Do you believe that the concepts of SIN and EVIL are a man-made religious concepts used as
a guilt inducing means to control the masses and making them subservient to a religious authority? Or do you strongly believe that sin and evil exist in ACTUALITY and REALITY?
Yes. All that is perceived or imagined by Man is defined by Man. Such definitions will adhere to the needs and ambitions of the individual, tribe, group or society and will evolve into an ethical or moral code for the benefit of that individual, group or society.
As perfection does not exist, so too, good and evil do not exist as constants and exist, by human definition alone, to best serve the definers, us.
Religion was the precursor to creating governmental laws for the masses.
Without religion or man made rules we'd likely be like every other animal in nature following our instincts. In the animal kingdom there is no "right' or "wrong". There is no such thing as "sin", "evil", or even "monogamy".
It's an "eat what you kill world" and only the strong survive!
It's doubtful any animal lays awake at night feeling "guilty" about anything it did during the day. In fact I'll go as far as to say we teach our children love.
All across the globe you can hear parents (in the background) on phone calls "coaching their toddlers" to say; "I love you grandma". For the child those words have (no meaning) whatsoever!
We teach children to "share" and "stand in line to wait their turn" and to "apologize" for hurting someone's feelings. Empathy is also taught: "Imagine if you were in her shoes. How would you feel if...etc?"
Having said that religion with it's heaven versus hell concept in addition to being told that "thinking a sin" is the same as committing a sin it's no wonder people either give up on religion or they're constantly begging for forgiveness and seeking approval. Ecclesiastes 7:20 KJV
"For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not."
Anyone is welcome to believe whatever they want to believe but it's a mistake to fall in love with the "messenger" or believe everything you read or hear. It pays to study the history of a religion and how it evolved over time. Corruption and manipulation of the masses is not something new. The biblical canonization process was very interesting.
I've often wondered how people came to believe that 'god' actually wrote the various books of the bible. The fact is that these books were written and chosen for inclusion by various people. A 'god' did not stretch a finger down from the sky and ...
Very true! A lot of folks act as though there were no corrupt ministers and prophets during "biblical times". The fact that there was a "process" to decide which books to include/leave out is an admission there was a "slant" to control the masses
Ppl have told me that the texts that were ommitted were not true...likely story of the ones who put the books together. Their aganda anyone? Oh do not ? authority they yell at me. Or you will go to hell if you read them for Urself. Hogwash!
I've heard the "decision makers" didn't like what was written in some books. The Book of Enoch has an interesting storyline for why it's not included. In the Alphabet of Ben Sira (Lilith) was Adam's "first wife" created at the same time. LOL!
Well the scriptures are inspired by God , his thoughts transmitted to men of his choice where his spirit of power worked with them to write. down his thoughts, not hard to believe, because we all are transmitting through the Internet as we speak,.
Yes, I believe evil exists,and denying it gives it power to flourish. Sin in Spanish simply means "without"....as in acting without your better half ;-) Evil,on the other hand, is a power onto itself,and preys on the human race. It lives outside of us,unless we invite it in.And,its ways are quite devious and deceptive. The keys to defeat it have been given to us: But we must follow the rules! And hardly anyone wants to do that.We'd rather give in to emotion and me me me me me. Look at evil as "a man with wealth and taste"....who wouldn't want that...
I believe that humans are (for the most part) inherently moral, so I think that without religion we would still see a vast majority of people living moral lives. I think that the word "sin" sort of just tries to define immoral behaviour that already exists, and then they add some arbitrary and pointless rules in as well just because they can. I think that "sin" should be specific to things that actually harm others and not nitpicky about sexuality, speech, what people do with their own bodies, etc. But that's where the element of control in religion comes in.
I don't believe in evil - I think that the "evil" we see in people can be traced back to mental health.
Religion arose as humans began to understand life, death and civilization. Intelligent (relatively) persons expounded their concepts in effort to teach others in their society. At some point someone determined that religion could be used to influence behaviors and the concepts of sin and evil were born. These concepts evolved as religions evolved and are an artifact of religion. Religion is a truly man-made concept. There is no real connection to actuality.
I like to argue that sin and evil represent a religious view of behaviors going against the advancement of humanity. That is, evil and sinful behaviors happen when humans allow their base animal instincts to override the civilized behaviors that promote advancing civilization.
