But isn’t covetousness a sin of thought and envy a sin? Don’t the following say that even the thoughts are sins?
Proverbs 24:9 (KJV)
The thought of foolishness is sin: and the scorner is an abomination to men.
John 3:15 (KJV)
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
I don’t disagree that we must strive to not sin - but I do believe that only God is without sin.
Christ said in Matthew 19:17: “Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God”
However, knowing that we are incapable he offered us salvation through his sacrifice to cleanse us that we who come to him may be saved.
I’m not a theologian by any means, but I seem to recall that there was something in Romans or Acts that said when we come to Christ we still have sin, but it is no longer a part of us though it dwells within us or some such.
It’s a weighty topic and I don’t want to bother you with a running dialogue. I know many in the homosexual community want Christians to say it isn’t a sin so they can stop feeling guilty. But it is. I just think as Christians we should say - yes you sin, we all do, but you can still be saved by accepting Christ and working not to sin again. You will still fall, but in the long run having received Christ and clinging to God will save your soul. The same as we do for the liar, envier, murderer who asks for forgiveness and believes.
Yes we should tell them they can be saved. In fact we must. But we cannot tell them they cannot be free of that sin. God has delivered tens of thousands out of homosexuality. HE expects them to live clean.
While it is true that we will never be without sin. We should not be committing teh same sins over and over and over again. We should be growing closer to Christ (and freer from sin) each day.