What is Sin?

Josh Harris' book Not Even a Hint is a very very good book (now re-issued as Sex Is Not the Problem, Lust Is). I know some have issues with it, and think they've come up in blog-world at some point, but I couldn't find them in a brief look just now. Maybe I'll review it soon & then we can 'have at it'... Leaving that for now:

In the section (pp. 113ff) where he is talking about what we watch on TV & at Cinemas. He is in areas such as our love to flirt with sin & our ability to rationalise taking onboard a certain amount, thinking certain films OK in the sense of 'not perfect, but not beyond what I can deal with'... Recognise yourself??

He then asks what we are allowed to view, and quotes this letter to John Wesley from his mum, when he'd asked for a description of sin. She says:

Take this rule: whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off the relish of spiritual things; in short, whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may be in itself.

Which is a great answer, because it reminds us why we want to not do / look at / accept / engage with those things, reminds us what we loose...

I've no idea, but she might have been thinking of passages such as Eph 5:3, Gal 6:7-9, Ps 101:2-4, 1Thess 5:21-22, Job 31:11-12, Rom 8:6, Rom 13:14, Matt 5:29-30, 2Tim 2:22, Jas 1:15, Ps 84:10-12, Lam 3:24-26 and probably a few others...

Don't read on to see what I'm going to say next. It will trebble the value of your reading this post if you look up those passages! Isn't it just too easy to be a Christian without looking at the Bible much...