1. An action which is considered to be unacceptable: The police arrested a man who committed the sin of robbing a bank.
2. Behavior that is considered to be wrong by those who believe they understand the expectations of God's will: The pastor preached to his congregation that they should confess their sins and ask for God's forgiveness and to sin no more.
3. That which is in opposition to God's benevolent purposes for people: To engage in war and to deliberately murder people is considered to be a major sin.
4. Any reprehensible or regrettable actions, behaviors, lapses, etc.; great faults or offenses: There are multitudes of sins that are committed everyday by many people.

Sin is a barrier that separates humans from God

According to the biblical writers, sin is an ever-present reality that enslaves the human race and has corrupted God's created order.

The concept of sin is first, and foremost, a religious concept, because all sin is ultimately against God, God's laws, God's creation, God's covenant, and God's purposes and it is said to be the basic corrupting agent in the 'entire universe'.

"There are numerous Hebrew and Greek words used to designate sin in biblical writings and it is and apparently the most basic Hebrew word meaning "revolt" or "transgression" and indicating a deliberate act of defiance against God.

Sin is the name given to moral evil when it is considered from a religious point of view.

Christianity sees sin as a deliberate violation of the will of God which is attributable to human pride, self-centerdness, and disobedience.

1. To violate a religious, ethical, or moral law or standards; or to do something that is wrong according to religious rules: Maude Williams was sinning against the doctrines of just about every religious organization with her securities fraud, money laundering, and perjury.
2. To commit offenses or violations that are regarded as being shameful, deplorable, or utterly wrong: Those who have not murdered or committed adultery have sinned when they don't tell the truth or when they worship false idols; such as, wealth or human powers as being more important than God.

Very often, people are defensive of their sins because they have not been able to stop sinning with their own strength; for example, when they can't stop smoking, they rationalize about its presence in their lives by making the humiliating confession that they "can't conquer it"; so, they present arguments that there is no one who can be perfect.

A sin in the ordinary sense of the word consists of evil activities whether of thoughts, words, or deeds: When anyone commits actual sins, he or she is behaving in unacceptable ways that could result in serious punishments when alive or after death.

A constant or primary problem or fault: Eve's besetting sin is an excessive fondness for sweets while her husband, Adam, has a besetting sin for drinking alcoholic beverages; such as, beer and wine.

A very serious or terrible behavior or action: Producing false information in the news is a cardinal sin when reporting in print or verbally on the radio or TV broadcasting.

Adam committed a cardinal sin when he criticized his supervisor at work.

Attacking people with a knife is certainly a cardinal sin which was recently reported on TV.

One of the seven sins which in the Christian religion are considered to be very serious and are believed to cause other sins: The seven deadly sins are usually considered to be pride, envy, lust, gluttony, greed, anger, and sloth (laziness).

A bad or terrible behavior or action; such as, murder: A mortal sin lasts forever beyond one's life unless the person who who has committed such a crime sincerely asks God for mercy and is forgiven.

The belief taught by Christian preachers that there are some people who will naturally do bad or evil things: There are criminals, and even non-criminals, who are guilty of committing immoral or unacceptable original sins

Original sins come from the fact that we come into this world not as isolated individuals, but as members of the human race inheriting both good and evil features from the human race inheriting both good and evil features from the past.

Doing anything which is forbidden by the law of God: People make a sin of commission when they fail to do the right thing; especially, by not being honest and by being unethical in their behavior towards our Heavenly God and other human beings.

A sin that is the result of not doing something that we should do: People are responsible to do good to others at all times whenever it is possible and it is sinful to avoid doing it.

The stealing and publications of another author's language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions and presenting them as one's own original writing: The sins of plagiarizing are considered to be academic dishonesty and a stealing of other people's productions. © ALL rights are reserved.

Go to this Word A Day Revisited Index
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1. A pardonable offense, or an unpremeditated one as opposed to a mortal or a deadly sin.
2. In the Roman Catholic Church, an offense that is judged to be minor or committed without deliberate intent and so it does not estrange the soul from the grace of God.
3. A transgression against the law of God that does not deprive the soul of divine grace either because it is a minor offense or because it was committed without full understanding of its seriousness or without full consent of the will.
4. Etymology: from Old French venial, which came from Latin venialis, "pardonable; graciouis, kind", from venia, "forgiveness, indulgence, pardon".

Related to venus, veneris, "love, desire" or venerari, "to reverence, to worship".