Admitting You're a Sinner

[John V]

A doctor might say, "You are 30 pounds overweight. You ought to try to lose some weight. 30 pounds is about how much you need to shed. Here is a diet and exercise regiment that will work, but you may find others that work as well." I think this statement encapsulates my secular approach to morality (I am a moral objectivist, btw). 

This analogy doesn't work well.

First, you can lose weight, and that pretty much makes up for gaining the weight in the first place. Not necessarily so with sin. You can't un-murder someone.

Second, we know that some people can lose weight and keep it off. However, I've never met anyone who was capable of going without sin for the rest of their life.

Your and Steve's example kind of encapsulates a relationship to "the doctor" (a bit of allegory here): "Hey, RR, glad to see you, bud. Always a pleasure to have you in my office. Hey, I gotta tell you something: your fat! Lol! But it's okay, you're still one of my favorite patients. I have this one method for weight loss that I give my patients. Follow it. It works. Once you lose the weight, you'll be much better off."

With regard to sin, their is just one method.

So far so good. I prefer the secular doctor's approach to morality, but, hey, I'm an atheist. I can see value in the latter approach. The problem for me is that the religious approach exists on a continuum. On the one side of things are theists like you, Steve, and, CL... but there other ways to interpret the "doctor's orders"....

"Hey, RR, you are a worthless fatass! Right now, I see you as a disgusting, obese monstrosity of a human being. You are disgusting. Your dad is disgusting. Your dad's dad is disgusting... it runs in the family. And you inherited it. I'm not even going to think of you as a serious patient until you accept that you are a worthless fatass who needs my weight loss plan. You don't need to lose the weight for me to respect you as a patient, but you do accept that my weight loss plan is the one true weight loss plan of them all. Once you do that, you're in the clear. And, meh, follow it too if you feel like it." 

The secular approach exists on a continuum as well. There are plenty of people who will tell you you don't need to lose the weight at all - you're fine the way you are. And there are some who will tell you - directly or indirectly - that you're worthless unless you're thin and beautiful.