Do thoughts = actions?

Are my thoughts basically the same thing as my actions? Typically we would say no. We don't act on many of our thoughts. But you could say that's only because many of our thoughts never find the perfect 'just right' situation to act in. So every thought is an action under the right circumstances.

That would mean sin = a morally flawed thought, instead of sin = a bad act. This actually makes Jesus Christ's sacrifice a lot easier to understand. On the cross Jesus took on and paid the penalty for our morally flawed thoughts rather than our bad actions. God swapped our morally flawed thoughts with Jesus' perfect thoughts; God didn't swap our bad acts for Jesus' perfect acts.

I think this is the Bible's view of what 'sin' is, check out 1 John 3:15 and Matt 5:27-28.