"Never say that you are a sinner," Yogananda went on to tell us. "You are a child of God! Gold, though covered over with mud for centuries, remains gold. Even so, the pure gold of the soul, though covered for eons of time with the mud of delusion, remains forever pure 'gold'." "To call yourself a sinner is to identify yourself with your sins, instead of trying to overcome them. To call yourself a sinner is the greatest sin before God!"(EXCERPTED FROM the InnerSelf.com article: Love is the Key by J. Donald Walters).