Is "Sin" absolute or is it relative?

Question

Murder is morally wrong. But why? Is it wrong in realtion to God only .... (Realitive)
Or is it wrong because it just is. (Absolute)

If you say that sin is wrong because God says so. Well then (if) God said that murdering people for fun was ok, would it be morally right? You might say God would never do that because it is wrong. But ohh ohh now you are implying that Sin is absolute.

So which is it????????????????

Answer 1

Sin is a social construct. It is culturally specific, i.e. in different cultures (including religious culture) different behaviours are considered sinful. 'Sin' is also historically specific, i.e. a different times different things are considered sinful. Take for example the consumption of alcohol, or the practice of witchcraft.

'Sin' is constructed to the perform a role of maintaining social boundaries and the ongoing socialisation of law abiding citizens. Erikson provides a good argument regarding this hypothesis in the book Wayward Puritans.

Therefore, given 'Sin' as a concept is culturally and historically specific, and can be seen to perform a social function, it is suggested that 'Sin' is a relative construct.

I would actually argue that there are no absolute constructs.

Answer 2

Sin is a spiritual absolute. Sin puts you in the wrong. Think of it this way, it's a little bit like pregnancy. You are pregnant or you aren't. You can never be sort of pregnant.

The Bible says God is the creator of earth and mankind. As creator he has rights to tell his creation how things are going to be. His character is perfectly holy. When I sinned I became guilty of rebelling against God. The only solution was what Jesus did for me when He died on the cross. He paid my debt in full and restored my relationship with God.

I think of God's holiness as "matter and sin is like "anti-matter. If you try to put them together it would be catastrophic.

Murder is wrong. God is the creator of life and He says for me to end someone's life is wrong. If I kill someone, that's it; there is no way to remedy the situation. I am putting myself in God's place and saying I know what is best and that is for you to die now....pretty arrogant.

As a parent, I brought my baby into the world and I do everything I can to keep her safe, healthy, fed, happy. About the time baby is age two she decides she knows enough to run her own life and tells me, basically, "NO, BACK OFF MOM. Then she tries to pull away from me and run out into the traffic filled road. She will not appreciate my godlike behavior of picking her up and taking her somewhere else. But that is just TOUGH, because I know what is best.

I know my examples are limited, but they do give at least a partial picture of some spiritual truths that are true whether we like them or not.

In conclusion: Sin is an absolutely deadly spiritual problem. God has the only solution to this problem. He let His Son pay for all of our sins, so we can be Absolutely free from sin's control. God could never contradict himself or be anything less than absolutely loving and absolutely powerful.

Unlike my two year old daughter, you and I are old enough that God gives us the freedom to choose. We can choose God's way or our own. You need to be prepared though to deal with the consequences of your choices.

Thank you for your question!

Answer 3

sin is knowledge not lived, to have and not do so is turning a blind eye to your knowledge (what you know is right), being less then what your level of knowledge and understanding makes you capable of. Hence you fall short of living up to what you know. Sin is only relative to the thing done or else it doesn't exist, because it is merely missing the mark in regards to what you know is right and this knowing what is right is through the facilities of mind, all there is would be mind. It's always been about knowledge.

Your issue is that you are asking a God-Centered people, who are doing "good" because they want to be approved, in some manner. Seeking to impress, which makes it even more lacking in genuineness.

Answer 4

Sin is absolutely relative.

If there is no food, someone may kill another human and eat that person to stay alive.

Should a man come into your home to obviously attempt to kill everyone, you would possibly have to strike him or even kill him to provide safety.

If the world's food supply was to dwindle so low that people were starving at all levels, abortion would be considered life-saving for others.

If the world was down to one family to reproduce, there would be incest just to stay alive.

These situations are dire, but that's what it takes to bust paradigms of right and wrong. We only apply morals of our raising AFTER we have our security and safety. Should this safety be removed, the morals and ethics issues fly right out the window.

Answer 5

some are absolute, but most can be overridden, if the sin is comitted out of love or necessity. doesn't sound quite right, does it? you'll have to read up on situation ethics to understand it completely. situation ethics lie about halfway between moral absolutism and relativism. wiki probably has something on the topic. the idea was birthed by a catholic priest, and is very biblical, but i can't remember the priest's name or the year when he came up with the idea.

Answer 6

It depends on the interpretation of the observer.

Killing and eating someone on a deserted island wouldn't be murder, it would be survival. But, killing someone in the middle of a street for calling you a b i t c h is wrong because of the stupidity behind it.

Answer 7

as i was told:

a sin is done with knowledge and intent

if you have sinned without such knowledge or without the means to judge right from wrong then the way is open to forgiveness


(p.s i'm not a christian, i'm an religious studies student)

Answer 8

It's non-existent, because no gods exist in reality. You've posed one of many insuperable problems for theists - one of many things that can only be resolved by the conclusion that gods are imaginary.

Answer 9

You get everlasting activity of a soldier and further promotions in devil's armed forces. long term effect is-----you could no longer connect the club of angels. that's evident that your prefer/objectives/thoughts take shape like a devil once you connect the corrupt forces.

Answer 10

I went in my room and said Jesus I am a sinner.Forgive my sins Come into my heart Jesus.And I felt peace and love come in my heart.Jesus saved me.Now I have a personal relationship with Him.I Obey the Holy Spirit promptings as best as I can.It is not about being perfect (THAT IS UN REAL) It is about LOVE.