You sin because you are coming short of the glory of god and they keep pushing all this to protect their precious doctrine of free will. It is sooo very important that you serve god all on your own and it be your decision only. You have to have "free will." You can also never measure up to the glory and righteousness of this magnificent waring beast whose sacred name most people cannot say.

They might scare you with hell but the fact that they do is not proof of non-belief if you sin. Their holy book says we all "sin and come short of the glory of god." To believe is to be caught in a trap. They also know that sin can be forgiven, so when you are caught in adultery it is OK. At least it is an all natural sin and not like tobacco or anything.

I used to live in this world and I got a lot of the above from active believers. Today I'm not sure I could even sit through a service.

There is no making sense of the insane....everything an xian does is "forgiven" forever all they need to do is drink geebush blood eat crackers call it gawd skin an jeehobah ghostholes throws us Atheists instead of them into hellfire in their well deserved eternal place that is no more real than the back dated calendar invented 800 years after the xmas virgin birth that never happened

Probably might be an idea to ascertain where these images of Hell come from. You will find that many of the graphic images were commissioned by the Church to support Catholic exegesis of the texts.

These images don’t exist in Judaism as far as I am aware so they are post Christianity. Not sure when they first arise but I am guessing post-classical.

I am sure one of our erudite art historians here could. clear that up.

Religion is full of contridictions in what will get you into heaven or hell. Another reason I left the dark side and started to think for myself. I have accepted that there is nothing after death. I agree with KKGator that religious faith is a mental illness. I'm glad I found the cure that mental illness over an year ago. We should live life to the fullest.

Well, given that there is no afterlife, sin is yet another make-believe concept.
Religious faith is a mental illness.
It is rooted in delusion.

Many are not true believers, but as others have said, Jesus also handed out UnlimitedRepent™️ when he did that thing in that fantasy novel.

I have a Catholic friend who loves to brag about how she could get away with anything if she only asks for forgiveness. Many people honestly believe that an omnipotent God could not tell the difference in genuinely feeling bad for an action and just not wanting to go to BadFirePlace™️.

But there is also absolution. Christians believe that a mere request for forgiveness provides a ticket to heaven.

Who is perfect? Religious and non religious people have moments of moral strength and weakness?

I think christianity's idea of a sinless heaven makes you think like that. Given the easy way out of having all your sins washed away if you believe in Jesus many take it. Other religions require followers to work at getting into heaven, atonement for their sins?

What would sad-masochists do?

It depends on which religious flavor we examine. Catholics believe in confession and penance to wipe the slate clean (and think there may be a final opportunity after death to make retribution via Purgatory). Many Protestants take a literal read of a couple of Bible passages to claim through faith alone lies salvation: "all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," and "I am the way, the truth, and the life; nobody goes to the Father but through me." Calvinists, I think, believe that the Book of Life has already been written, designating all who are headed for Heaven, so nothing anyone does can change the outcome.

I’m not a sinner saved by grace. I have done nothing wrong. I am a human (of the family of great apes), evolving, trying to understand my consciousness, trying to learn what it means to be alive. The Universe holds nothing against me nor anything for me. From the moment I was born the universe said very little. I lived under my family's rule until I was old enough to think for myself. I have been given the "right" (from a universal perspective) to pursue life, to pursue happiness, and to make myself at home on this planet. While the universe may throw up resistance at every turn, it does not prohibit me from trying. Those limitations come from other humans aka Great Apes.

Sinning is all the stuff the guys in power didn't want you to do because they were doing it. In addition sinning is easy and fun. It's also a money maker in that the catholic church sold indulgences to sinners to forgive them their sins. So the more you sinned the more money they made. Case in point, in Amsterdam in the Red Light District the oldest church is located. It's surrounded by windows with women behind them plying their trade. Locals or people come in to take advantage of the services offered by the ladies. Once they're done they go directly to the church to buy and indulgence to forgive them the sin they just committed.

Regarding being able to sin I think the people in power were betting that people just can't resist sinning because it's just that easy. Hell was a lifetime away when the object of your sinning was right in front of you.

Well, in Christianity, blame is put on the sinful nature of humans and a "the devil made me do it" mentality. And, according to Christianity all you have to do is believe in Jesus and you're good to go to heaven no matter how sinful of a life you have lived--or even what sins you continue to commit-- as long as you believe Jesus died for all your sins: past, present and future.

I think people who believe an knowingly "sin", do so because they think they can always confess and be forgiven. Hell fire is no deterrent when people think they have a get out of hell free card. That is why on a per capita basis believers are overly represented in prison populations, and why atheists are under represented. Believers think its OK to do wrong, because they can confess and be forgiven. Atheists don't have that way out. If they do wrong, they can't think of themselves as a "good person", simply by confessing. It may seem counter intuitive, but religion actually, in practice, undermines morality.