Is sinning acceptable?

1Jn 3:7  Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. 

1Jn 3:8  He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil. 

If you do righteousness you are righteous, as Jesus is righteous.

If you sin you are of the devil.

We've conditioned ourselves to believe sinning is acceptable and not something to be abhorred. Sinning is our lot in life, we might as well embrace it… wrong. Sin in all its many, many forms is to be despised. Sinning is ANYTHING that separates us from God.  Eve sinned when she separated herself from God. God wanted to protect Eve and Adam, humanity overall, from knowing evil. That one tree- that one test of faith- contained the fruit of sin. One bite of that fruit was all it took to unleash all the evil in the world.  One bite was all it took to disobey the Creator's command. One bite was all it took to remove instantaneously the light of righteousness clothing the couple. Why, so many ask. Why even have a tree, why put anything at all whatsoever around the created pair that could lead to such devastation? Why give them the opportunity to be tempted, why give them the possibility of sinning?  The tree represented freewill.  The couple was not set in the middle of an orchard full of evil trees so that everywhere they turned they were forced to face the tree. They were not starved of food so that the only food available to them was the evil food. They were not tied to the tree of knowledge of good and evil. They were made aware of its existence- a tree in the middle of a garden. Anyone who has ever been in a huge garden knows for a fact you don't see simply the middle of it, but so much more. The tree was symbolic of trust.  The trust was broken and evil was known. And all that evil that is known is sin and that sin separates us from God. You can call evil good all you want to, but it won't make it so. You can get a whole lot of people calling evil good, but still, it won't make it reality. Evil dwells in all sin, in all separation from God. We need to know that the separation has been repaired through Jesus Christ, but that repair isn't made up of a bridge of acceptable sins. That bridge is made of our Savior's innocent, sinless blood.

'What is the testimony of Paul’s conscience? It testifies that he has “behaved in the world . . . not by earthly wisdom but by the grace of God.” 2 Corinthians 1:12

Conscience in fact can testify to nothing else. What it contends for and insists upon in the believer is solely for that life to be lived by the grace of God and not by earthly wisdom.

Earthly wisdom is totally nil in God’s will and work. It equally amounts to nothing in a believer’s spiritual life. Man’s mind is altogether useless in his communion with God; even in his communication with the material world the mind occupies but a subordinate position. A child of God lives on earth exclusively by the grace of God, and grace implies something entirely done by Him, with men having no part in it (Rom. 11.6).

Rom 11:6  And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. 

Except as one lives exclusively by God—not permitting himself to take any initiative nor allowing his mind to have control over him—can conscience testify that he lives in the world in holiness and godly sincerity.

In other words, it operates together with intuition. Conscience bears witness to everything done according to revelation in intuition, but it resists every action which is contrary to intuition, no matter how compatible it is with human wisdom.

To sum up, conscience approves only the revelation of intuition. Intuition leads believers, while conscience constrains them to follow their intuition.

A good conscience which attests God’s good pleasure in the believer (since there is nothing between him and God) is absolutely essential to a life walked after the spirit. That attestation ought to be the believer’s goal: he should be satisfied with nothing less. This indicates what should be a normal Christian’s life: as it was the testimony of the Apostle Paul, so must it be with us today.'   Excerpt from - The Spiritual Man - by Watchman Nee.