Sin

A Sistine Chapel fresco depicts the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the garden of Eden for their sin of eating from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.

Sin, in religion, is an act that violates a known moral rule. The term sin may also refer to the state of having committed such a violation. Commonly, the moral code of conduct is decreed by a divine entity, i.e. divine law. Sin may also refer to refraining from action or simply desiring to act in violation of a moral norm. Fundamentally, sin is rebellion against, or resistance to, the direction of supreme authority, and enmity toward, avoidance of, or hatred of the good. Sin may also refer to something within human nature that has a proclivity to sin.

Sin is often used to mean an action that is prohibited or considered wrong. In some religions (notably in Christianity), sin can refer not only to physical actions taken, but also to thoughts and internalized motivations and feelings. Colloquially, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, shameful, harmful, or alienating might be termed "sinful".

An elementary concept of "sin" concerns acts and elements of mundane earthly living that one cannot take into transcendental living. Food, for example, while a necessary good for the (health of the temporal) body, is not of (eternal) transcendental living and therefore its excessive savoring is considered a sin. A more developed concept of "sin" deals with a distinction between destructive (deadly) sins (mortal sin) and the merely dishonorable (harmful) sins of careless human living (venial sin) frequently tolerated by societies as a whole, or even encouraged by various cultures (e.g. those college fraternities and sororities notorious for their parties). In that context, mortal sins (sacrilege, murder, mortal violence, devastating calumny, hatred) are said to have the dire consequence of mortal penalty, while sins of careless living (gluttony, casual or informal sexuality, constant play, inebriation, gambling) have been philosophically regarded by some as essential spice for "transcendent" living, even though these may be destructive in the context of human living (obesity, drunkenness, vagrancy, infidelity, child abandonment, criminal negligence). See Asceticism, Stoic philosophy, Epicurean philosophy, and Hedonism.

Common ideas surrounding sin in various religions include:

• Punishment for sins, from other people, from God either in life or in afterlife, or from the Universe in general.
• The question of whether an act must be intentional to be sinful.
• The idea that one's conscience should produce guilt for a conscious act of sin.
• A scheme for determining the seriousness of the sin.
• Repentance from (expressing regret for and determining not to commit) sin, and atonement (repayment) for past deeds.
• The possibility of forgiveness of sins, often through communication with a deity or intermediary; in Christianity often referred to as salvation. Crime and justice are related secular concepts.

Bahá'í faith

In the Bahá'í Faith, humans are considered to be naturally good (perfect), fundamentally spiritual beings. Human beings were created because of God's immeasurable love for us. However, the Bahá'í teachings compare the human heart to a mirror, which, if turned away from the light of the sun (i.e. God), is incapable of receiving God's love.

Buddhism

Buddhist ethics is consequentialist in nature and is not based upon duty towards any deities. It is founded upon compassion for all sentient beings and upon the duty to cause their happiness and to prevent their suffering. The well-being of all sentient beings is seen as an end-in-itself and not a means towards any transcendent end. Buddhist ethics therefore closely corresponds to secular ethics and there is no Buddhist equivalent of the Abrahamic concept of sin. Buddhism recognizes a natural principle of Karma whereby widespread suffering is the inevitable consequence of greed, hatred and delusion. Buddhism therefore seeks to end suffering by replacing greed with selflessness, hatred with compassion and delusion with wisdom.

Christianity

In Western Christianity, "sin is lawlessness" (1 John 3:4) and so salvation tends to be understood in legal terms, similar to Jewish law. Sin alienates the sinner from God. It has damaged, and completely severed, the relationship of humanity to God. That relationship can only be restored through repentance unto Christ and acceptance of Jesus Christ and his death on the cross as a sacrifice for mankind's sin. Jesus Christ states in Matthew 22:35-40 what Christian Law is.

• 35 Then one of them, [which was] a lawyer, asked [him a question], tempting him, and saying,
• 36 Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law?
• 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
• 38 This is the first and great commandment.
• 39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
• 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

In Eastern Christianity, sin is viewed in terms of its effects on relationships, both among people and between people and God. Sin is seen as the refusal to follow God's plan, and the desire to be like God and thus in direct opposition to him (see the account of Adam and Eve in the Book of Genesis). To sin is to want control of one's destiny in opposition to the will of God, to do some rigid beliefs.

In the Russian variant of Eastern Christianity, sin sometimes is regarded as any mistake made by people in their life. From this point of view every person is sinful because every person makes mistakes during their life. When a person accuses others of sins they always must remember that they are also sinners and so they must have mercy for others remembering that God is also merciful to them and to all of humanity.

Islam

Islam sees sin ("khati'a") as anything that goes against the will of Allah (God). Islam teaches that sin is an act and not a state of being. The Qur'an teaches that "the (human) soul is certainly prone to evil, unless the Lord does bestow His Mercy" and that even the prophets do not absolve themselves of the blame (Qur'an).(Quran 12:53)

Judaism

Judaism regards the breaking of any of the divine commandments to be a sin. Judaism teaches that sin is an act, and not a state of being. Sin is any thought, word, or deed that breaks God's law by omission or commission.

Shinto

Within Shinto there is no doctrine of sin, rather good and evil are conceived of in "aesthetic terms, likening them to straight and curved lines". Matagatsubi, the curved spirit, causes "evil deeds and any misfortune or disasters" by creating imbalance, distorting the "straight and clear". Evil deeds fall into two categories in Shinto: amatsu tsumi, "the most pernicious crimes of all", and kunitsu tsumi, "or more commonly called misdemeanors".

Atheism

Atheism often draws a distinction between sin and an ethical code of conduct. As the term is generally associated with theological belief, atheists do not typically use the word.

Bibliography

• Hein, David. "Regrets Only: A Theology of Remorse." The Anglican 33, no. 4 (October 2004): 5-6
• Schumacher, Meinolf. Sündenschmutz und Herzensreinheit: Studien zur Metaphorik der Sünde in lateinischer und deutscher Literatur des Mittelalters. Munich: Fink, 1996

External links

• The original source of this article at Wikipedia
• Hamartiology (Philosophical Theology of Sin)