Chrisitans and Sin

A detailed Summary of Chrisitans and Sin

A sinful act is one, which breaks a set of rules. Christianity, this is God's law. To Christians a sin is an act that falls short of God's intention or disobeys his word. In this essay I will discuss how various Christian groups judge sin and decide which acts are sinful. These groups will be, existentialists, liberation theology, Iraneaus, Augustine and I will include quotes from the Bible to see what it thinks about sin.

Augustine was a Christian who believed that we (mankind) inherit sin from Adam and Eve. They sinned in Eden by disobeying god, and since we are all their descendants then we are all contaminated by this sin. He believed that we were given perfection and fell from it. He believed that because God is perfect that he could not have created evil, and therefore not sin. He thought that sin came about as a lack of something. This 'something' is love and worship of God as we are now self-worshipping. He developed the theory of concupiscence. This means we are bound to desire and this leads us to sin. Because God created one human nature (without the ability to sin) and this nature 'fell' we now can only sin. It is for this reason that in is an important part in Augustine's description of the human condi

"Who can understand the human heart? There is nothing else so deceitful." This says that we are more than capable of committing sin. We are able to commit sin because God is all loving and gave us free will so did not force us to do anything. Sin, according to the bible is at the core of human existence and is therefore extremely important.

Christian Existentialism is a belief that does not take 'the fall' literally and does not accept al the Bible says. They believe that God had a hand in creation, but that evolution happened (thus denouncing the existence of Eden). They link sin to free will. They believe that only when we take responsibility for our own actions can we have any kind of authentic existence. To them, sin is not too important as they see it as only a part of the human condition and is an attribute such as love, hate and kindness.

The liberation theology is that sin is in both the human heart and social structures. In this theory, sin is to fall short of our God given potential or not to commit to Christ because of selfishness or fear. They believe that not helping the needy id also sinful. They think that god is closer to the poor than to the rich who exploit and oppress the needy. To them sin is not individual failure but as a social structure as a whole. Sin is not as important to them as to Augustine, but it is when helping other people.

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Approximate Word count = 994
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: Religion