For centuries the word sin has restrained us. No matter the religion or believes sin has always pushed a part of the self into the dark recesses of the mind. Lets explore what sin is and see why sin is a virtue.
What is sin?
A sin is a taboo within a religion or belief. It is something that is prohibited and for which you generally will be punished. If we take the western world as a model, we see that Christianity fits the glove perfectly. Sin is forbidden and the sinful will be cast into a lake of fire and brimstone.
Sin is also the opposite of virtue. The virtuous are often depicted and described as pure, innocent, saintly or angelic. While those who are sinful are ugly, debased, and ridden with disease.
So sin is the antithesis of virtue, and therefor against the god, gods or pattern of the universe of the religion or believes. If the object of the religion or belief is considered the norm and therefor good, sin must be without doubt evil.
Sin vs. evil
So if we consider a sin to be evil in the modern day we are making a mistake. Why? Well sin is the product of a religion or a belief, these structures rarely if ever change because they hold on to the dogma. Even if a religion or belief changes it often still uses the basic dogma of its original. Therefor sin is static.
Evil on the other hand is a product of society. What does society as a whole see as evil? By simply looking at the law you can see in the modern day what society sees as evil. What the law prohibits is seen as evil. This only works if religion and government are split. If spiritual power and material power are mixed sin and evil will still tend to be the same thing. Look for instance at the Bible Belt in the U.S.A. or several countries in the Middle-East.
Considering we look at a modern government that has split from the spiritual power we see that such things as abuse and murder are considered a crime and therefor evil. Of course not all crimes are evil. Evil is after all a big word and accidents do occur. Even if the accident is caused by stupidity we will say that stupidity is an evil, but we will not say those who suffer from it are as well. So we may conclude that the crimes most severely punished can be truly considered evil.
Now it is not true that evil and sin are not related because the law most western countries know is based on old laws that where influenced by spiritual powers such as the church. But when the Renaissance came and society chose humanism for their government instead of religion both the spiritual power and the material power went other ways.
So evil evolves with society and therefor evil must be dynamic. There is the main difference sin is static and evil is dynamic. Though both are related, they are not the same.
Sin in the modern day
As the power of religion and believes waned mankind was allowed to explore itself and express itself. Evil was pushed back as we discovered that most things that where considered evil was actually very much human. Even those things that existed in the darker side of humanity where eventually considered harmless, though freaky, and therefor not evil. So sin lost its power because it lost its relation to evil.
Lets take a look at the 7 most famous sins of the western world. The 7 Cardinal Sins:
Gluttony: gluttony is to consume too much. What is too much? More then you need most likely. But in a world with an economy that is based on consumption, and flourishes in relative wealth this can hardly be considered evil. Even worst abstinence would break the structure of the economy.
Sloth: sloth is to be lazy. Now while it is easy to see where this might be evil we should not forget that this is just what modern technology is for. Modern technology takes task out of our hands or makes them easier. What used to be done by hand and would take hours is now done with one click in a few minutes. In a world where we want to do more with less this is not evil. Even if you do not perform your tasks you will be the one to suffer for it. So seen from the viewpoint of society you are being stupid, not evil. So being over diligent is actually really silly.
Vanity: looks are everything in the modern world. Beauty products of every kind sell very well. This is the age of the beautiful people. And while humility has its place there is no need to hold back. Though extremes of vanity could be considered degenerate I should point out that the making of beauty potions and love potions and youth elixirs have been going one for ages and now we finally have the knowledge and technology to make them work. So is it evil if one wants to be beautiful? Hardly and it is better then being a wallflower which is a waste of beauty.
Envy: envy is the first root of ambition. To want what others have. Often people tend to see this as wanting to take what others have, but that is not true. Not per se at least. If your colleague gets a raise do you want one as well? Of course you do, and you’ll work harder to get it. Even Machiavellian schemes are not seen as truly evil although people still tend to frown at it. So is envy evil? No it is a catalyst for healthy ambition.
Greed: very much like envy this is the second root of ambition. To want to have and not give. Modern society does have pity on those who have less and we do give. But this is a matter of choice how to spend your money, not choosing between good and evil. You are the owner of the things that are yours and you should chose how to use them. Commercials and such will no doubt tempt you. But really is this not just the big game of current structure of our economy? To have and to want to have is no evil.
Wrath: wrath is anger. Though it is not a flattering emotion it is hardly evil. Its products such as violence and war might certainly be considered evil. But are these products not a lack in civilisation rather then a direct product of wrath? Being angry is not evil. Yet the way you resolve it, which is after all your choice, might be seen as evil. Further more restraining anger, not venting it, is in the long run evil rather then being angry.
Lust: love and lust. We love to lust and lust to love and love to be lusted after and lust to be loved. The sexual self is the part of the self that has been most repressed by Christianity. Though rumour has it that the inquisition indulged in sadistic sexual pleasure and the fact that even in the modern day paedophilia among Christian priests is a hot topic seems to disagree with that statement. Lust is no longer evil it is the crimes that are committed using sex or with sex as the goal that sicken us. Why? Because sex is such a personal and private part of ourselves and to see such an integral thing used in an evil way is truly evil.
But lets return to lust itself, lust is the desire to experience sexual pleasure. Hence this sin is also called lechery. The urge to have intercourse stems from the desire to procreate. Though overpopulation is certainly proving to be a danger, procreation itself is not evil. What can be evil about wanting to have children? This evolved into the desire to have intercourse for pleasure and a means to show affection. Hence the term “to make love”. And if having pleasure in a harmless way, such as going to the movies, is not evil then why should sexual pleasure be?
So we can easily see where sin is no longer evil in the modern day, and the fact that sin no longer has a place in modern society. Sin has proven to be a constraint to self-development. Disallowing someone to be who or what he or she is is often seen as an evil. So we can safely assume that the notion of sin in modern society is actually evil and therefor to be sinful must be good. And if you are good you must be virtuous according to most religions and believes. So to be sinful is virtuous and sin is a virtue. And now you know what the virtue of sin is. Though this is paradoxical and using some terms outside of their context, I think I made my point.
