I grew up going to church but I’m not religious now and I never really understood this part.
Please, no answers along the lines of “aha, that’s why Christianity is a sham” or “religions aren’t logical”. I don’t want to debate whether it’s right or wrong, I just want to understand the logic and reasoning that Christians use to explain this.
God doesn’t tell us not to sin because he’s trying to boss us around. God tell’s us not to sin because sin is it’s essence, self destructive and contrary to our own good. We can be forgiven ultimatley upon our death and go to heaven, and also live a miserable life because of our own sin here on Earth. Note that this does not mean, that if you don’t sin (very difficult i hear) that you won’t have issues in life. It rains on the just and the unjust and we live in a fallen world that is ravaged by sin. It’s just that we can remove a large portion of the problems that are self inflicted by living in an upright way.
Hope that perspective helps