Reference Bible
Mt 7:14whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it. Notice the path that leads a person to the true presence of the Heavenly Father is cramped, have you heard this saying you cramp my style ! Which simply means , limeted, the world through religion has done it all, and allowed it all done saying do what you want and God will forgive you. Man also says pay money and God will forgive you, break his laws and deal with it later, Sad ! But misleading infomation. Remember man was born in error , he only uses 1% of the entire brain capacity. So man following man many times end up in false steps and untruths that will lead many away from God's approval.
Since the bible is the inspired word of God , that makes the infomation that is provided from a higher intelligence, the one who explains our existence and beginning. And very important our future , we do not need some one to read letters made for our instructions making it some one else job to inform us of how to keep living and be happy.
Sad people pay people for something they can read and learn for them self free ,so many times people are mislead and not by forced they follow willfully.
it is a convenient for them and their lifestyle
if someone agrees with them meaning the clergy ,even if it is wrong from God's point of view they say you can get around it.
you can not ! God does not change , he is perfect in everything he does, it is man who uses his free will in a good or bad way.
Also who really created the words man and woman, the many names of animals, why is the moon called a moon , and sun , sun,
man did not and could not explain their beginnings.
But the infomation had been provided through the bible.
Why do you ALWAYS pull from that Bible that is not complete? Things were good way before that Bible even existed. Evil is only what men's thoughts are. God is Within you and it is what you have in your heart
So you would say to Jesus why do you always pull from the bible? " Jesus himself said at Matthew 4:4 But in reply he said It is written " Man must live , not on bread alone , but on every word that coming out of God's Mouth " the bible is his mouth.
do you believe that killing someone morally wrong? or do you mind if someone comes along and kills you because they think morality was started by some man fore sake of control?
Sin by definition in Bible = transgression of God's law.
God's law is to protect man's relationship with God and with each other.
So if you believe in God it will be important to you. If you don't believe in God, then you don't mind. Black and white with no gray in between.
If you believe in God then you won't mind His religions authority as Creator. Our breath comes from Him.
If you don't believe in God, then you won't mind giving up your breath when some other human wants to take it.
This is what I believe. I in no way intend to force it upon anyone else. Consider it for yourself and let's move on. I defend you're right to believe as you will.
This is a general response intended for no one intentional person.
have a great day.
God doesn't have a religion...men do for the simple fact of mass controling others.
Both are mental concepts and as such, they do not exist. They are conditioned states of mind. If you go to outer space, all kinds of activities are happening. Creation and destruction takes place everywhere. No one complains about it. It is only humans on this planet that have the problem. Because they want to cling to people and things. Whatever happens, simply happens. And letting go will happen eventually, one way or the other. It is neither right nor wrong, good or evil.
its your loss and u are welcome to it.
have a great day.
Good and Evil exist everyday in our lives,
crime against another human being is evil, taking another's life because he can and holds the power is evil. There are many examples, but on the other hand goodness supplies us with necessary things of life
If you only live in the physical life mentality, then you accept the conditioning. But if you look at higher wisdom, it is an illusion, and it will pass too. Everything disappears into nothing upon a close examination. How can nothing be evil?
But "nothing"is everything,so your intention matters.Since we have consciousness--it must be for a reason.
To God the choices we make lead to record. dealing with our characters , rather we make it a practice of doing good, or a practice of acting out evil.
Which lead into a future of life eternal , man was made into the image of God which is something
i dont think so. there are and have been many government systems in place through history that have / do not run by religious authority that have "controlled the masses" just fine. i believe evil is real. most of the commentors here believe it too, even the ones denying it. i say this because past comments from these same people speak as if there is some objective morality. these same people want to talk about how evil god is, then turn around and say , evil is man made to control the masses. you know who you are. i would be very interested to hear that explanation. a good way to find out if you believe evil to be objective in nature is to take some accepted as evil in our society and add the phrase "just for the fun of it". then ask yourself is that wrong in all cultures at all times no matter what anyone thinks. for example. is rape wrong just for the fun of it? i say yes, in any circumstance. i therefore believe in an objective evil. what say you?
Yes, Grace, sin does exists, only in our Christianity we've made it sound to be a terrible thing. The result is that we mostly feel a deep sense of unworthiness and guilt as we get older or are approaching death. I am not in the blame game and I must say that even we in the Caribbean, with all our fervour, have inherited and do carry on with this persecution complex. We persecute our selves.
In some ways, we are all victims of temptations, indiscretions ...they dance on our foreheads, and we know, because from time to time we question our own hearts, never mind that of ours.
