Sin is its own punishment, devouring you from the inside.

There is no such thing as a sin, outside of what organised religions would have us believe, since a sin is defined as an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.  And who decides what constitutes a transgression against divine law? ~ Organised religions of course.  Come to that, who decides what divine law is anyway? ~ Organised religions of course.  And, just what’s so wrong with the forbidden fruit?  It’s only an apple martini.

Sin is an absence of God.  Nothing more, nothing less.  ~  Simon Mawer

In any event, if the religions are to be believed, all of us are sinners.

Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to cast a stone.  ~  Jesus Christ

Except that in Buddhism there is no concept of sin at all.

So, if all of us Christians are sinners, and sin is merely an offence against what the church thinks is right and wrong, what use is the concept of sin, when that self-same church is mired in decades of sexual misconduct and child abuse?  It seems that we cannot actually sin against other people, or ourselves, we can only sin against God.

Perhaps we should approach the idea of sin and wrong-doing from the other direction, and consider that each of us should have a strong code of ethics and morals, because these relate to what we personally believe is right and acceptable, as opposed to what is wrong and unacceptable.  Just what is moral conduct, and what is immoral, base, wicked, and evil?

Humanists, psychologists, and most people with an ounce of intelligence, know that our basic notions of right and wrong come from deep within our subconscious mind, and that human morality is not only a learned behaviour.  Human morality is to a large extent instinctive and stems from the idea of reciprocity.  So a man to a woman; ‘I wouldn’t like it, and I’d get jealous if you cheated on me, so I won’t cheat on you…..’  Hence the 6th Commandment; Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery.

There seem to be some basic notions of right and wrong, moral and immoral, which are common to almost everyone ~ however these notions of right and wrong are not immutable.  Right and wrong, moral and immoral, are not set in stone.

Thou Shalt Not Kill ~ unless you are a soldier fighting what you believe is a just war.

Thou Shalt Not Commit Adultery ~ that’s unless you are a swinger in an open relationship and your partner is cool sharing you with others.

It seems that there is no such thing as original sin, or sin at all, there is only a set of moral, ethical, value judgements.  Which have nothing whatsoever to do with God.

Some say that sin is too stupid to see beyond itself.  And that counting other people’s sins doesn’t make you a saint.  All I know is I’d rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints.

~

jack collier

jackcollier7@talktalk.net

this may be immoral

carnal and sinful

or perhaps not