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Is believing in sin a good thing?
The sixth post in the series on Christianity — the Good, the Bad and the Ugly. This first part of the series focuses on the good or the benefits of selected beliefs consistent with traditional Christianity. A reminder: this series does not focus on the truth or falsity of beliefs, but of their benefits to believers––or at least perceived benefit to one believer. Another reminder that this series will include thoughts on the bad and ugly aspects of Christian belief before turning to the central question of the now and coming reformation of this historic faith.
This defends the proposition:
It is better to believe in human sin than to believe there is no such thing as sin.
In 1988 a well known psychiatrist wrote a controversial book titled Whatever Became of Sin? In the 34 years since that book came out, sin has disappeared much further. We don’t talk about it, preachers avoid preaching on it, for all I know it may be considered some form of hate speech. Maybe the mere thought of it has been banned.
As for me, I am glad to believe in sin. The eminent French scientist Pierre-Simon Laplace supposedly told Napoleon that he had no need of God to explain how the universe worked and the emperor is said to have responded, “that’s too bad, it explains many things.” That is my response to sin and its loss. We have lost…
