Atheists: Seriously, If you had to repent of one sin (as defined by Christianity) what would it be?

Question

Lying? Hatred? Lusting? Coveting? Rudeness? Pride? Arrogance? Boasting? Jealousy? Vanity? Gluttony? Greed? Laziness? Unforgiveness? etc.

If you could remove any one of these vices from your life, which would it be? Take your pick (or choose a different one) and explain!

Don P that's exactly what repenting is - it's "rethinking" your position on something and changing your actions to better match what you know is right

Answer 1

That's kind of a difficult question. because the thing is... since I don't believe that Christianity (or any religions) are at all true, I don't believe that most of those "sins" are really anything to feel bad about. Why should I feel bad about lusting, for example? I mean, true, most of those sins can be harmful to yourself and/or other people if taken to an incredible extreme. For example, extreme lusting can make someone go crazy with obsession (which can be harmful to your mental health) and can lead to harming others, like if you lust over someone to a point where you stalk them and rape them. But that's really extreme! Normal lusting like simply seeing a hot girl and thinking she's really hot is harmless. The same thing can be said for any of those sins. There's no real harm in hating something, as long as it's not extreme like the way the Nazis hate Jews. But when I watch Jaws 3 and think "I hate this movie", what's the harm? I could make up examples for all of these sins that you've listed to demonstrate how they're really only "bad" if you believe that God declares them so. Since I don't believe that there is a God who has declared those things to be bad, then I have no reason to feel bad for doing them and so I honestly can't answer your question of what I would repent because it just doesn't work that way in my way of thinking.

Answer 2

I can't!

I can't give you an answer because I don't believe in self-flaggelation and guilt when I haven't DONE anything wrong! All those "sins" you've mentioned are just stupid human nature! Nothing more.

You may say you "hate" your neighbours but if they invited you over for a barbeque, you'd go and you'd enjoy yourself. You may tell a white lie or even a black lie. SO WHAT? If it will hurt others if you tell the truth, then I don't think they'll want hear about it. They'll probably find out sooner or later anyway.

Lusting? Who hasn't thought, "Man ... that (fill in the blanks) is SO HOT!" Big friggin' deal! Only sex fiends need to feel ashamed about their excessive sexual daydreams! Ordinary people would never procreate if we didn't feel natural urges and attractions.

Rudeness? Oh, right ... that's a capital offence.
Pride? I raised my child to be proud of her every attempt she ever made to do better.
Arrogance? Okay, I can't stand arrogant S.O.B's but that's NOT a sin!
Coveting. Big deal.
Boasting. OMG.
Vanity. (yawn)
Laziness. (zzzzz)
Unforgiveness. Who cares.
Gluttony? Who has never gone to an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet and chowed down until they had to unbutton their pants for the drive home?

The only "vice" that I think is the true root of all evil is greed, or selfishness. But I'm not a greedy person. Unless you're finished your chocolate and you think you can pout your way to some of mine. No way!

But sin is a horrible, traumatising, damaging concept and I will NOT participate in it or allow any of my friends to suffer from worry about it. It's just not relevant to the human race today.
.

Answer 3

Excellent question! The things you mentioned are all things that we would probably be better off without, but many of them are just part of human nature, and some aren't "sins" in the Biblical sense.

I'm sure I'd rather be less lazy, and maybe prefer for some of those other things to be less a part of my life, but I wouldn't call that "repenting," just introspection and a lifelong desire to be a better person (a desire that has nothing to do with Christianity or any other religion).

Answer 4

Why are Christians so arrogant and vain, prideful , rude and unforgiving as to think that they have the corner on virtue? Those "sins" that you mentioned were considered morally deficient traits long before Christianity or even Judaism was invented. I don't harbor any of those vices. How about you?

Answer 5

My dear missy;

I am not an atheist but what you have listed are not sins but lusts of the flesh. Sin as defined by God is resentment. When one sees the word sin in the bible, sub in resentment and one will see that they are one in the same. By following the lusts of the flesh, they will lead one to resnt what they have done. They will feel guilty, which is caused by resentment for what they have done.

Answer 6

I don't like the idea of living my life in accordance with an ancient rule book and "repenting" to make a sky deity happy. I'm imperfect just like you, you, you, you, you, you, you, and even you. I know my flaws, I work on the ones that need fixing for myself and the people around me, and that's that.

(besides, some of those are fun)

Answer 7

Rudeness

Answer 8

All of them if I could, although I consider none of them sins, they are all bad human traits, The worse one is greed though. It can lead you to harm an other being and even the destruction of our enviroment.

Answer 9

I really like how you assume it's only atheists and not Christians or any religion that do not commit those same kind of sins....Remind me...what religion is it again that the preacher or priest molests the children...??

Answer 10

Um... stubbornness? Almost all the "sins" you mentioned I don't do. Maybe laziness school-wise also.