Sin is a man made concept. Not from a 'devil'. We all are born with instincts: Selfishness, sexual needs, anger, love, hate. When these instincts are not balanced or kept in check we break social taboos or 'laws'. imo
i think i disagree with your claim that we are born with these instincts. are babies selfish, angry, and hateful? i think that children are taught to hate and have other negative "instincts" inadvertantly. there are so many things that influences a child's view of what's right and wrong. for instance, so many kids watch tv. on tv, they see shows that promote hate and selfishness and anger and then they start to accept it as just a part of life.
All that comes when the baby learns who it is that is hungry, it doesnt know when it is born. So to the extent there is no psychological concept of 'me' when the baby is born, the entity that is the baby is born with those instincts
No. These things are a part of your brain. Some people have a more or less active area controlling specific emotions or behaviors. You can take an fMRI of someone getting angry and see that they're getting angry. Babies DO feel these emotions, or strong precursers to these emotions. Of course, you can strongly shape who you get by what you expose them to. But that doesn't change the fact that these emotions and behaviors are natural functions of the human brain, and you can't do away with them by not teaching them.
I´ve thought of this before, and I agree. edit: well.. I don't believe in ¨sin¨. But I do agree that what people have dubbed sin comes naturally to humans. (as well as animals, but when animals do it, it apparently doesn't count as sin)
It is not sin but the idea of sin itself which is incredibly harmful. Without it, there would be no sin at all, we would not be striving for some far off "salvation" whilst all the time constantly sinning. We underestimate how harmful ideas such as these are to mankind. Christianity and Judaism placed man at the centre of the universe saying everything was created for him. This separated him from nature and began the corruption in us. We no longer view ourselves as part of nature, and cannot do so, and this "fall" represents the end, not the beginning of man as the bible would like to have it.
Exactly! The Bible needs re-written. For example, the Tower of babel story. The story of the people with different languages not being able to work together. The lesson is divisive and teaches exclusion. The story needs to tell of co-operation and people with differences co-operating and inclusiveness. Thats jut one story of many that religion uses to divide people.
From a man's viewpoint, what you say seems reasonable but it's just not the Bible's viewpoint and thus not God's viewpoint.
Why distinguish? Because all three are not the same. (Mark 8:33) “Get behind me, Satan, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men.”, shows from a Bible standpoint that the thoughts of man and the thoughts of God are not the same thing.
Sin came from man, as did the Bible and the idea of God. Then the bible's standpoint, and your quote, is the (or I should say "a") standpoint of man. If it were not, we would have no way of understanding it, or god. I disagree. Why keep them in check? Man is an animal, a beast. When these instincts which we are born with, and are naturally interested in fulfilling, are oppressed by laws and customs, we turn them inwards because there is nowhere else to go. Then comes self-violence - and the concepts of sin, guilt, morality etc... This is basically the origin of the Fall.
And theres also The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. Selfishness is part of survival instinct. Greed can be good, greed and competiveness get things done, create a higher level of efficiency All things in moderation, too much of anything is a bad thing
Aren't we losing something by subjugating the facts of greed and selfishness to a "higher" goal like getting things done, or efficiency? We don't need to justify facts of nature with man-made ends.
Yes, sin did come from a man. But God and the bible did not, to think so is man's viewpoint not God's.
If you strictly mean that just because I said it, it is a man's viewpoint, Okay. But it is possible for a man to agree with God's viewpoint and thus have God's viewpoint on a matter. Thus if one disagrees with God, he does not have God's viewpoint and is expressing man's viewpoint.
