Christians: What's the difference between you sinning and a non Christian sinning?

Question

Christians: What's the difference between you sinning and a non Christian sinning?

Answer 1

Nothing, other than that I'm forgiven...I know of no place in scripture that states that when a sinner comes to know Christ they cease to be human...

We SHOULD want to live our lives as pleasing to God...What's wrong with keeping His Commandments?

Joh 14:21  He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Answer 2

knowing the difference.

Answer 3

no difference at all.. tell me why would there be?

Answer 4

Sin is sin. The only difference is that one repents, the other does not recognize sin as sin and  does not see a need to repent.

Answer 5

When a Saint sins it is  a bigger grief to God. A Saint sins against his nature and therefore it is a worse sin than for a sinner to sin. When a sinner sins he is just doing according to his sinfull  nature.  God expects sinners to sin but Saints he expects to follow his commandments .  If we  Saints stumble and confess, he is faithfull and just to forgive us, but sinning is not our nature .This is where I disagree with many other Christians. Many say we are just sinners saved by grace. No we are SAINTS  saved by grace. Once we are truly saved we are no longer sinners , we are Saints. No sinner will enter into the kingdom of God .    

Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind, Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.1st Corinthians 6:9-10

Answer 6

Nothing!  God sees us all, equally.  If we repent of our sins, this is what He sees.  We are judged, according to our works, upon our demise.

Answer 7

there is no difference.  

Answer 8

none....

Answer 9

The indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit within the Christian will convict the Christian when he sins.  We learn to hate our sin.

The non Christian does not have this conviction.

Answer 10

I have been pardoned from the penalty of my sin, and the unbeliever hasn't.

Further, as I grow in Christ, the nature of my sins will change; I won't be committing the same old sins from before.

Answer 11

Interesting question...

My first thought was that when I sin, it represents a missed opportunity to earn a reward from God for serving him.  When a non-Christian sins, it is just another sin.

Then I started thinking about the difference between positive and negative reinforcement.  With my son, I have two basic choices for teaching him to obey me...I can punish him when he disobeys or I can reward him when he obeys.  If I use punishment (time out, spanking, whatever), then he learns to avoid forbidden behaviors...if I use rewards, then he learns to seek out opportunities to earn a reward.  

Most parents know that they need to use both...punishment to make the child accept the authority of the parent and reward to encourage positive choices.  ...and once a child recognizes and accepts that the authority of the parent, there is seldom any more need to use punishment and the appropriate parenting strategy becomes positive reinforcement.

God pretty much did the same thing with human beings...the threat of punishment for sin is designed to make us recognize and submit to God's legitimate authority...but once we do that, he shapes our ability to make the right choices by using the opportunity for reward (store up treasures in heaven).  

Because I accepted what Jesus said as the truth, I also accept that God no longer uses the threat of eternal punishment with people that have truly yielded to his authority.  

...ah, I think I have it...the real difference between a Christian and a non-Christian sinning is that the Christian knows that it is sin regardless of the apparent outcomes, and the non-Christian judges whether it was a sin (or a mistake in the case of people who don't believe in the concept of sin) based solely on the outcomes!  Furthermore, the Christian knows that God has already forgiven them for every mistake...the non-Christian has some level of fear that at least one sin they've already committed is unforgivable by a just God.  Even if they don't recognize that fear, it is there...removing the motivation to seek his will and perhaps even interfering with their ability to even acknowledge his existence.