Three Bible teachers met together on one occasion to discuss the sin question; before they began their conference one of them suggested that they have prayer, and he led in petition for their guidance and blessing. This brother, a theological professor and a Christian noted for his holy living, contended that everything a Christian did was of necessity tainted with sin because it fell short of “perfection.” “Doctor,” one of the others asked, “is there not a difference between the sin we committed when we prayed together at the beginning of our conference and the sin I should commit if I were critical or bitter against you?” “Yes, there is a difference,” he replied (answering according to Scripture and his common sense), “but” (answering according to his theory) “it is a very dangerous thing to make distinctions between sins.” It is a disastrous thing _not_ to make distinction between these two things. With one stroke we would blot out the difference between light and darkness if we class together the act of a Christian who with a heart full of love pours out his petition in imperfect words for some needy one, and the act of a man who with his heart full of hate runs a dagger through the heart of that same needy one. There is the same infinity of difference between this “imperfect” prayer and the critical or unloving attitude that the praying Christian might later fall into. Turning from men’s reasonings regarding sin to the Word of God, we find these plain statements: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye may not sin” (1 John 2:1). Something had been written, then, which revealed the secret of keeping from sin as a present, practical experience for the child of God. “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (Rom. 6:1.) “What then? shall we sin, because we are not under law, but under grace?” (Rom. 6:15.) God’s answer to both these questions, which is just one question put in two ways, is the same: a strong, emphatic negative――“God forbid.” There can be little question in the minds of any that what John means by sinning in this first letter of his, and what Paul means by sinning in Romans six, is something that a Christian should not and need not do. He may be kept from sinning, in this meaning of the word. It may well be asked, what other meaning of the word is there? If we start out with the conception of sinning that makes every act of a Christian to be tainted with sin, do not the Scriptures become a real puzzle in their positive statements about keeping from sin? This supposed difficulty has given rise to an attempted distinction between “conscious” and “unconscious” sinning. Those who use these terms do not always have the same distinction in mind, but some refer to this falling short of “perfection” as “unconscious sinning,” adding that such sin needs cleansing but involves no guilt.