Sin

Today I have been considering the topic of sin.

In Christianity, the moral authority is based around the concept of sin. I looked up the definition and it says, "An immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law. A sin in the eyes of God." The entire goal of a Christian is to avoid sin. Sins are sins because they are acts of wrongdoing against God. Sins are not wrong because they may hurt another person, they are wrong because God said not to do it. 

So much emphasis is placed on avoiding sin and sinful behavior and Christians feel compelled to try and correct (out of love) and condemn people who are committing or living in sin, according to the Bible. This act of condemnation is curious when you take into account that the entire purpose of the alleged resurrection of Jesus was to wash away the sins and transgressions of the world. Or wait, maybe they meant just of Christians? Jury is out on that one...

Anyway, I was thinking about the correlation between sin and morality. In Christianity there isn't a distinction between the two. In fact whether or not something is moral or not is dependent on whether or not it is considered a sin against God. And again, it is not a sin or immoral because it hurts another person, a sin is a sin because sky daddy told you not to do something and you did it anyway. 

Now, secular morality uses a very different set of criteria to determine whether or not something is right or wrong and it has everything to do with harm an action causes. Harm to other humans or to animals or to the planet. Those are the things that define secular morality. We don't cause harm and if we do, we need to face the consequences for our actions. 

Coming to terms with the entire concept of sin being fake news, I am having to rebuild my perspective a little bit. Even though I have been a leftist for the majority of my adult life, there have still been things I have thought about in terms of sin. I am working on letting it go, but my entire upbringing was peppered with teachings about sin. Deleting that concept from my psyche will take some time, but it is just one more thing that contributes to the feelings of freedom and liberation. 

Sin is make believe. Be a good human.