On Sin, Evil and the Existence of God

A friend of mine initiated a Facebook discussion about "sin" the other day.  I initially ignored the post, but today when I saw 73 comments on it, I was intrigued.  What were people saying about sin?

This particular friend of mine was raised LDS (Mormon), as I was, and recently decided to end her participation with the religion (as I did almost seven years ago).  I was curious to see what her Facebook audience looked like - how much of the commentary would come from her old world of religious conservatives, and how much would come from her newer world of airy-fairy hippies?  I read through all of the comments and noted there was about 50/50 of the two perspectives, which made the discussion lively, varied and interesting.

Also, as I read the comments, I found myself anxious to get involved in the conversation, because so much of it seemed like nonsense to me, and my inner zealot was dying to call belief systems out.  I did eventually post, and I'm pretty pleased with the thoughts I shared, but have found myself the rest of this evening fixating on the questions raised in the discussion.  So now you, dear readers, get to enjoy my diatribe of self-righteous thought.  Hooray!

What is sin?

Sin is generally understood to be a transgression against God's law.  This, of course presupposes the existence of a God, and that such a God has laws.  What are God's laws?  We don't get to know that, but we are expected to figure it out from old books that have gone through hundreds of translations at the hands of known oppressors.  People don't generally bother to figure that out, though, so they just trust random other people who say they know what God wants for them.

Does this God actually exist?  Again, we don't get to know that.  We're supposed to just trust that "he" does.  Which, of course, makes it seem very suspicious when we're told that this God is benevolent and likes us.  Why the wild goose chase for information that is crucial for our return to our "loving father?"  Why the mysterious absence of presence or evidence?  If I really love someone, I let them know how to get in touch with me and how to find me, and I don't set up tests and traps to see if they really want to find me.  I don't respond to them with a sense about me, I respond to them with communication they can clearly understand or by my presence.

Something is very amuck with this line of thinking.

So what is sin?  It's breaking a law you can't know that upsets someone un-upsettable that may or may not actually exist.  Basically, "sin" is nonsense.

I'll tell you what I think sin is.  I think sin is a human construct to control others through fear.  I think human beings over a long period of time found that their families and tribes worked best when people behaved in pro-social ways, and so leaders decided what behaviors were acceptable and unacceptable, and attributed this code of behavior to some unquestionable, unencounterable supernatural force, so that everyone in their tribe, family or society would stop asking questions and just behave as directed.

There's nothing innately wrong with these superstitious codes of behavior.  Survival of our species is contingent upon social structure - in order to survive, we must have social codes of behavior.  It is questionable, though, why a lie or superstition is necessary to instill social codes of behavior.

Most likely, the lies and superstition are necessary to justify the psychological impact "sin" has on human minds.  Sin makes us afraid.  Sin makes us believe that someone very powerful, whom we want to impress - God - is watching our every move and keeping a tally on our behaviors.  If we measure up to his demands - which we're told is inherently impossible - we have the privilege of being long-term friends with this powerful being.  If we don't measure up, we lose everything.  If we're sad and sorry that we don't measure up, this being may have mercy on us and let us come over for dinner anyway.  This being actually kind of sounds like an egomaniacal dick, come to think of it.

This construct of needing to please God is a scary thing to consider.  A lot is at stake.  What if I fuck it up?  Will he have mercy on me, pity me, and let me come around, or will he cut me off?  When human beings are afriad, they lose some of their power, and become controllable and psychologically malleable.  So if you're looking to control how someone thinks or behaves, it's a useful approach to scare the shit out of them.  That is what sin does.  Hooray.

Thus, sin is not only a man-made construct that scares people into submission and obedience, but a destructive one because it kills human independence of thought.  Social order is critical for our survival, but the expense of independence of thought is a much higher price to pay than is necessary.

Whatever - sin is real!  My conscience tells me so!

I'm going to start this section with an emphatic declaration that I don't really believe that humans have a conscience either.  How do you like that?

Humans are raised by other humans who, from birth, teach the rules of social behavior.  We use religion and other superstitions to do this, along with manners and language skills.  Since a human being cannot physically survive for many years without the help of another human being, these rules of social behavior become hard-coded into our minds at a very early age.  If I want to eat and stay warm, I have to depend on this female human I call mom.  I better follow her rules, or else she may eject me and I will die.  One of her rules is that I not harm and show affection and camaraderie to this male human called my brother.  And so on.  These are obviously not conscious thoughts, but subconscious ones.  The behaviors are adopted and become natural so quickly that we call them second-nature and instinctive.  That instinct is what I think our "conscience" is.

Human beings are also hard-wired for social, tribal interaction in general.  So our minds and feelings will generally direct us in behaviors that serve the tribe we identify with, even at the expense of other tribes, because we need our tribe to survive.  Prosocial wiring is another of these natural instincts that make up our "conscience."  I don't think there is anything mystical or magical about this, and there is no divine decree that sings in our hearts to make us feel or do things that are prosocial.  I think it is biological and evolutionary.

But what about evil?  Some deeds, some people, some ideas are simply evil!

Again, I'll start this section stating my belief that there is no such thing as evil.  "Evil" is a boogeyman that we are taught to fear so that we remember to behave pro-socially.  It isn't necessary, though, because we are already hard-wired to behave pro-socially, and taught the nuances of our particular communities' pro-social rules by our tribes.

