Some have said that assertions cannot be made by just quoting isolated verses from the Bible, which, in and of themselves, can be easily taken out of context. There is some basis in this since 2 Timothy 3:16 says “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness…” And yes, I just took one isolated verse and made a statement around it!
But it would not be practical to quote the entire Bible for every assertion one makes. If I were to attempt that, I imagine I would lose most people by the time I got to Abraham. So, I pick out verses instead of the whole Bible, with the understanding that, in line with 2 Timothy 3:16, each verse is a part of the whole. So…
Is it a sin to destroy what God creates? And if so, how serious a sin is it? For 1 John 5:17 says, “All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.” What sin would that be?
First, I tell you that all sin is a turning away from God for to do evil is sin. Evil is the opposite of good. Genesis 1:31 says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Well then, if what God made is destroyed to any extent, except perhaps to fulfill a larger cause in God’s name, then we are turning away from God. This is a sin, therefore it is evil.
Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” It therefore is a sin if we personally destroy at least parts of ourselves, since we would be undoing what God created in us. This includes the organs that are in our bodies.
Things like smoking will undo what God created in us. This is a sin. What larger cause would we be serving if we were smoking? How would it add to the world that god created? Id there any mitigating circumstance in which smoking would be acceptable to God?
Some people say that smoking helps them to think, and to write. Well, I hope that whatever they think and write about would make a contribution to mankind, however small. But if a person passes away because of smoking in order that contributions to mankind be conveyed, is that person laying down his life for his friends? Maybe, if what he contributes to mankind outweighs his destroying himself.
Would his sin of smoking lead to death, if the smoking itself doesn’t? Well, that person can make two attempts to salvage himself. He can ask for forgiveness and hope that God forgives him, or, if he never saw the light of God to begin with, he can accept God like the condemned man on the cross next to Jesus did.
As to the first way, God’s forgiveness can be fleeting. Hebrews 10:26 says, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…” The fact that we would ask for forgiveness for a sin implies that we have knowledge of the sin we committed.
So, ultimately, what sin would not lead to death? It seems that that is God’s call, but it would be best that we don’t commit a particular sin to begin with, and if we have, we should stop that sin, ask for forgiveness, and hope for the best.
But it would not be practical to quote the entire Bible for every assertion one makes. If I were to attempt that, I imagine I would lose most people by the time I got to Abraham. So, I pick out verses instead of the whole Bible, with the understanding that, in line with 2 Timothy 3:16, each verse is a part of the whole. So…
Is it a sin to destroy what God creates? And if so, how serious a sin is it? For 1 John 5:17 says, “All wrongdoing is sin, but there is sin that does not lead to death.” What sin would that be?
First, I tell you that all sin is a turning away from God for to do evil is sin. Evil is the opposite of good. Genesis 1:31 says, “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” Well then, if what God made is destroyed to any extent, except perhaps to fulfill a larger cause in God’s name, then we are turning away from God. This is a sin, therefore it is evil.
Psalm 139:14 says, “I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well.” It therefore is a sin if we personally destroy at least parts of ourselves, since we would be undoing what God created in us. This includes the organs that are in our bodies.
Things like smoking will undo what God created in us. This is a sin. What larger cause would we be serving if we were smoking? How would it add to the world that god created? Id there any mitigating circumstance in which smoking would be acceptable to God?
Some people say that smoking helps them to think, and to write. Well, I hope that whatever they think and write about would make a contribution to mankind, however small. But if a person passes away because of smoking in order that contributions to mankind be conveyed, is that person laying down his life for his friends? Maybe, if what he contributes to mankind outweighs his destroying himself.
Would his sin of smoking lead to death, if the smoking itself doesn’t? Well, that person can make two attempts to salvage himself. He can ask for forgiveness and hope that God forgives him, or, if he never saw the light of God to begin with, he can accept God like the condemned man on the cross next to Jesus did.
As to the first way, God’s forgiveness can be fleeting. Hebrews 10:26 says, “For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins…” The fact that we would ask for forgiveness for a sin implies that we have knowledge of the sin we committed.
So, ultimately, what sin would not lead to death? It seems that that is God’s call, but it would be best that we don’t commit a particular sin to begin with, and if we have, we should stop that sin, ask for forgiveness, and hope for the best.
