I Corinthians 8: Subjective Sins?

Can an action be sinful for you, but not for me?  Or is a sin a sin, regardless of the context?

Here's my view: Paul seems to be saying that you sin if you do something innocent - but believe in your heart that it is wrong.  Violating your conscience is itself a sin.

The case in point is food sacrificed to idols.  Paul is saying that those who are knowledgeable about such things know that there really are no "gods" and therefore the offering is just food - it isn't anything tainted spiritually.  It can be eaten with a clear conscience.  BUT - some people, perhaps still under superstition, believe that the food really has been sacrificed to an idol and that they are engaging in idol-worship by eating it.  For one person, eating the food is no big deal and certainly not a sin because they know it is merely food.  But for another person, who eats the very same food, only against his conscience and feeling guilty about it, is actually sinning through his action.

And here comes the really important point that Paul wants to make to the Corinthians: the first person who wasn't sinning against his conscience when he ate freely could still be guilty of a sin against a weaker brother because he has injured that brother's conscience.  In other words, that action of eating idol-meat can become sinful again, not because the food is somehow spiritually tainted but because the action is.  You're dragging a brother into sin against his conscience because of what you are doing.

A modern-day example may be alcohol.  Some well-meaning Christians are sincerely convinced that all alcohol is bad and a sin to drink a drop.  Yet it would be difficult to argue that absolute position biblically.  In my opinion, a Christian can drink alcohol in moderation and not sin.  However, to do so in front of a weaker brother, or to cajole someone into drinking also because "it's not a sin" (when it really is to them) may itself be a sin like that described above, where we are wounding their conscience.

The moral of the chapter is to not lead anyone to sin against their conscience, even if the action is, by itself, non-sinful.

The debate really gets interesting when you start considering what specific actions may be permissible and which are truly sinful - and which ones are sinful only because of weak consciences!