{"id":1048,"date":"2010-06-01T09:32:52","date_gmt":"2010-06-01T14:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=1048"},"modified":"2010-06-01T09:32:52","modified_gmt":"2010-06-01T14:32:52","slug":"sin-and-wrongdoing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeroustalk.net\/?p=1048","title":{"rendered":"Sin and Wrongdoing"},"content":{"rendered":"

It occurred to me recently that perhaps the Christian \u201cget out of stoning free\u201d card might actually have a theological weakness. When asked why Christians no longer stone people for working on a Saturday, the response is usually that Jesus forgave sin an abolished the old law with his \u201cnew covenant.\u201d Theologically speaking that is at best only half right.<\/p>\n

I say \u201cTheologically speaking\u201d because in reality it is all make believe and doesn\u2019t make any real sense. But within the context of the narrative (i.e. The Bible) there ought to be some sense of consistency. Even though there really isn\u2019t any internal consistency, theologians continue to fake it.<\/p>\n

The idea is that since Jesus forgives sin (for those who believe), believers can sin but try not to because it is God\u2019s desire that they don\u2019t. But should they sin, they would not have to pay the penalty of being tortured for all eternity in Hell like everyone else because their sins have already been forgiven. The problem with this line of thought is that the term \u201csin\u201d is being used synonymously with the term \u201cwrongdoing\u201d and yet the two are not the same\u2026 theologically speaking.<\/p>\n

Sin is generally defined as something displeasing to God or some kind of spiritual separation from God. For example, God put the Ten Commandments (a list of \u201cthou shall not\u201d rules) in stone. These are things that displease God and so they are all sins. While some of them amount to wrongdoing, not all of them do. Thou shall not murder can rightfully be considered wrongdoing, but thou shall not have any others Gods before the Lord God is merely a sin. On the opposite side of the spectrum, rape is considered wrongdoing, but there is no place in the Bible in which it is stated that rape displeases God. So while rape is wrongdoing, it is not a sin.<\/p>\n

The main difference is that wrongdoing is a crime against other people while sin is just something that displeases God. It can\u2019t even be considered wrongdoing against God since you can do something displeasing to someone without doing them wrong.<\/p>\n

Where does this leave us? Well, theologically speaking, wrongdoing is not a sin. God only seems concerned with sin and not wrongdoing. Rape is wrongdoing, but not a sin. So there should be nothing stopping Christians from going around and raping people.<\/p>\n

Also according to the theology, Jesus didn\u2019t abolish the old laws at all. He just came to forgive the old sins. \u201cThe Law\u201d should still be in affect. While the law is considered God\u2019s law (i.e. sin) it is also man\u2019s law (i.e. wrongdoing) and so Jesus\u2019s new covenant does nothing to abolish that part of the law.
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\n\"Bookmark<\/a>