Sin

In the simplest terms, sin is . . .

• The sine of an angle, ratio of the length of the opposite side to the length of the hypotenuse.
• The willful act of breaking religious and/or moral laws
• The innate desire to break religious and/or moral laws
• Perhaps, just being naughty.

Origin of sin: The Biblical position

According to the Bible, sin originated when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit and gained knowledge of good and evil. As punishment for this act -- known as the fall from grace and the act of original sin -- all humans since Adam and Eve have lived a life of suffering and sinfulness. (Why YHWH would put this tree in the middle of the Garden of Eden, then tell Adam and Eve not to eat its fruit is one of those "mysteries of the divine" that fundamentalists choose to gloss over.)

The Christian concept of sin is the sense of having offended a personal God. You know, the same God who demanded the genocide of the Amalekites (including women and children), out of the blue, two centuries after they hassled the Israelites. The same God who sets aside his own "eternal" commandment not to commit murder so that Samuel could kill their helpless, captive king and complete the genocide.

Origin of sin: one humanistic explanation

What Christianity calls "sin" is really our survival instincts kicking into action. Human society cannot survive when individuals think only of their own survival while ignoring the needs of others. Therefore, society needs law codes to rein in self-centeredness. Ancient societies called the more anti-social actions "sins." They involved their God/gods in the law codes to scare people into promoting civility and rejecting selfishness.

Sin in modern times

Although all Christian denominations have different ideas about what constitutes sin, many agree that sin can be roughly summed up as "anything we don't agree with <Insert name of deity> has implicitly or explicitly told us not to do.". Among other things considered sins by religions today are:

• Being a non-believer or being a member of another denomination/religion (Mostly fundies)
• Pornography
• Murder (Unless done by the government supported by others)
• Abortion (For the more conservative churches)
• Homosexuality (Colloquially known as being a Queer)
• Birth Control (Mostly Catholics)
• Being French (Mostly Evangelicals)

Sin and noetics

A number of modern Christian theologians, broadly starting with Stephen K. Moroney, think that sin can affect the human mind and it's intellectual faculties. This has become a fun tool for presuppositionalists to bash atheists with: the truth of Christianity is simple - non-Christians can't believe true things because their minds have been distorted by sin. (Unfalsifable? You betcha!)

The seven deadly sins

At the end of the 6th century, Pope Gregory I established the list known today as the "seven deadly sins." He also assigned punishments in hell for each sin. They are:

• Pride: broken on the wheel.
• Envy: put in freezing water.
• Anger/Wrath: dismembered alive. (Haven't the souls in hell already transmigrated from their bodies?)
• Sloth: cast into a snake pit.
• Covetousness/Greed: boiled in oil.
• Gluttony: forced to eat rats, toads, and snakes.
• Lust: smothered in fire and brimstone.

Just sit right back and you'll read a mnemonic, a mnemonic of the deadly sins

In 1964, a sitcom called Gilligan's Island debuted on CBS-TV. Created by Sherwood Schwartz -- not a Catholic -- the series featured seven characters who represented the seven deadly sins:

• Gilligan: gluttony (always hungry)
• "Skipper" Jonas Grumby: anger/wrath (always mad at Gilligan)
• Thurston Howell III: covetousness/greed (obviously)
• "Lovey" Howell: sloth (lived idly off her husband's wealth)
• Ginger Grant: lust (inspired it in other men; lusted after the Professor)
• "Professor" Roy Hinkley: pride (in his intellect)
• Mary Ann Summers: envy (of Ginger's fame and sensuality)

There are several alternate models to the above. The most popular one assigns gluttony and anger/wrath to the Skipper, and makes Gilligan into Satan. (He always wears red; the brim of his sailor's cap is bent out above his ears, resembling horns; and he always screws up the others' chances of escaping the island - his island.)

If you think you're a hopeless sinner, just remember . . .

"For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" including the Pope, Pat Robertson, Andrew Schlafly and the other chuckleheads at Conservapedia. Why do they consider themselves superior to everyone else? Pride would be a good guess.