Are Sin and Temptation the Same Thing?
No, but they are related.Perhaps the simplest way to explain the difference is to use a metaphor - imagine you're on a road trip with a guidebook telling you the correct way to reach your destination, and as you're driving along, you come to a fork in the road. The guidebook says to take the road on the left, but you turned down the road to the right anyway.
In that metaphor, the Bible is our guidebook, the fork in the road is the temptation, and choosing to take the wrong road is the sin.
You see, a temptation is nothing more than an opportunity to sin. For something to be a sin, you must choose to take that opportunity.
For whatever reason, some Christians don't make this distinction, and that's a very serious theological mistake.
Just think about what this would mean.
Shortly after Jesus was baptised, He left His disciples and spent several days in the wilderness. During this time, Satan visited Him and tempted Him three different ways. This is such an essential part of Christ's life that it's mentioned in three of the four Gospels (it's found at Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:9-13, and Luke 4:1-13). It also regularly appears in church services and Christian art, so it's safe to say that every Christian has likely heard of this event.
Now, the story doesn't end with Satan visiting Jesus. The important part is that Jesus rejected all three of Satan's advances.
But if sin and temptation are really the same thing, then it doesn't matter whether Jesus said yes or no to the Devil. By simply being approached by Satan, Jesus sinned at least three times.
That's a major problem, because If Jesus wasn't sinless, then His work on the cross was pointless, and so is Christianity.
Of course, I highly doubt that anyone who claims that sin and temptation are the same thing wants to disprove their own religion. It's more likely that they never thought it all the way through or were never taught it properly to begin with.
Remember: if Christianity is the Truth, then it shouldn't have contradictions. If you find one, check to make sure you've understood everything involved - you'd be surprised how much there is to learn.