Tangle writes:
Ah, that old phoney - conscience :-) The universal get out of jail card.
The first time I tripped over the argument was with the Catholic position on birth control. The Vatican ruled it out. Flat wrong. An absolute. If the intention is to avoid having a baby, it's a sin. Intention = conscience = 'what's in your heart'.
But they came up against the modern Western populous who basically told them to take a hike and totally ignored this 'mortal sin' that would condemn them to hell for all eternity. So the Catholic church faced with a total revolt rolled over decided that it's a matter of conscience and if people truly believed it was ok, then it was ok.
Meawhile it was still a mortal sin for the poor bloody Africans and millions died and are dying from AIDS for lack of condom use.
You see, what's in people's 'hearts' varies between people, education levels, cultures and times.
Eating people is wrong, but only if you're not a cannibal.
But you’re missing the point. You are taking your view and the views of others and finding them not to be in agreement of what constitutes sin. Some things are pretty obvious and there really isn’t much disagreement over the belief that someone’s actions are based on greed and about looking after their desires at the expense of others. Many things as you point out though, are a lot more ambiguous and we just do our best.
I mentioned earlier Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinithians Chap 4 . He says this:
quote:
2 Now it is required that those who have been given a trust must prove faithful.
3 I care very little if I am judged by you or by any human court; indeed, I do not even judge myself.
4 My conscience is clear, but that does not make me innocent. It is the Lord who judges me.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of the heart. At that time each will receive their praise from God.
Neither of us are able to actually able to see inside the hearts of others and we can’t even be sure of our own motives. As humans we are going to disagree on the right actions in given circumstances. Secularists will disagree with each other, Christians will disagree with each other, and so on for any group you want to mention.
In the end what God wants is hearts that love sacrificially and we are called to do our best to sort that out in our lives knowing that others won’t always agree. On faith I do ultimately trust that God is a god of perfect justice and that perfect justice will prevail. He will balance out the heart of someone like myself who grew up in a loving environment as well as someone who grew up in a cold or even abusive environment.
He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8