I’m headed off to Washington, DC, for a couple of days, to stay with a Quaker friend. No, we’re not going to do any protesting against the Iraq War (we did that in March), we’re just going to hang out for a couple of days.
While I’m away, I’d love to know your thoughts on sin and evil. I’m really interested in any comments you may have on this topic. I’ll also share the specific questions I’ve been considering:
- Is there a difference between sin and evil, and if so, what is it?
- What feeling or emotions do you associate with sin? — with evil?
- What is the worst sin you have ever seen or experienced (no personal revelations needed, you can speak in general terms if you like)?
- In your opinion, what is the biggest evil that exists today (again, no personal revelations needed, you can speak in general terms if you like)?
Polished theological treatises on sin and evil are fine, but what I’m really hoping for is more in the lines of brainstorming:– raw ideas, feelings, thoughts, musings.
And here’s a special invitation to those of you who never post comments, an invitation to chime in, and write a little something. (This Web site averages more than 3,000 unique visitors a month, and less than one percent of you write comments!) If it’s your first time commenting, remember that your comment may be held for my review, so don’t panic if it doesn’t show up right away.
See you again on August 15….
On the topic of ‘sin’, i don’t think i can sum it up any better than Bertrand Russell:
“The conception of Sin which is bound up with Christian ethics is one that does an extraordinary amount of harm, since it affords people an outlet for their sadism which they believe to be legitimate, and even noble.”
Such a mindset is often exhibited in the local and national debates over immigration reform. Those who oppose reform base their argument almost entirely on the fact that “these people are ILLEGAL!” They have such a difficult time getting past that childlike concept of “you broke the rules, so we, the righteous, must punish you”, never taking into account how we could possibly round up 15 million people, detain them, give them hearings, not to mention the families and communities which would be destroyed in the process, the mess it would cause in our agricultural industry and food supply, and our international reputation becoming even more tarnished than it already is.
So whether the “sin” involves Biblical law or civil law it seems often to leave the accuser in a state of mental paralysis. And that ain’t good for any of us.
Sin is the behavior that is condemned as unlawful by the Church. It makes you feel bad. And you get rid of sin through confession and blessing. Then you feel good. Until next time.
I haven’t thought about sin and evil since my CCD days! In those days it was easy to define both sin and evil because the Catholic Church defined it for you!
Sin to me seems more difficult to describe; it seems personal somehow. What I think of as a sin may not be the same to another person. Evil, however, is on a grander scale and deliberate in nature. To me, evil is the act of hurting a person (including other living creatures) mentally, physically and spiritually over and over. The evil person who is acting out does not feel remorse but joy in the act of giving others pain. Serial killers come to mind when I think of evil.
It’s weird that I don’t think about sin anymore; it used to occupy a lot of my thought space. Not sure I have any use for the word in any capacity. I hear it used most often in reference to food, and I definitely don’t like that.
As for evil, it feels like a word that’s full of emotion and judgment. When I hear “evil,” I think … unfathomably despicable. In order to describe something as evil, you’d probably have to believe or feel that you yourself are incapable of that act. That’s what immediately comes to mind, at least.
How about The Seven Deadly Sins of Unitarian Universalism? A few ministers have preached on that topic. My effort was published in the Church of the Larger Fellowship’s Quest last year…you can find it here if you’re interested: http://clf.uua.org/quest/2007/03/index.html .
I’ll be interested to see where you go with this, Dan…I’ll probably be preaching on “evil” this fall.
A year ago I was driving too fast on a country road. By “Too fast” I mean too fast to be safe. I knew it, but just like to drive fast. I’m a good driver, so wasn’t worried about going too fast. I could, i thought, handle any unforseen circumstances. Unfortunately, as I came up over a hill, a small beagle puppy ran in front of my truck. I swerved, braked, but to no avail. I killed the puppy. That, to me is a sin.
That is: I knew what I was doing (speeding) was wrong, and wrong in the global sense — that my speeding could have unintended calamitous consequences. But, with no small amount of hubris, I kept speeding. And, as a result of my speeding, I hit and killed a puppy.
To make this act evil, I believe I would have had to intentionally aim for and hit the puppy. That, I think, is evil. Intentionality is the difference.