There are a few doctrines I either never accepted or took a selective view of. I was raised a catholic, and spent a good deal of my childhood in the church. I was told that I was a sinner. I was told eating meat on Friday was a sin, swearing was a sin, beating up the neighbor boys was a sin. So now that I left the church I decided to look up what sin was.
There is the first part of sin, which is to do wrong, or that which causes harm to others. By this stealing is sin, murder is sin, etc. and I endorse this idea. However the idea of infinite punishment for this is abhorrent. The idea behind correction of any wrongdoing is justice, equal payment for any wrongdoing. Catholics of course don't have an issue with this, since we believe in purgatory. You pay for your sins and then they are absolved. For some Protestants they seem to believe in infinite punishment for finite crime, which is by definition unjust.
The second part of sin is "that which is contrary to the nature of an ideal being." This is irritating and somewhat absurd. Some of the sins under this category include eating, sleeping, breathing. This holds that you are damned simply for living. You are damned for eating, which is necessary to prevent starvation, which is sinful if you can get food to sustain yourself as suicide. You are damned for the pain that you caused your mother at birth, and damned for the nourishment you take. This category also contains "thought crime." Since an ideal being does not feel joy, lust, anger or wrath you are damned for this as well.
Then there is the third and most repulsive form of sin, original or inherited sin. This states that you are responsible not for any action of yours, but for the action of others who you had no say in and never knew. This idea is repeated over and over again. You are held culpable for the crimes of others committed before you were ever born. You are held as culpable for the crimes of anyone else anywhere. Your moral standing is affected not by your own actions, but by the actions of others over whom you have no control and no say. This is deplorable.
I spent a good deal of time buying into at least some of this idea of sin. But as I have gotten older I have rejected it. It is a disgusting and immoral doctrine and one of the dogmas which I heartily reject.
There is the first part of sin, which is to do wrong, or that which causes harm to others. By this stealing is sin, murder is sin, etc. and I endorse this idea. However the idea of infinite punishment for this is abhorrent. The idea behind correction of any wrongdoing is justice, equal payment for any wrongdoing. Catholics of course don't have an issue with this, since we believe in purgatory. You pay for your sins and then they are absolved. For some Protestants they seem to believe in infinite punishment for finite crime, which is by definition unjust.
The second part of sin is "that which is contrary to the nature of an ideal being." This is irritating and somewhat absurd. Some of the sins under this category include eating, sleeping, breathing. This holds that you are damned simply for living. You are damned for eating, which is necessary to prevent starvation, which is sinful if you can get food to sustain yourself as suicide. You are damned for the pain that you caused your mother at birth, and damned for the nourishment you take. This category also contains "thought crime." Since an ideal being does not feel joy, lust, anger or wrath you are damned for this as well.
Then there is the third and most repulsive form of sin, original or inherited sin. This states that you are responsible not for any action of yours, but for the action of others who you had no say in and never knew. This idea is repeated over and over again. You are held culpable for the crimes of others committed before you were ever born. You are held as culpable for the crimes of anyone else anywhere. Your moral standing is affected not by your own actions, but by the actions of others over whom you have no control and no say. This is deplorable.
I spent a good deal of time buying into at least some of this idea of sin. But as I have gotten older I have rejected it. It is a disgusting and immoral doctrine and one of the dogmas which I heartily reject.
