I mean there's the whole "no God" part of my beliefs that I imagine is a slightly bigger problem, religion-wise, than the interpretation of sin :P But to actually argue the point, I think sin is used in at least two different senses in the Bible, as the human condition persisting since Original Sin and as wrongful actions/crimes, what you mentioned as treating people like things. In the former sense, we're told we're all born in sin and everyone is just as sinful as everyone else, like a seven-year-old who was murdered without being "saved" is just as sinful as the person who murdered him? I can't accept that.
My solution is to interpret sin-as-condition not as a crime but as a condition that separates us from God, because it is ludicrous and counterfactual to argue that all humans are equal in their acts. We can all, regardless of our actions, be equal in the condition that separates us from God, however; and since God is love the condition must be one that keeps us from love. Sins-as-crimes are simply an offshoot of sin-as-condition, the actions that some (but not all) of humanity take as a response to the pain caused by separation from the unconditional, all-encompassing love of God.
And the thing is, Original Sin itself cannot be construed as the crime of treating people as things. Who did Adam and Eve treat as things by disobeying God? Each other? It doesn't fit. What disobedience did introduce to humanity, however, was shame: The shame of nakedness, the fear, for the first time, that they were not fit to be seen by God. For the first time a condition was introduced for their being in God's company, and that was what separated them from God where they never had been before, not some crime or inequity.
I would also argue that it was the sneaking beginnings of shame that led Eve to eat the fruit in the first place: The Serpent reminded her of how ignorant she was, and she thought that if she knew more she would become more like God and be fitter for his love. Hence, sin-as-condition is the idea that we are not fit for love exactly as we are; we have to be better/smarter/clothed/more beautiful/etc. etc. in order to walk in the presence of God, who is love.
Re the religion/culture divide, as I said in the original post the idea is not much accepted in Christianity but is more common in other cultures/religions such as Judaism. Christians in the West generally had the privilege of having culture and religion together, but it is my understanding that with Jewish people's history of cultural and religious diversity, forced conversions, and an understandable "fuck you" attitude toward the divine the relationship between culture and religion has been more complex. I find this framework works well for me, too, because Korea has not been religiously monolithic for 1,000+ years (if ever) and I see different cultures and religions and culture shaped by religion etc. running around every day.
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Date: 2019-07-26 05:00 am (UTC)My solution is to interpret sin-as-condition not as a crime but as a condition that separates us from God, because it is ludicrous and counterfactual to argue that all humans are equal in their acts. We can all, regardless of our actions, be equal in the condition that separates us from God, however; and since God is love the condition must be one that keeps us from love. Sins-as-crimes are simply an offshoot of sin-as-condition, the actions that some (but not all) of humanity take as a response to the pain caused by separation from the unconditional, all-encompassing love of God.
And the thing is, Original Sin itself cannot be construed as the crime of treating people as things. Who did Adam and Eve treat as things by disobeying God? Each other? It doesn't fit. What disobedience did introduce to humanity, however, was shame: The shame of nakedness, the fear, for the first time, that they were not fit to be seen by God. For the first time a condition was introduced for their being in God's company, and that was what separated them from God where they never had been before, not some crime or inequity.
I would also argue that it was the sneaking beginnings of shame that led Eve to eat the fruit in the first place: The Serpent reminded her of how ignorant she was, and she thought that if she knew more she would become more like God and be fitter for his love. Hence, sin-as-condition is the idea that we are not fit for love exactly as we are; we have to be better/smarter/clothed/more beautiful/etc. etc. in order to walk in the presence of God, who is love.
Re the religion/culture divide, as I said in the original post the idea is not much accepted in Christianity but is more common in other cultures/religions such as Judaism. Christians in the West generally had the privilege of having culture and religion together, but it is my understanding that with Jewish people's history of cultural and religious diversity, forced conversions, and an understandable "fuck you" attitude toward the divine the relationship between culture and religion has been more complex. I find this framework works well for me, too, because Korea has not been religiously monolithic for 1,000+ years (if ever) and I see different cultures and religions and culture shaped by religion etc. running around every day.