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As an atheist I don't believe in the concept of sin.
I just believe that people should respect one another, be nice to one another and not hurt one another or other animals.
The Golden Rule basically.
As long as people live by this I'm basically good with how people live their lives.
I can't remember the thread or the poster now but I noted the other day an atheist using the term 'sin' as though it were a thing, presumably a remnant from a past history as a Christian.
I'm interested to know if other religions other than Christianity hold with the concept of sin?
For once I didn't find wikipedia particularly helpful on the subject. It's a bit vague from the perspective of religions other than Christianity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sin
Please no meanness / prosthelytzing or lecturing me or anyone else that they are going to hell for being an atheist in this thread. That's so missing the point.
Otherwise please contribute from an educational perspective. Thanks.
I subscribe to a magazine called The Sun. It has a lot of good writing--essays, poetry, fiction--often on controversial subjects, including spirituality.
One of the essays once approached "sin" as our inability to reach our full potential, to be all we were meant to be. I found that an interesting and useful perspective.
... I noted the other day an atheist using the term 'sin' as though it were a thing, presumably a remnant from a past history as a Christian.
I'm interested to know if other religions other than Christianity hold with the concept of sin?
Within Christianity, even, there is a lot of variation in how sin is defined and regarded.
As you doubtless know, the most basic definition of sin is "missing the mark" where "the mark" is the goal of being as holy and perfect and sinless as god himself is said to be.
By that definition you need a monotheistic god who is omnibenevolent and blameless. And that means pretty much the Abrahamic god.
So it's not surprising that Islam has a similar concept of sin. In Islam sin is seen as "anything that goes against the commands of Allah" which is just a hyper-authoritarian take on "missing the mark" which, in fact, many fundamentalist Christians would probably comfortable with (other than of course changing Allah to god).
A key difference though is that Islam teaches that sin is an act and not a state of being. This is very different from conservative Christianity which is focused heavily on "original sin" and on believing the correct things rather than doing the correct things.
Both religions have the concept of repentance (changing one's mind about one's sinning and agreeing with god that it is sin) which is the gateway to god's forgiveness. But to my knowledge Islam lacks any doctrine similar to the notion that there is a salvation "experience" which once and for all establishes a right relationship with god and cancels all sin, even future sin. Belief in god is not seen by Islam as a magic antidote to sin or the "sin nature". Constant vigilance and repentance is needed, and being in a repentant state at the moment of death is very important if not in fact the only thing that matters.
Both religions see sin therefore as a "thing" in a sense ... a stain or mark that you are always trying to be rid of.
It looks like Buddhism for the most part denies the concept of sin although some sects have a concept similar to "the unforgivable sin", which is a short list including murdering one's mother or father; these kinds of things result in "immediate karmic disaster".
The two links I cite here were found by the Google search "sin in x" where x is the religion. Maybe that will help dig up some more info for you.
With Christianity Jesus will remove sin by forgiving the person and also removing the curses , which haunt peoples will to stop sinning and Jesus will also remove demonic interferences which help people sin , , as sin is a spiritual authority for the demon unseen celestial spirit .... Like people who smoke tobacco are under a curse from demons who will contently get people to light up again and again, where Jesus spirit removes this spirit and people can quit but it still could be a fight with the demons as Jesus needs faith to remove the demons who come right back , but it is better than no help in the spirit...
Usually the teaching and roots of non pagan religions believe in the concept teaching against sin against God and the soul which come from the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacobs , which carry on to Jesus and Christianity and Moses with Jewish faith , and Mohammad and Islam which come with blaspheme rules that contradict each other belief .................Other faiths like Hindu have belief of no sin which condemn the soul , and Buddha faith with does not believe in a sovereign God but a natural belief so sin may not be strong ......... Still most have their rules of ethics just like philosophy , but the damnation of the soul because of sin may not be part of religion out side the God of Abraham ........ See God through Jesus attribute is just , so justice will be important , then some will have itchy ears and never hear the truth
I'm interested to know if other religions other than Christianity hold with the concept of sin?
Sin exists in Judaism as well, although we differ greatly from Christianity in several areas.
For us, failing to follow any of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) that apply to us is a sin. Failing to give tzadakah (often translated as charity) to the needy is a sin. Being hateful to others is a sin. Being dishonest in business is a sin. Failing to keep kosher is a sin.
But we don't hold that anyone other than us are required to follow our laws, and we don't believe in eternal punishment for committing a sin; we rectify the situation by making it right with anyone we have wronged, by teshuvah (atonement), and by altering our behavior to keep from doing the action in the future.
Depending on how you define "sin", I'd say that just about every belief system is going to some concept of it.
Sin exists in Judaism as well, although we differ greatly from Christianity in several areas.
For us, failing to follow any of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) that apply to us is a sin. Failing to give tzadakah (often translated as charity) to the needy is a sin. Being hateful to others is a sin. Being dishonest in business is a sin. Failing to keep kosher is a sin.
But we don't hold that anyone other than us are required to follow our laws, and we don't believe in eternal punishment for committing a sin; we rectify the situation by making it right with anyone we have wronged, by teshuvah (atonement), and by altering our behavior to keep from doing the action in the future.
Depending on how you define "sin", I'd say that just about every belief system is going to some concept of it.
SIN is willing thinking or doing something one knows is wrong or against something one knows is right, against rightness.
Voice of conscience will always warn one on this matter.
There are inside and outside sins.
Inside sins are sins against one's body. Sins against one's thinking.
Outside sins are sins against nature. Sins against bodies of others. Sins against thinking of others.
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