Short story: Are we always responsible for all of our sins?
By emptychair
@innertalks (23746)
Australia
January 9, 2024 8:03pm CST
Pastor Stuart Nickleson, was talking to his son, about sin, accountability for sin, and the responsibility of committing sin, in one's life.
He said that sins can be forgiven by God, when we humbly ask him for forgiveness.
His son asked him though, what constitutes being a sin?
Is a person of limited intelligence guilty for their sins, or a person with dementia, are they guilty for their misdemeanours, meanness, and manor, which might be mean and cruel, at times, and even abusive?
And how about a drug-filled sinner? How responsible are they for their actions?
The Pastor replied:
"We are all responsible for every sin we commit, no matter what the state of our mind is when we committed it."
"A sin is any non-loving act, and it is also something that hurts others, and goes against God's commandments too."
"A soul occupies each body, which has an intelligence attached to it, and the soul can try to guide its own body/mind, but when it cannot do so, each soul must eventually own the doings of its body/mind, and answer to God for anything done under their watch."
"God will look at the sins of somebody mentally ill, and utilise his own perfect judgement, in the judging of their sins too."
"It must be remembered as Saint Paul said in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 1."
'"For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands."'
"So, we are really spiritual beings, clothed in the tent of our humanness."
"One day, we need to answer for God, for every jot, and tittle, of our lives, as we lived it."
Photo Credit: The photo used in this article was sourced from the free media site, pixabay.com
It is our responsibility to love as much as we can while we live here, and we will be held accountable for all of our acts of non-loving.
8 people like this
6 responses
@arunima25 (93194)
• Bangalore, India
10 Jan 24
I like the saying that sin is a non loving act. It's beautiful and deep. We all are accountable for our sins, whether done unknowingly or on purpose. God loves us and is forgiving. But we need to live with a conscious effort to not commit them on purpose.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
10 Jan 24
Thanks.
Yes, we need to try not to sin. We are conscious beings, and we have to make a conscious effort not to sin, but to live loving lives, loving life, God, and all around us too.
Animals are different, and not being conscious, they do not know if they sin, or not, even though some animals do bad things on purpose at times too, I think.
I think they know when they do something bad, but whether they are responsible for their actions, is hard to say. Some people think that animals also have a soul, but I couldn't be sure about that, and they can't choose to follow, or to know God, as it is all foreign stuff to them.
The Bible does say that there are some animals in Heaven, so they must have made it in there somehow.
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
10 Jan 24
@arunima25 Animals certainly do non loving things, so l guess we could say they are sinning, and even nature does unloving things too.
The world works on sin, if we believe the Bible, because evil rules it for now.
The only way out is to love, and to not sin, and try to live good lives ourselves, so that we make no more new karma.
@arunima25 (93194)
• Bangalore, India
10 Jan 24
@innertalks Yes, we can try that consciously. I am not sure about animals. But our Hindu mythology believes that they have soul. In fact in our mythological stories, animals have played respectable characters. And we worship everything in Nature including animals and we think that they have souls. But yes, Human are different because they have ego ( individualism in a positive sense). We believe in having an upright ego( conscience) and do things that are right and respectful to all creations of God
2 people like this
@cabuyogty (4487)
• Philippines
10 Jan 24
Yes , it's true. I hope that God will forgive us in our sins. 
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
10 Jan 24
I think that God will always forgive us our sins, if we admit to them humbly, and ask him to do so.
It is by the grace of God that we are forgiven.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
10 Jan 24
It is a hard thing to draw a line under sinning on purpose, as somebody mentally handicapped, or with a brain injury, might sin, not on purpose, as such, but because of the state of their health.
Perhaps, it is up to others to pray to God to forgive such sins, for which the sinner is ignorant of their own sinning.
1 person likes this
@Deepizzaguy (122379)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
10 Jan 24
That is true that we should love as much as we can since it is for our good.
2 people like this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
10 Jan 24
Yes, if we love as much as we can, it is for our own good, and it is also for the good of others then too.
All feel better when loved.
@Deepizzaguy (122379)
• Lake Charles, Louisiana
10 Jan 24
@innertalks You are right.
2 people like this
@Shiva49 (28402)
• Singapore
10 Jan 24
Knowingly going against our conscience, inner knowing, is sinning according to me.
Some are unaware they are sinning, so there should be leeway in judging them.
Our leaders lie through their teeth to get to and remain in power and they need to pay the price eventually though they may think they had got away scot-free here. They will realize later they have scored self-goals when they are held accountable.
1 person likes this
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
10 Jan 24
Real inner knowing is only obtained from connecting to God, and to his love, and his truth though.
Inner knowing without God, can not be the real truth, if all we are connecting to is our higher consciousness, which grows over time too, only when connected to the creator of that growth.
Rooted in only ourselves, we will wither and die, but rooted in God, we will prosper and bear fruit.
Ignorance of God, and his commands, should be taken into account when judgement is meted out, but pretended ignorance, will not cut the ice, with someone like God, either.
Karma will come back to the ignorant too, unless they have made later amends for their actions, by asking for wisdom, truth, and forgiveness, from God, plus with an earnest effort to overcome ignorance, and to grow in wisdom and understanding.
@innertalks (23746)
• Australia
11 Jan 24
@Shiva49 We might all have an implanted seed of inner knowing in us, but it is not an all-knowing seed, as only God is all-knowing. We must live to grow, as we can't know it all, spoonfed from the beginning.
While God does provide a link to himself within every person, a complete inner knowing cannot fit within every person as they are not God, and it must be fed into them into their vessels of knowing, (their heart and mind) via their soul, as they live, and this growth, and feeding, on knowing, coming from God then builds wisdom, over time, in the person growing from inner knowing as fed to them by God.
@Shiva49 (28402)
• Singapore
11 Jan 24
@innertalks Inner knowing is implanted in each of us by our creator.
We tend to ignore it at times when our mind obfuscates our heart.
I keep in mind we form an integral part of creation, which means we have to play a positive role in our overall well-being.
When we learn the lessons, we need to make amends for our erring and redouble our efforts to make up for our past failings.
A conscious living will give fulfillment - otherwise, the rewards will be transient.
1 person likes this
