"9. If still not justified, simply accept the evil of your sin and move on. Yes, it's bad and you're bad for doing it. That's no reason to suffer. Accept that you have sinned, then go make a sandwich, from there continue going about your life in a normal manner."
Justifying your sin only results in doing more of it. Despite your belief or non-belief in a higher power, consider the effect your sin may have on others. The ability to distinguish between right and wrong and curb our baser instincts is what places us above mere animals.
Even though you have justified your sin, in others' perspective, you may have still done something in contrast to socially acceptable behavior. Also, remember that prison systems were designed to remove people from society who act in socially unacceptable ways. Prepare yourself for becoming unwelcome around some people or for being put in jail, depending on the sin and the people around whom you do these things. A judge is unlikely to take your side just because you do not feel guilty for what you have done. However, if you become particularly adept at this process, you will probably lose both remorse and the ability to determine what is right and wrong. Should you accomplish this feat, it will probably help you in court.
Justifying your sin is detrimental to your relationship with God (if you have one), and something you may regret if your soul is judged for eternity, assuming such conditions exist.
THIS part is my favorite.... reminds me of someone I know who is due in court....
Even though you have justified your sin, in others' perspective, you may have still done something in contrast to socially acceptable behavior. Also, remember that prison systems were designed to remove people from society who act in socially unacceptable ways. Prepare yourself for becoming unwelcome around some people or for being put in jail, depending on the sin and the people around whom you do these things. A judge is unlikely to take your side just because you do not feel guilty for what you have done. However, if you become particularly adept at this process, you will probably lose both remorse and the ability to determine what is right and wrong. Should you accomplish this feat, it will probably help you in court.
I take some theological issue with the religious thought expressed in the excerpt above, at least as it applies to Christianity. The words "justification of sin" have a specific theological meaning in the Christian traditions.
The central tenet of the Protestant Reformation was "justification [of sin] by grace through faith". In other words, the faithful are assured that when sinners admit/confess that fact, sins are justified (forgiven) in God's eyes. So there is no ultimate penalty; the Savior paid that penalty for humankind on the cross.
As I understand Catholicism that is also part of the Catholic faith and part of the basis of Reconciliation (what used to be called Confession).
I conclude that even the sin of adultery may be forgiven by God and there will be no "answering" for it on Judgement Day.
Chris, I have to bring something up, respectfully.
[The following is content about "God" and "sin" according to mainstream Christian doctrine......]
No where in Christian doctrine or tradition is it found that God justifies sin by any means. It is people whom God justifies (declare innocent or guiltless, absolves, acquits) via his saving grace.
(Actually, I liked the "justify your sin" content because it talks about the natural consequences of "not nice" behavior. )
RW, I had the impression Carol posted that WARNING in a serious vein.
Sorry I didn't get the joke.
Chris.
This message has been edited by chris924 on Jan 18, 2007 9:19 PM This message has been edited by chris924 on Jan 18, 2007 9:18 PM This message has been edited by chris924 on Jan 18, 2007 8:42 PM
"(Not in these exact words, since Luther wrote in German.)" lol!!
Nope, Chris, I was talking about justification.
[Warning... more Christian verbiage and debate to follow in this post.]
From Wikipedia:
In Christian theology, justification is God's act of declaring or making a sinner [Jean's underlining] righteous before God. ..... Justification, from the Greek¦Ä¦É¦Ê¦Á¦É¦Ø¦È¦Ç¦Í¦Á¦É (dikai¨th¨¥nai), "to be declared/made righteous", is a Scriptural term, occurring in the books of Romans, Galatians, Titus, and James; the root word righteous is ubiquitous in both Old and New Testaments. The concept of justification occurs also in many Old and New Testament books.
Anyways, I hold to the understanding that God justifies sinners ... He does not justify sins. Otherwise your writing of "In this context, "justification" carries the now-archaic-in-English sense of "made just" or "made right" in the eyes of God" would not make sense doctrinely. Sins could never be made right in the eyes of God, but, by Jesus' suffering, death and resurrection, sinners could.
"The theological verb and noun carry a positive connotation of open confession, and not of trying to explain away something." Actually, Dictionary.com shows that the theological meaning of the word "justify" is "to declare innocent or guiltless; absolve; acquit." It seems clear from this meaning that an individual would be declared innocent or acquitted, not an action or a sin. (How could one acquit an action or declare it as "guiltless"?). And therefore justification, in the Christian theological meaning, can only be done by one in a position to judge (i.e., God) -- it can only be done by one who has the power to absolve or acquit. Our confession of sins does not justify, although our acknowledgement of wrongdoing is necessary.
RW's the one who started this thread! Let's blame her!!!
BTW, "accept that you have sinned, then go make a sandwich, from there continue going about your life in a normal manner" is just scary in its "glib-ness." Like "hey, it happened...get over it already...." Just like the ex.
As it was all “received,” written down and “passed on” by mere mortals (sinners, as ‘twer) regardless of which semantic, linguistic or historic connotation is used, the idea of God (or more accurately, the Messiah) letting us off the hook for our sins is the ultimate human rationalization. Rationalization made divine, you might say. Pretty convenient. After all, if God “justifies,” and/or forgives a sin -- one’s adulterous affair, for example -- what right has an outraged spouse to judge or punish, eh?
Tricky biz – mixing relationships and religion. I can see why the warning signs are used here.
I know a married woman, a long-time, stout agnostic and occasional flat-out atheist. Having abandoned Catholicism as a child, Christianity as a teenager, and dismissed all religion by 21, she routinely makes fun of “simple” believers who say things like “I’ll pray for you” or who take the Bible to heart. Oddly enough, when she discovered that the man she was having an EA with was mildly religious, she herself began “praying for” him & his family (actually she was just telling him that she was) during trying times. It was only in this secret affair that she adopted the new “belief” system, otherwise keeping up pretty significant and regular ridicule of the faithful among her own family.
But recruiting God (or God Jr.) into her affair actually seems to have helped her rationalize her decision, justify her behavior, allow her to forgive herself in advance (choose your connotation) for what the old testament holds to be a pretty serious transgression. It’s on the top-ten list, anyway. It worked well enough that she felt “justified” in promoting the EA up the ladder to a full-scale sexual relationship, while still pledging unfailing fidelity to the unwitting B.S.
Her divine rationalization is not completely satisfactory, of course. She has guilt. But it helps her a little bit to think that this sinful activity –by definition forgivable -- has somehow allowed her to reconsider the existence of the Big Guy.
She now rationalizes that the pretense of prayer during the courtship phase could have been the real thing, kinda – if she revises it hard enough. Maybe for her there’s a silver lining under the scarlet letter.
"to anyone you are going to see again later. For example, friends, coworkers, family members, neighbors, teachers, and classmates. Lying can completely destroy relationships."
I suppose that depends on your religion, Smrsh, and how well it works for you. Christianity is all about love, not about a bunch of rules (religion). Unfortunately, people tend to emphasize the "rules" too much and how they personally are doing according to the rules compared to "everybody else." Also, unfortunately, their subjective view is most often distorted. There are a lot of people who act as you describe. But that doesn't make the message of love and reconciliation any less powerful.
Jean
This message has been edited by Jean150 on Jan 19, 2007 8:30 AM
