many others occur in the history of the Church, and of every religious community. The sin not unto death is any sin which God does not choose thus to punish. This view of the subject is that taken by the late Rev. J. Wesley, in a sermon entitled, A Call to Backsliders. - Works, vol ii. page 239.

I do not think the passage has any thing to do with what is termed the sin against the Holy Ghost; much less with the popish doctrine of purgatory; nor with sins committed before and after baptism, the former pardonable, the latter unpardonable, according to some of the fathers. Either of the last opinions (viz., 2 and 3) make a good sense; and the first (1) is not unlikely: the apostle may allude to some maxim or custom in the Jewish Church which is not now distinctly known. However, this we know, that any penitent may find mercy through Christ Jesus; for through him every kind of sin may be forgiven to man, except the sin against the Holy Ghost; which I have proved no man can now commit. See the note on Matthew 12:31, Matthew 12:39 (note).

I thought that I should list the thoughts of others before I gave my own. Above is quoted from Clark's Commentary for 1 John, chapter 5. When I think about the passage, it is in reference to sin that is not unto (or does not lead to) death. James chapter 3 speaks of offenses that are made by the tongue. This is the main type of sin I pray and ask God for and admonish others to pray (or inquire) about.

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.

The topic of "sin that leads to death" would rightly deserve a thread in Apologetics and Theology and it really isn't the place to go too deeply into that here. To me, prayer regarding sin that does not lead to death is a function of the body unified. Sharing the blood of Christ, not only pleading the blood personally, but also for each member of His body.

 

[JCitoL]

Why is sexual sin always 'culturally' (if I may put it that way) considered a huuuuuuuge sin? Young women/men who lose their virginity (especially Christians)... when they come to full realisation of their sin feel so remorseful and bitter about the sin...(and more than they would feel when they commit sins like, lying, fighting etc)


Seems the bible also condemns it as one of the worst sins: thus, Flee from sexual immorality

the very sin is the spiritual/religious iniquity, while the defilement against the sex is the first "fruit" of the sin, because fundamentally the sex is entirely a creation of God, not of the "darkness", but the "darkness" finds the sex as a most convenient equivalent of the very sin which actually is the spiritual/religious iniquity, that is why from the original sin on the sex was so defiled and nasty, because exactly the spiritual/religious system of the "darkness" made it be such till now through things like: sexual harassment/violence/rape, pedophilia, sex trafficking, whoredom, infidelity, masturbation, homosexuality, transsexualism, pornography, etc., however the sex is one of the creations of the true Lord God and should not be defiled, but should be glorified in Him, and there were people/couples with such a gift and they glorified it as a God's creation, but unfortunately the system of spiritual/religious iniquity continued to express/affirm its devilish/bad side, and therefore there were so great pandemics of (the listed above) foul sexual affections, but the sex must also be purified/purged/sanctified as it is written in the Fourth Commandment of (the) faith(Exodus 20:8-11, 1 Timothy 2:1-10, 1 Timothy 4:1-11), otherwise we can nohow expect the future of the children to be all right as regards the sex, but the pandemics of foul sexual affections can continue to increase and possess a great percent of the humankind

Genesis 3:1-7 "Now the serpent(i.e. and lo, the devil came from the "darkness", and it) was more subtil than any beast(i.e. and it was guileful as opposed to the things) of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of(i.e. which is beyond) the garden(viz. the "tree" which to the humans is occultism/esotericism), God hath said, Ye shall not eat of(i.e. you must not practise) it, neither shall ye touch(i.e. neither shall you explore) it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened(i.e. then occult/yogic perceptions/senses will appear in you), and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil(i.e. and you will be as the God Himself, viz. with omniscience and omnipotence like Him). And when the woman saw that the tree was(i.e. that the forbidden "tree" ostensibly looked) good for food, and that it was(i.e. and that it ostensibly looked) pleasant to the eyes(i.e. to the human mind), and a tree to be desired to make one wise(i.e. to make the human being omniscient and omnipotent), she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. And the eyes of them both were opened(i.e. and occult/yogic perceptions/senses appeared in them both), and they knew that they were naked(i.e. and from that moment on they began to perceive the sex and the other creations of God as shameful/sinful); and they sewed fig leaves(i.e. and they found (great) false spiritual knowledge) together, and made themselves aprons(i.e. and made themselves human(666) spirituality/religion starting to defile the sex and the other creations of God via it)."

Blessings