Do you believe in sin? (page 4)

ballistic

Very true Green dawn - I believe in karma too. I've not comited adultery (while married) but I have done lots of other shit and let myself down many times. In the end it is you that has to pay for it. Sometimes though this education is the best one.

MsMcDucket

Churchland presents a moral paradigm as one of a naturally occurring set of rules, learned and adhered to as part of culture, and now is interwoven in the judicial system, using a set of useful rules and precedents, not unlike applying scientific principles to natural phenomenon because the rules work.[1] He equates religious law, the attempts of the egalitarian left to establish rights, and multiculturalism's attempt to establish a new set of laws condemning Western culture with the transcendental moralists trying to establish moral philosophy. Likewise, Wilson equates moral reasoning with natural sciences, based on its origin in our evolutionary past. He argues that either moral values are independent, whether from god or philosophical constructs, or moral values come from humans alone, from our very nature.[2] http://home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/mor.htm

Again, it is much easier to enforce moral indoctrination when everyone is involved in gossiping about each other, comparing who can be trusted and who will cheat, and generally using the social coercion of the group to enforce the rules--all long before religion could be established to instill the fear of god and punishment, another level of moral indoctrination added to tightly control the behavior of the group. But the more easily-indoctrinated humans had become with a higher intelligence, the easier it became for humans to succumb to a leader's demand for submission. Because even as we were becoming more intelligent, we were not changing in our obedience to follow.[5] Was the transformation then from a hunter-gatherer's social structure to an agrarian one where we finally bowed down to a master, one who would count the crops yield and each individual's share, after taxation? With its concomitant tyranny and oppression of the subjects, due to our need, our desire, to want to follow orders, our complicity in our own moral indoctrination has led us to the ultimate submission to central authority. It seems that when we realize how we have been duped by kings, tyrants, priests, and presidents, we may not have gained as much value from the our moral acceptance of rules as was once thought.[6,7,8] http://home.comcast.net/~neoeugenics/mor.htm

There is no sin. There is a set of rules set down by culture for individuals to live by. Religious people call it sin. Secular people call it immorality. Someone mentioned divorce and how it breaks up families. What if the couple has no children? Who would they be hurting if they were to divorce? Sin is defined by man in the form of religion.

jgnat

I think there is such a thing as evil. And there are people who do evil things. I distinguish this from "sin".

I view "sin" as breaking of a taboo, and as a few have mentioned, these can vary from culture to culture. For instance, when visiting a fundamentally Muslim country, it would be a "sin" to expose my ankles. In respect and knowledge of that culture, I'd do my best not to break any taboos. But people can be forgiven for ignorance or misunderstanding of "taboos".

Now, as for "acts of god" like earthquakes, tornadoes or tsunamis, I figure these things happen. I don't think God is leaning over the earth saying, "How much suffering can I dish out today?" Evil is not the same as bad fortune.

I believe there is such a thing as evil because there are a few things that are just plain WRONG. People who do WRONG for selfish gain are evil. For these people, I must believe there is an ultimate justice. One thing I consider WRONG for instance, is depriving a child of their best future. How can the older generation deprive the new? They will build on our foundation, we OWE them.

IP_SEC

Do you believe in sin?

No

Only creation and destruction.

Beneficial and harmful

Both are different sides of the same coin.

ballistic

I think a lot of people who replied are just using semantics. Just because we view "sin" as a religious term does not mean it cannot be applied in every day life. For example the taxes in Great Britain on alcohol and tobacco are known as the "sin taxes". Makes perfect sense to me.

MsMcDucket

For example the taxes in Great Britain on alcohol and tobacco are known as the "sin taxes". Makes perfect sense to me.

These things are called sinful because of what they do to your health and alcohol can cause inebriation. Ok, why don't you pay sin taxes on sugar, flour, lard, and salt. These things are notorious for causing diabetes, obesity, hypertension, etc...

During a diabetic crisis a person will appear inebriated and if this happens while the person is driving, need I say more? Same thing with hypertension leading to a heart attack, if it happens while the person is driving...

ballistic

Good point MsMcDucket, these things have the potential to be sinful as well.

jgnat

Can the thing be sinful, or is what we do with it that counts?

I remember some rather unusual activities with a cucumber at an apostafest a couple years back.

If it is not the object but the action, can it be generalized?

For example, is it "Drinking alcohol" or, "Dead drunk driving" or, "Operating dangerous machinery when your reactions are compromised" or, "Inconsiderate of others" the sin?

Does it matter if the "sin" is strictly personal or is it worse if it has the potential to harm others?

ferret

I believe in sin. How can you justify torture and murder or rape if it is not sin.

MsMcDucket

Can the thing be sinful, or is what we do with it that counts?

Do you know what happened to indians, blacks, aborigininies when this stuff was introduced into their culture?

Alcohol

Tobacco

Flour

Sugar

Lard

Salt

Alcoholism, diabeties, hypertension, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, and the list goes on...

Do you believe in sin?

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