Do you agree with the author's opinions on sin?

Use this forum to discuss the December 2020 Book of the month, "Wilderness Cry: A Scientific and Philosophical Approach to Understanding God and the Universe" by Hilary L Hunt M.D.
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Maddie Atkinson
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Do you agree with the author's opinions on sin?

Post by Maddie Atkinson »

The author seems to believe that many of the sins in the world are man made, rather than divine law. For example, sex before marriage, or polyamourous relationships, are wrong in the eyes of the Church, however, the author believes that these sort of things are not wrong, as sex, food, shelter, love etc. are all the bare essentials that humans need to survive, just like any animal, it is up to us to do with these things as we will, they are not possible to control. We are not superior, we just have a superiority complex leading us to believe that we are better than all others. Therefore, the author comes to the conclusion that the only sin in the world is selfishness, especially in the way that the Church preaches equality bus has enough money to end world hunger, yet keeps that money for less important things, like more buildings. So I guess what I am trying to say, is I agree with the author that sins are man made and are used to control the population. What do you guys think??
"I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence" - Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars)
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Post by Sushan Ekanayake »

Totally agree with the author. We can think about our legal system and understand that. Initially there was no such system. When someof the things that people did disrupted the society, people got together and prohibited them to be repeated making those laws, and for those who break them, they invented the punishments. But it could not be done for each and everything. So few knowledgeable ones found a better way. Religious manipulations. They named few things as sins and prevented others from doing them due to the fear of a superior repercussion. As far as I see, that is how a thing called sin has occurred in most of the situations
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Post by Maddie Atkinson »

Sushan wrote: 04 Dec 2020, 13:50 Totally agree with the author. We can think about our legal system and understand that. Initially there was no such system. When someof the things that people did disrupted the society, people got together and prohibited them to be repeated making those laws, and for those who break them, they invented the punishments. But it could not be done for each and everything. So few knowledgeable ones found a better way. Religious manipulations. They named few things as sins and prevented others from doing them due to the fear of a superior repercussion. As far as I see, that is how a thing called sin has occurred in most of the situations
I completely agree with you!!! When something was done that religious leaders did not like, they manipulated the Bible to use it as a way to prove that they were right. For example, what they did with homosexuality. Religious leaders in America wanted to advocate their opinion on it and push forward their agenda of homophobia, so paid for the Bible to be mistranslated from 'man shall not lie with boy' (so paedophilia) to 'man shall not lie with man' (homosexuality). It is a complete manipulation to fit with the political agenda of the few, thereby making it a sin, which is selfish. Sins are completely man made to fit different people's agendas.
"I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence" - Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars)
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Post by mariana90 »

I do believe a lot of the sins are man-made, like the ones you listed. However, I don't think all of them are. When Jesus says "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself", he's pretty drawing a line in regards to Christian behavior: anything we do that purposefully harms others is a sin.
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Post by Maddie Atkinson »

mariana90 wrote: 05 Dec 2020, 22:46 I do believe a lot of the sins are man-made, like the ones you listed. However, I don't think all of them are. When Jesus says "thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself", he's pretty drawing a line in regards to Christian behavior: anything we do that purposefully harms others is a sin.
I do agree that there are some sins that are common sense, such as the one you said, or thou shalt not murder etc. but the ones that are no common sense are clearly those that are man made, because you have to think about them and some of them are so weird and convoluted. So yeah, I agree with you!
"I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence" - Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars)
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Post by mariana90 »

Maddie Atkinson wrote: 06 Dec 2020, 06:31 I do agree that there are some sins that are common sense, such as the one you said, or thou shalt not murder etc. but the ones that are no common sense are clearly those that are man made, because you have to think about them and some of them are so weird and convoluted. So yeah, I agree with you!
Absolutely. That's where the manipulative part of religion comes in. And the reason why lately a lot of people are distancing themselves from it.
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Post by Guda Lydia »

I agree, sin mostly stems from selfishness and the need to feel superior. The churches priorities are also scrambled focusing on fortune and money. 'the gospel of wealth'. The author just has a blunt and direct way of putting it.
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Post by Juliet+1 »

I think the author's point was that "selfishness" is a sin because when you are thinking only of yourself you are not "loving your neighbor as yourself." He believes there are only two commandments -- love god and love your neighbor as yourself. And "your neighbor" is pretty much everyone else in the world. It's a tough standard to live up to, but it makes a lot more sense, I think, than a collection of detailed rules about what's okay and not okay.
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Post by readsbyarun »

Well I don't fully agree with the author's opinion. As there are many other things in the world that are being considered as sin whereas the true sins are overlooked.
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Post by Sou Hi »

I agree that sins are born from humans' mindset and used to control those with less knowledge and awareness.

