On the nature of sin

I find myself, on this beautiful UK Saturday morning, musing on the nature of "sin" in the Christian Doctrine.

So what exactly is sin?

Is it a transgression of God's law? So for instance, if you break a commandment you have sinned? I can understand "Thou shalt not steal" -- therefore if I steal I have sinned. But hang on, there is more to it than that isn't there? .. the Bible talks about many behaviors which are sinful but don't have an explicit commandment for them: for example "Thou shalt not take part in homosexual sex" is not actually a commandment but the engagement of said practice is a sin nonetheless.

So to truly understand all of the sins that we may commit do we need to read The Bible?

Plus, back to the New Covenant, if I do not love my neighbor as myself am I sinning? Probably. Which means I probably am always going to sin. There are few people outside of my immediate family that I would lay down my life for.

Furthermore, if one sins, and does not avail oneself of the savior, then one will go to a lake of fire. From the KJV:

Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

The answer I usually get from Christians when I ask why is there such a painful downside to not being a Christian is "you were warned buddy, you had a whole lifetime to convert, God gave you your chance". Which is highly unsatisfactory, especially going back to the one year old baby I saw coming out of a cancer radiotherapy suite. I guess we have to put this down to mystery.

Sidenote: Why is it that some (most?) human beings become incredibly smug when they think they are saved and you are not? It's like we cannot handle being saved, or we are always so quick to give into the temptation to think we are better than our fellow man. Which I bet is a sin by the way :-)

Other folks believe that sin is being in a state separate from God, after all "sin" means "without" in Spanish does it not? If that were the case then why, upon atheist death, does one not return to the state one was in before one became conscious? Why would one go and fry? It appears from The Bible that if you sin and do not repent and follow Christ, you will be punished.

What is the greater desire ... to get to Heaven, or to avoid Hell?

"...a state that is not pleasing or delightful to me, how could I inflict that upon another?" Samyutta Nikaya v. 353

Brother Bagwell I hope your house sale went smoothly -- moving house is up there in the top five stresses of life "... the times they are a changing."