by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
The discussion may explore a particular sin, with some arguing that Jesus never called it a sin. However, when one points out that Jesus did condemn it by supporting the Law and then sending the Spirit to guide the apostles who condemned it, the argument goes in another direction.<\/p>\n
Taking all the Scriptures on that topic, it is clear that it was a sin and still is a sin. In a last desperate effort, the other side resorts to, “Well, you sin too” and “he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone.” This is supposed to allow us all to continue in whatever sin we want to continue in.<\/p>\n
There is so much that is wrong with this argument. If I am a thief and you are an adulterer, we don’t get to use the argument that “all have sinned. Therefore we all get to continue in our particular sin” (Romans 6:1ff).<\/p>\n
When a specific sin can be identified, we must repent of each sin. We are not allowed to use the “don’t throw stones” argument to protect our own sins. The man who had his father’s wife in I Corinthians 5, could not protect his sin by firing back with “he that is without sin let him cast the first stone.” He could not hide behind that statement and keep his father’s wife.<\/p>\n
Jesus did not make the statement about throwing stones to protect the woman in her sins. He told her to go and “sin no more<\/em>.” The point He was making to the woman’s accusers was that they did not do what the law said regarding bringing such cases up for the death penalty. They did not bring the man and, therefore, were hiding sin and protecting some sin, perhaps themselves who knew just when and where to catch the woman in the adulterous act. Therefore, they could not bring just the woman and cast the first stone. All were to repent of sins.<\/p>\n This case has been abused to protect sin. When we sin specifically, too, we are all commanded to repent, confess our sins, and try harder not to keep sinning. We cannot protect our sins by saying, “Oh well, we all sin.”<\/p>\n Abhor what is evil! (Romans 12:9). Be honest enough to explore what God says about a particular sin, identify it in yourself, and then repent and seek His forgiveness. Don’t seek to protect it.<\/p>\n We will stand before the Judge for our own sins, and He has told us some specific practices that will definitely keep us out of heaven if we continue in them (I Corinthians 5-6; Galatians 5:19f). Don’t deceive yourself!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Terry Wane Benton The discussion may explore a particular sin, with some arguing that Jesus never called it a sin. However, when one points out that Jesus did condemn it by supporting the Law and then sending the Spirit to guide the apostles who condemned it, the argument goes in another direction. Taking all…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[608,179],"class_list":["post-84192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-excuses","tag-sin"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50242,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-we-continue-to-live-together-and-have-sex-are-we-still-in-sin-if-we-are-planning-to-get-married\/","url_meta":{"origin":84192,"position":0},"title":"If we continue to live together and have sex, are we still in sin if we are planning to get married?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have a question it lies heavy on my heart, and I have talked to many people about this and I still don't have a correct answer, since everyone's meaning and opinion differ from one another. But I would like to have the Christian way of doing it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17236,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-we-killing-the-old-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":84192,"position":1},"title":"Are We Killing the “Old Man?”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert F. Turner via\u00a0Guardian of Truth XXX: 18, pp. 551, 567, September 18, 1986 The Roman letter has at least five propositions, affirmed and proven by the apostle Paul: Man stands justly condemned for his sins; Grace, not law, is the remedy; This grace is expressed in the crucified\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/12\/cleaning-house.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":32659,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-doesnt-god-want-us-to-have-sex-before-marriage\/","url_meta":{"origin":84192,"position":2},"title":"Why doesn’t God want us to have sex before marriage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I really would like to know why God doesn't want us to have sex before marriage. What is His reason? It doesn't make sense to me. It's free will. We can all do whatever we want and sex is pleasurable. But what are his reasons? I don't have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56259,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/flee-fornication\/","url_meta":{"origin":84192,"position":3},"title":"Flee Fornication","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 26, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bob West Everyone can see that as the standards of morality decline in society, this has an impact on those who are children of God. That the practice of fornication has increased among young people in recent years, is a fact that few would deny. There are no \"magical\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/Flee-151x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":95211,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/your-article-on-the-sabbath-has-all-the-hallmarks-of-false-teaching\/","url_meta":{"origin":84192,"position":4},"title":"Your article on the Sabbath has all the hallmarks of false teaching","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 21, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I stumbled on your article about Sabbath and was left speechless. The article \"Was Paul a Sabbath Keeper?\" had all the hallmarks of a person more determined to twist the Scriptures in a classic example of \"But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39079,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/well-nobodys-perfect\/","url_meta":{"origin":84192,"position":5},"title":"Well, Nobody’s Perfect","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 19, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Download Audio Text: I John 2:1-6 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0At times a person sins and is caught. He has no regrets about his particular sin, except the embarrassment of being caught. He offers the illogical argument, \u201cWell, nobody\u2019s perfect.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It is illogical because it insists that sinning can\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84192"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84192\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}