The concept of sin reconsidered
Underlying topic(s):
- By John Eagles, August 18, 2006.
This page is part of an ERW course, Divine Principle. - See also: Can sin be inherited
In the modern world many of us reject the notion of sin. The concept is seen as connected to putting upon us heavy loads of feelings of guilt. Those using the word sin usually want to tell us that we all are sinners and therefore we should repent and join a religious group and fulfill our duties there.
That's not the understanding of sin that i have. But is it necessary to reject the idea altogether? I believe not. The word has an original meaning that though largely misunderstood is still very useful.
Religious people, i mean individuals with a desire to connect to the Creator, have a feeling for what is right and what is wrong. They also believe that God created the universe and that this universe stands under a set of laws and principles that were also created by God.
I believe in a God who wants the best for us all. We can see God's love and beauty in the splendor of nature as long as man didn't intervene there and mess it up. All of nature cannot but obey the laws and principles that God has put into it.
There are also laws and principles for all free beings. Free beings include humans and also angels and other spiritual beings. While the beings and things of nature quite automatically follow the natural law, people have freedom to choose for a certain way of life. At each moment in our lives we stand for a choice to do one thing or to do another thing. Basically the choice we make could be steered from what is deep inside us or it could be directed by something that comes from the outside.
Deep inside us is a heart of love and a mind that makes us want to give out love to others and to do what is good for others and for ourselves. That heart of love deep inside of us is what connects each of us to God. You could even say that to find God we firstly should dive deep into ourselves. Each of us can find God in him- or herself. The presence of God in our soul is reflected by what commonly is called a conscience.
Not everyone has the same conscience. Very often the conscience of a person is fed by rules and laws that were set up by religions and societies. Though such kind of conscience may work to keep us on the rails of the course that the world around us expects from us, this conscience is not necessarily entirely original and connected to God. Therefore, instead of speaking of the conscience in general, i prefer to speak of an original conscience, meaning that part of our heart and mind that contains the original laws and principles as installed by the Creator.
Sin understood in the original meaning is that we do something that deviates from what our original conscience tells us to do. I said 'do' but in reality sin is not restricted to acts of our body. Sin can also be to desire something, to think something, to feel something, to plan something that is not in line with the original conscience.
When someone sins, he or she does something, or desires, feels, thinks, plans something that separates them from the principles of how you are built and for how you should function. Through sinning you separate yourself from God who made these principles.
Remember that sin understood in this way could really have little or nothing to do with the norms and rules put upon us by the world around us. Sin just means to live in such a way that you harm yourself and others in some way.
When one understands sin in this way, it doesn't make you feel guilty when you know you did something wrong. The laws and principles made by the Creator were made for the best of each of us and so when you sin, you harm others and yourself. When you really understand the nature of a sin, you automatically don't want to do it anymore. Then you don't feel guilty but you just want to make things in order again.
When someone makes a rule that you shouldn't touch a hot furnace, you wouldn't feel any objections against such a rule once you understand that this rule is really only for your own benefit. The laws and principles that God installed in the cosmos are of such a nature that they are for the good of all of us. To get to know these laws and principles means to learn how to live in such a way that we develop in a prosperous manner. How could anyone who really understands these principles have anything against them?
The word 'sin' has been misused very much by religious authorities to make the members of their religions come under their control. Rather than rejecting the idea of sin altogether i prefer to find back the original meaning of the word.
In some coming blogs i will still inquire other meanings of the word sin and try to answer some questions such as whether sin can be inherited, how it can be solved, etc. I will also make an attempt to explain sin as a transfer of certain energies and examine how these energies are brought from one person to another.