When mankind first gained intellect, there were no concepts of sins. They lived together, ate together, and slept together. Lust was not a crime back then, as they could mate with anyone and how many people they wanted. Pride did not exist, because everyone was equal; everyone was neither superior nor inferior. Greed, glutton, and laziness were unknown matters, as they shared with each other everything; they ate what they wanted and slept when they pleased. With no conflicts, there was no reason to get jealous or angry.

Nonetheless, as mankind started to evolve, many personal issues began to show. I think this was the reason they felt the need to establish laws, as it's required for a society to remain stable. Still, as time passes, people's mindsets change. Things that were considered immoral back then can be seen as normal nowadays, such as free sex, homosexuality, drinking, gambling, or owning personal properties. Even murderers are no longer sentenced to death unless they committed severe crimes. So, I would say it's entirely up to humans whether an action or thought is a sin or not.
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Post by InStoree »

I think that the author tries to highlight selfishness as the mother-sin from which the other sins derive and at the same time, a selfishness that acts as an antonym of love. I agree that "loving your neighbor" through the grace we have received from God is a viable solution to many of the human problems, both minor, daily and major, that can make a difference in the future, and human nature has the ability to fulfill it.

But, from what I understand, the author's theory refers to evil as part of God's creation that emphasizes His perfection, and although man has extracted from this core of evil other sins such as greed, arrogance, or domination, evil remains essentially God's masterwork. In my opinion, Dr. Hunt draws a line between man's ability to twist the divine words into self-interest (selfishness again) and the acceptance of evil as an essential and necessary part of the good.
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Post by spencermack »

I agree that a lot of these things that were once considered sinful have changed as out morals and lives have grown and evolved as a society. It interesting to see how the author has chosen to frame their idea of sin vs how we as a society have set our moral standards.
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Post by Saint Bruno »

If selfishness is the only sin in the world, it goes to show that the author's arguments works against his stance. This is because being promiscuous shows selfishness, just as it is with one not respecting their boundaries. I understand the author's arguments but don't agree with his delivery.
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Post by Luluwa79 »

Maddie Atkinson wrote: 04 Dec 2020, 12:29 The author seems to believe that many of the sins in the world are man made, rather than divine law. For example, sex before marriage, or polyamourous relationships, are wrong in the eyes of the Church, however, the author believes that these sort of things are not wrong, as sex, food, shelter, love etc. are all the bare essentials that humans need to survive, just like any animal, it is up to us to do with these things as we will, they are not possible to control. We are not superior, we just have a superiority complex leading us to believe that we are better than all others. Therefore, the author comes to the conclusion that the only sin in the world is selfishness, especially in the way that the Church preaches equality bus has enough money to end world hunger, yet keeps that money for less important things, like more buildings. So I guess what I am trying to say, is I agree with the author that sins are man made and are used to control the population. What do you guys think??
I agree to disagree with the author. Sin is disobedience to the law. Sins are man-made but like the author said, "it is up to us to do things as we will, they are not possible to control". But I think sins are possible to control it just takes determination and self-control.
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Post by Maddie Atkinson »

Luluwa79 wrote: 11 Dec 2020, 02:48
Maddie Atkinson wrote: 04 Dec 2020, 12:29 The author seems to believe that many of the sins in the world are man made, rather than divine law. For example, sex before marriage, or polyamourous relationships, are wrong in the eyes of the Church, however, the author believes that these sort of things are not wrong, as sex, food, shelter, love etc. are all the bare essentials that humans need to survive, just like any animal, it is up to us to do with these things as we will, they are not possible to control. We are not superior, we just have a superiority complex leading us to believe that we are better than all others. Therefore, the author comes to the conclusion that the only sin in the world is selfishness, especially in the way that the Church preaches equality bus has enough money to end world hunger, yet keeps that money for less important things, like more buildings. So I guess what I am trying to say, is I agree with the author that sins are man made and are used to control the population. What do you guys think??
I agree to disagree with the author. Sin is disobedience to the law. Sins are man-made but like the author said, "it is up to us to do things as we will, they are not possible to control". But I think sins are possible to control it just takes determination and self-control.
Sins are definitely possible to control, but I think that there are certain sins that are not necessary, they are made by the Church to try and control people and make sure they follow their doctrine. Trying to control a person's basic instincts are impossible
"I decided a while ago not to deny myself the simpler pleasures of existence" - Augustus Waters (The Fault in Our Stars)
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