A Child’s Question: Is There A “Good” Sin?

My sisters, do you teach children at church? Of course, many of you do, and sometimes they can surprise and amuse you with some of the questions that they ask, or even in the way that they uniquely understand a Biblical concept.

I have worked with children for over 20 years, and have taught them over 10 years at the current church where we serve. But one recent Sunday, I got a question from an 8 year-old that caught me by surprise and made me chuckle (on the inside). Her question was: “Isn’t there such a thing as a good sin?”

I wanted to immediately exclaim, “No, no, and a thousand times, no!!!” But I smiled at her and calmly and patiently tried to reason with her, from the Bible, that God does not like sin, and ALL sin is bad! I shared the Gospel with her and explained why God’s Son had to die on the cross to pay for our sins (she seems to have a “head” knowledge of salvation, but only the Holy Spirit knows, and I will continue to talk to her about our Savior).

Even with the mindset of some adults, there are probably those who think, like my young student, that maybe there is such a thing as a “good sin”. Also, how many of us have ever tried to justify (at least in our own mind) that some sins God only winks at, and others He takes very seriously? If we are not careful, we can all have our own internal judgment systems, where we classify sins as good or bad or maybe somewhere in between. Again, as I told this precious child, ALL SIN IS BAD!

Here are a few examples of when a “good” thing can become a sinful thing:

An innocent conversation with a friend can easily turn into gossip and masquerade as a prayer session.

Eating something we love can easily turn into stuffing ourselves to the point of gluttony and we convince ourselves that we are “satisfying a harmless craving” for our favorite food.

Having a daily schedule filled to the brim with charitable activities on our “to do” list can easily turn into an excuse for not spending time with the Lord in Bible reading and prayer.

The list could go on……………… In the few examples above, some might go so far as to think that no sin has been committed, and the end result is permissible.

A very simple definition of sin from a Bible dictionary is: “Lawlessness or transgression of God’s will, either by omitting to do what God’s Law requires or by doing what it forbids. The transgression can occur in thought, word, or deed.” Hence, ALL sin is bad since it is against God.

Just in case we ever forget how very serious sin is, may we gaze upon the cross and be reminded of the ugliness of sin, no matter what form it comes in. It cost our Precious Savior His very life to pay a debt that we owed, but could never pay!

“He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.” 1 Peter 2:24