A Bit Deeper--The Nature of Sin

Just so you all know, I'm in the middle of tests and final papers. Usually, I wouldn't be waxing poetic about the nature of sin. However, here are some thoughts.

There have been several questions plaguing me this semester. Specifically, I have been pondering questions around the nature of suffering, evil, and sin. While I have spent a good deal of time defining what I do not believe, I was having trouble coming up with what I do believe. More specifically, these culturally and theologically loaded words had so many meanings, getting to the basis of my own beliefs meant slogging through the beliefs of many others.

I realized that until I wrestled with the nature of “sin,” I could not begin to wrestle with the nature of “salvation.” After going through several drafts, I came up with four beliefs I hold about the nature of sin. They are in no way comprehensive or a finished draft. Rather, they are a jumping off point for deeper theological reflection.

1. When we preference a few people at the expense of many, we sin.
2. When we are psychologically, mentally, physically, or emotionally violent, we sin.
1. Violence includes violence towards the earth
2. Exception to this belief is when violence is used as self-defense, which is a whole other discussion
3. When we ignore or deny another’s Divine spark in the way we treat them, we sin.
4. When we ignore or deny our own Divine spark in the way we treat ourselves, we sin.
   

Defining “sin” is proving trickier than I expected. For every definition, I thought of an exception as well as an area which was not covered. For example, when writing that we sin when we are violent, I thought about the atrocities of rape and domestic abuse. When one person manipulates and violates another with violence, they are sinning. However, I would not call a rape survivor a sinner for fighting back.

At the same time, the definition of sin is not wide enough. One does not have to do violence to sin. On the contrary, sin can be loving and kind. When I worked at a children’s museum, I met countless mothers who drove SUVs, had the most expensive strollers, and used disposable baby bottle liners. Even though they were polluting the environment, supporting sweatshop labor, filling our landfills, and generally had a standard of living well above 95% of the world, they were doing this out of love for their child and a concern for their child’s safety and well-being.

Furthermore, it seems that when we can make a group the “other,” when we can distance ourselves and our identities from people in such a way that we fail to see them as human and a part of the larger Divine, we can commit the worst of crimes—genocides, lynchings, racism, murder, abuse, etc… When we distance our mind from our body or our soul from our passion, we can commit the worst of crimes against ourselves. When we fail to recognize our own Divine spark, we injure ourselves.

In retrospect, I ask the question of myself again—From what do we need to be saved? From ourselves? From lives of ignorance? From self-absorption?

I ask myself, what can save us? Perhaps the answer is...us?