Now let us take a closer look at sin. Sin is a transgression against spiritual principles; (The Law) Sin is that which binds you; sin is an obstacle or impediment standing in the way of Light or Knowledge. Do you see how simple and straight-forward it is. This is a positive way of looking at things.
My friend says she fears God, and I say that I love God. I'm sure that she is as sincere as I am, but my approach is different. We can apply this same principle to sin and evil. When you know that something makes you weak: relationships, gambling, children, drugs ... weakness takes many forms, then it behoves you to walk towards what makes you strong (Light).
Still, I always say that it's all a process of growth. One does not suddenly jump from A to Z, not in the spiritual life. It is a slow and steady game. The mind room makes us weak, and the heart-room makes us strong. The darkness is foggy, and illumination gives us joy. Sin is that which makes you weak, and evil is it's sister or brother.
Still, if you talk to Billybuc and some very nice people I know here on Hub Pages, they will tell you that adversity was very necessary to them and shaped the lives that they live now. Ultimately, everything has a use and purpose.
Remember Paul? When I was a child, I understood as a child and I did the things that a child did, but when I became a man, I put away childish things. Still, that same life of the child was essential, and shaped our outer and inner growth.
Long answer, Grace, and perhaps I drifted a little. I'm a servant and I know only how to serve. The deep truth is that most people are aware of the spiritual life; of the discomfort and dissatisfaction that they feel within themselves, never mind that of others.
Let us do what our Lord has said. Work with what we feel inside, then what's outside will sooner or later take care of itself. In Love and Light.
Although evil and sin are written in the Bible more than I can count, it had always been used as an act of controlling man. Yes.. when we do something wrong, as stealing, the majority of people have been raised to see this as a sin. If we are sinful, according to the Bible, we are evil and condemned to Hell.
It was all written and created by man trying to control other men. As humans, we are and should be aware of what is right and wrong. If you choose to do wrong, that's free will. The only thing man can't control.. nor God.
I am a spiritual person, but I can't deny the fact that words are just that.. words. Evil, sin, good, bad, white lies.. dirty black hateful lies.. it doesn't make a difference if you're smart enough to understand what a thesaurus is, and how many words are derived from one word meaning similar meanings.
If you're religious, or spiritual, faith is what you need to hold on to. After years of things we see and learn, it'sall we have to show for who we are as an individual.
I agree and yet what I notice is that laws of what is sin or evil is based on what would only hurt us as humans, example lying only hurts those who practice it and the ones they use it on, sins are usually laws that effect us as humans not God.
Evil is undoubtedly a man-made concept. An asteroid aimlessly floating through the universe isn't doing something bad by striking a planet and killing its inhabitants. It's an inanimate object that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, for the planet it struck. We base our morality on survival and social consensus. And, the more we grow and advance, the more that morality encompasses.
Having said that, many religions have used guilt to push a certain agenda. They claim the moral high ground and argue/battle with those who disagree. The winner gets to define the new social norms for decades, or centuries, to come.
A concept that man can make a choice of action . If your neighbor commit s a crime against you , then what concept is that, it is not against God .it is against you.
People would like to believe that the meaning of evil is only in religion. NO!
I don't know, but man has been evil from the beginning of recorded history.
Humans don't have to be taught to be evil, it is their default state. They however, do have to be taught to be good, or at least reminded to be good.
by cblack 7 years ago
In Christianity, do non believers go to hell?What happens to the people that believe in another religion and another God. If the Christian God is the only true God, then are those people damned?
by James Q smith 14 years ago
Just a question, but it would seem if there really were no God, then Atheists couldn't exist. Is Atheism a religion? They definitely seem to be unified by a common belief.
by cooldad 12 years ago
My personal opinion is that, YES, most Christians believe in God out of fear. And that starts when they are children. When a child is taken to church and told that he/she will burn eternally in the fiery pits of hell unless they follow the rules of the Bible and God's word, that...
by PhoenixV 6 years ago
Why Don't Atheists Believe In God?
by nightwork4 12 years ago
Believers aren't suppose to judge others ,so why judge an athiest?it seems one hubber is going full out to make athiests look foolish on here by judging what an athiest thinks without actually thinking before they question. is judging us ok because we don't believe?
by nightwork4 12 years ago
As an athiest, why do you think that religious people believe in god?to me it is about fear. fear of dying and knowing it's over, fear of being responsible for your wrongs without having satan to blame for an influence. basically fear. why do you think they believe?
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