Since "sin" is a religious concept and based on religious rules, those with no religion cannot "sin", right?

Question

Throwing a hammer on the floor may be a sin to Thor, but if you don't believe in Thor what is the difference? What you call sin, is only so in your belief system. There are better, non-religious, terms for what is socially or morally unacceptable. He who is without sin, shall cast the first stone and the local atheist knocks em all in the head. Religious people have sin, non-religious have faults. The blind cannot see, but truly pitiful are those who will not see. Try to make any answers at least somewhat sensible please.

Since when did the question get changed to include crimes? Murder, assault etc. are not "sins" they are crimes. Some people grab for any straw available I guess.

Answer 1

Nice to see someone with some common sense around here.

The religious fools and their "sins" mean nothing to me because it's all based on a book that people from long ago wrote to control people, especially women.

They'll come in here and say that our laws were predicated on the Bible. Well, what about the Code of Hammurabi (spelling may be off there)?

There's so much more out there than what they're spoon-fed by their preachers. I guess it's easier to be spoon-fed than to research for themselves.

I'm glad to see another person eating of his/her own accord. :)

Answer 2

As an atheist I don't believe in the existence of invisible or imaginary 'gods' swooping about in the sky keeping a note of what everybody thinks, says and does, 24/7.
It's just a silly and childish notion.

This whole sin concept is a xian control thing.
Every transgression has a punishment and according to them ignorance is no excuse – everyone’s going to hell unless … blah blah blah.
They hold the hell card over everybody’s head as though everybody should be fearful of what happens after we die.
I'll tell you what happens - nothing.
The brain stops functioning - the lights go out.
Of course, most xians are beaten over the head with Pascal's Wager - what if?
Nah. Won't work.
I looked every where for god in both war and peace and he's not introduced himself to me and there's no evidence that he even exists although there's plenty evidence that randomness and chaos exists.

Richard Dawkins: A universe with a God would be very different to one without.

Answer 3

The words "sin" , "wrong", "bad" are moral terms. Whether one believes in the Guardian of the Universe or not, one is always confronted with moral or immoral choices.

ETHICS is the branch of philosophy that studies the GOOD. All philosophical systems, religious or non religious, have ethical concepts. In faith-based philosophies, the good is what God tells us. In the reason-based philosophies, the good is what helps us live and improve our lives. Everything that impede us to live or diminishes our quality of life is the BAD.

From ethics we derive moral codes that tell us how to choose to act and behave. If it is bad for someone to cheat me or rob me, it is logical that it is bad for me to do that to someone else. This is an example of a rational moral code.

If God says I must show that I love Him above everything else, and must fast for a week, or walk on nails, or kill the infidels, all these actions are moral because in a faith-based philosophy ethics defines the good as what God says it is good, not what reason dictates.

This is why the Bible, and many other "holy" books of ancient times are all filled with horror stories of violence, revenge, and torture all designed to follow the faith-based ethics that recognizes the good to be what the divine authority commands.

Answer 4

I would agree that "sin" is a religious term, most likely differing as a descriptor from one religion to another but fundamentally the same.

I'm not sure I would call killing someone a "fault", that would be a little mild in my mind, but if you were not religious, it would not be a sin. I've heard other terms used for acts against others or society..."person is morally bankrupt", they are committing "atrocities" etc. I'm sure there are many ways of expressing it.

Answer 5

well they might not believe that it is a sin, but most atheists believe in harmony, or cause and effect, and the idea of positivism and negativity. Everyone under a government is as well under its laws, and since most laws are based on ethics and the idea of good and bad then id say 'not to sin' is just a statement that is just same as being a law abiding citizen..

Answer 6

You have a point there. Some Christians would say that sin isn't a "religiously" defined thing (religion being man-made), but rather a God defined thing (therefore absolute no matter what a person calls it, or decides to believe), and my first instinct was to respond this way..... then I thought of the people who don't believe in gravity, and I realized that you may be right.

We don't meet alot of people who don't believe in gravity, but there's a good explanation for it. As soon as a person is "converted" to not believing in gravity, it no longer has a hold on them and they float away into space. And with the same logic, your disbelief in sin can free you from the consequences of sin...... right?

Answer 7

That's very true. That's why I think - just to speak from my own Christian background - if you read the gospels Jesus seems to indicate that it's our own words that judge us. In other words, we all have a conscience, even if one person's standard of right and wrong differs in scope or magnitude from another's, we still understand the basic concept. We all understand that we, in some way or another, OUGHT to do some things at some times, or OUGHT NOT to do things at other times. So it's not my place to judge where you fall short, it's my place to judge where I - and ONLY I - fall short.

Peace to you

Answer 8

if you think that, then you really are living in denial. No matter if you believe in God or not, sin is sin ,and God is God. So if a non-religious person rapes and kills someone, it is just a fault the person has. Come on , that is ridiculous.

Let us call sin, sin,let us call God , God, and let us repent of sin and turn to Christ for forgiveness of salvation, because when we face Christ , God will not differentiate between "faults"and sins.

Answer 9

i might might desire to assert that I even have experienced non secular Ecstasy, for the record ecstasy comes from the basis be conscious 'ex stasis' to stand outdoors oneself. With that definition in ideas i might say that I even have had countless such reports, ones that individuals ought to label as Out Of physique reports, close to dying adventure, previous existence memory, Astral trip, Oneness and likewise the bliss available to us for the time of altered states of information. All non secular phenomenon are confusing to describe, depict and share by using their very nature of direction. What i will say is that states of non secular Ecstasy might look alien in case you do no longer keep in mind having experienced them (all of us have at some time had one so a methods as i'm worried) yet while they are happening we exchange into conscious that they seem to be a element of our frequent state of being, our own comprehensive human nature. at times they go away us extremely joyful, at times stricken, yet consistently surprised.

Answer 10

No. In the eyes of God, believers and non-believers who have done the same act, both commits sin. Say, both committed adultery, or lied, or killed somebody, both are guilty socially and morally. Truly pitiful are those who do are not blind but do not see