If god hates sin, why create a race of beings with such a propensity for it?

I wonder about that all the time too. If we're made in God's image, how do we sin?

The answer I have come to so far (and it's by no means complete) is that I have to keep my definition of sin from getting too narrow, and the fact that we are created to become more than what we are.

Keeping my conception of sin broad: God does hate sin, but that phrase is manipulated by people who see religion as a way to guilt trip people into doing what they want.

The only reason God hates sin is because it takes us away from Him, and we are what He loves more than anything else. All those lectures about God's pristine righteousness and how He can't abide any sin in His presence, blah blah blah. Ignore them. That's Calvinism at its worst.

Becoming more than we are: we start out ignorant and small and we should end up wiser and bigger. For whatever reason, God created us for change: change of ourselves and our surroundings. That change should always be toward God, toward what we really are inside: love.

So, what sin is on a practical level, is changing in less than loving ways, in opting for what is less loving rather than for what is most loving. Forget about God getting all apoplectic when we sin. He knows we're going to sin and, post resurrection, we have salvation anyway. Sin happens, and it is forgiven to the extent that we repent it, i.e., learn from it, i.e. become more than what we are.

God doesn't burn anybody for using their free will. Hell is not fire. It is separation. When I choose the less-than-loving option, usually out of laziness, I put distance between myself and God and that is sin, separation, hell. It isn't a punishment meted out by God, but an effect caused by my choice. If I learn from that experience, then I'm becoming more than I am. I get rid of the distance between God and myself and continue with my life: no burning involved.

I'm pretty sure God pushes me out of the way of metaphorical oncoming trains all the time, and most of the time I don't even realize it. But a better analogy is a child who chooses never to eat. Even though you supply her with food, she is convinced she doesn't need it, or that it's bad for her. She assumes that her suffering is you punishing her for her choice not to eat.

All she needs to do is to get over whatever stubbornness or fear she has of food and eat.

Hello Gus: I read your "question" four times. It was well written. Correct spelling. Good grammar.

Succinct vocabulary.

I would guess that you are more Agnostic than Christian, which means you are only in need of some facts so you can jump off of the fence. Well there are no FACTS. There is only logic. How about some opinion based on logic?

In the beginning there was nothing and God said "Let there be light". BANG!!! Then He created heaven and moved there, never to be heard from again.

God created the universe. He didn't create the Milky Way, or the Solar System, or the Earth, or life, or humans. We were not created in his image. We evolved in our own image.

God did not write the ten commandments. They were written by a group of wise old MEN as a means to control the superstitious, uneducated masses. Think about it. Why are there ten of them?

Ten is a sociably accepted number for a list...10 best dressed, 10 most wanted, top 10 things God doesn't want you to do, and if you do any of them you will go to hell when you die to burn and suffer FOREVER...But, He loves you...

We don't need ten...1:Thou shalt always be honest, truthful and reliable, especially to the provider of thy nooky. 2:Thou shalt try really, really hard not to kill, unless in the defense of a loved one,(including yourself.). That means anything. If you are being attacked by an animal it is acceptable to kill it 3:Thou shalt keep your religious beliefs to yourself...That's it. That's all we need, and we shouldn't need "The fear of God" to enforce them.

You have a daughter??? Why the heck did you do that??? That's the dumbest thing ever, to have a child! You KNOW she's going to hurt you, try your patience, let you down, and hurt others but you did it anyway? You KNOW children have a propensity and a strong tendency to do these things yet you created her anyway. I've never understood that one...

Maybe it's because you loved the idea of creating something in your own image, with your DNA. Maybe it's because you hold onto the hope that your child can withstand the baser urges and instincts to be self-serving (sinful). Maybe it's because, despite knowing that there will be sins in her future, you love her anyway and welcome her anyway. Maybe if you looked at God as a loving Father instead of an Old Testament people-burning monster for once (like Jesus taught), you'd understand this better. If you modeled your parenting after the teachings of Jesus, who is God, you'd win Parent of the Year.

Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? That culture had so devolved into a sicko society that it's likely even the children were having sex from very early ages, getting diseases and such. The sickos were rewarded with more power and produced more sickos. Finally, God just decided that, if they aren't going to repent, it's time to wipe them out.

So, God doesn't create sickos. Sickos are created by culture that rejects God and morality. The genes that are most rewarded in those cultures are the ones that are most sicko. Natural selection in a culture of such degradation produces some horribly corrupt humans.

This is why supporting morality within culture matters. We have laws against incest, but for people in Sodom, they probably thought laws against incest was just being a bit too religious and constraining. They probably thought nobody should have the right to impose laws on what they do with their children or strangers from other cities. If you remember, they wanted to rape the "men" that came to visit Lot. Lot was so flippin' crazy he offered his daughters for them to rape instead.

The Catholic Church condemns the Calvin propostion that we are Fundamentally flawed. And Jesus condemns that we are irredeemable. As for catastrophic, yes, if you (and I am talking to you) go to Hell that is catastrophic but it needn't be. And all the rest is predicated on a direct denial by you of what Scripture says in two places 30Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, 31rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind. AND 24 For you love all things that are and loathe nothing that you have made; for what you hated, you would not have fashioned. 25 And how could a thing remain, unless you willed it; or be preserved, had it not been called forth by you? ============== When a poster is afraid to quote Scripture I move in for the kill :)

As a xtian i've thought about this as well.

I've asked people at church and the leaders say there are some things we don't understand.

But i think god takes joy out of seeing us become better beings.

One explanation is that God did not want things this way, but gives all beings free will. initially, everything in the world was perfect. but then god let satan have his way with the world, which is why there is sin in it now. this is only temporary, as it is said He is coming back to make things good again.

basically, it's like this because god is letting the devil, evil, have its way in the world for the time being, until He comes back.

It comes down to free will & non intervention on God's part. God gave us free will and we have a choice about whether to choose to live in harmony or not. I don't think God hates sin. I think for the most part sin represents the common traps people fall into and then wish they hadn't. God might feel badly for us being the authors of our own pain & suffering but I don't believe God intervenes or condemns souls to hell. I don't believe in hell. Sin is really about understanding the cause & effect of our actions and learning to choose more wisely.

Peace,

Zee

True! it would have been better had we not been created being that we are prone to sin etc. but being that we are here we should to our best to work on becoming better (character traits and service to God). no, He doesn't want robots but people that do their very best to be good. And in working hard, we will 'earn' all that He has given us. getting everything for free is embarrassing,ex. do you really want to be a subway beggar and live off everyone else?

because he loves us. sure, it hurts me when my children are disrespectful, disobedient, and just plain old don't care what i say, but it is those moments when they get it, and i can see it in their eyes and their attitudes, that makes it all worthwhile. when we go out to eat and i have strangers telling me that they can't believe how well my 6 nd 7yr old children are behaving themselves, it really tells you something. i think it's kind of the same thing to Him. when He can look down and see His children behaving themselves and representing Him well, and being loving and kind to everyone, it's got to make Him proud! not to mention glorifying Him due to how bad some of us used to be, before whe knew Him! hope this point of view helps. god bless!

It's about denial. The cults know full well that human reality does not fit their agenda so anything that openly proves them wrong is a "sin". Even reading anything that shakes their misconceptions is a "sin".

It's just human psychological bondage, that's all.