Evil actions or ideas seem to stem from poor pro-social training by a tribe.  If a community does not adequately impress upon an individual the meaningfulness and benefits that come from belonging to a cohesive social unit, an individual may decide upon becoming relatively independent that they do not need a tribe.  And so their decisions and actions are based solely on their own best interest.

Most often, in these situations, the individual has been traumatized or damaged by their tribe or some member(s) of it.  Therefore, their best interest is interpreted as inhibiting, punishing or destroying the offending tribe or member(s).  If their efforts are successful, it is tagged in their brain that such behaviors and tactics are important for their survival, and they begin forming habits of returning to those behaviors and tactics.

The majority of actions deemed evil are antisocial behaviors, and specifically ones that infringe on other people's pursuits in meeting their needs.  Therefore, no dark force has entered a person's soul or mind and is tempting them for wickedness, that person has simply either voluntarily or involuntarily become antisocial.  They have turned on their tribe,  and that offends pro-social humans.

There is no need to tie this information to God or God's Law or any other superstition.  It makes sense on its own without resorting to fear tactics.

So what, if there's no good or evil, and no sin, what's to stop us from all becoming mass-murdering rapists?

You may note that there are statistically very few mass-murdering rapists in the world.  The majority of them were exposed in childhood to long-term antisocial tribes and persons, or have chemical or neurological imbalances in their bodies.  And, you may also note, that there are statistically significant populations of athiests and agnostics that are no more antisocial in their behaviors than religious folk.  In fact, a large number of wars, hate behaviors, and other antisocial activities are directly caused by the name of God.

What stops us from becoming mass-murdering rapists is our natural craving for social participation.  I don't kill people, or generally steal or lie to them, because if I did it would affect my standing in my tribe and community.  That alone is reason enough for me to refrain from it.  I also have no personal needs that would be fulfilled by engaging in those behaviors, so they don't interest me.  When other people engage in those behaviors, I am outraged about it because it affects the climate of my tribe, and I want my tribe to be a place of security.  If my social group allows one person to destroy a human life, for example, my life suddenly becomes threatened.  I am not ok with that.

Human beings are also generally empathetic, meaning they can project themselves with imagination into another person's situation and ascertain how the other person may be feeling.  When we exercise empathy, we generally ask ourselves, "How would I like to feel what I imagine that person is feeling?"  If we do not want to feel what they are likely feeling, we sense a danger to our own well-being and happiness and demand restitution for that person.

None of this requires superstitious belief.  The vast majority of human beings either act with empathy, self-preservation, and social-preservation instincts naturally, and the majority of those who don't have them naturally are taught how to by pro-social training in their childhood.  Some people fall through the cracks, or turn to antisocial behavior because of traumatic experiences.  The trick to encouraging pro-social behavior in these people is to convince them that being part of a society or tribe is freaking awesome.  That is done by being pro-social towards them and superceding any antisocial beliefs or past traumas with fresh new experiences of beneficial social inclusion.

We, as a society, are responsible for all antisocial behavior, because we, as a society, have not convinced individuals that being pro-social is worth it.  Human beings need very little love, acceptance, forgiveness and teamwork to feel like belonging to a society kicks ass.  If they haven't experienced that, something has gone very wrong with all of us.  This isn't something we can just write off as "evil" - it's something we must actively fix to keep our magical little micro-cultures intact.  We must "sell" society to each person that enters it, so they lovingly bless it with their participation and cooperation, and also get the massive benefits in return.

This basically sounds like you're arriving at the same ends as most religious belief/teaching, so why the hostility when we're all working towards the same goal?

My hostility towards sin, evil, God and other general religious tenets is tied to the antisocial behavior of scaring the shit out of people through fear-based constructs.  I lived many years in careful fear of God and his law, and it did a great job of programming my mind for guilt, self-deprication and hate towards everyone and everything in life.  I am still working to reprogram my mind, belief systems and instincts towards hopefulness and enjoyment instead of fearfulness, competition and quiet resentment.

Religious institutions are generally antisocial because they demand submission and obedience, which is social programming that denigrates the individuals that make up the society.  "Obey God's law or he'll cut you off" is pure scariness for human beings, and scared human beings do not a happy healthy society make.  (And please note that phrasing it more kindly like "God blesses the obedient" does not remove the message that one is constantly at risk of disappointing the one mysteriously absent being who can save them.)

Also, drawing a hard, fast line between "good" and "evil" draws a hard, fast line between members of a tribe or society who are socially compatible despite their differences, but religiously segregated into holy and unholy camps.  Divisions  destroy societies; unity, empathy and compassion feed the human spirit and by extension the tribes that we naturally live in.  Fear literally makes people crazy; acceptance makes them cooperative.  Why control people when they're perfectly willing to cooperate!?!

Who are you to argue like this, when your blog talks about God and your own "superstitious" beliefs all of the time?!

This is a good question.  I doubt my superstitious beliefs all of the time - which is the only reason I'm willing to have them.  Right now I'm going through a non-superstitious period.  It's nice that my beliefs don't require that I be loyal to them, I get to question them and put them through the ringer whenever I want to.  This is likely because my beliefs are not tied to an institution, I live on a daily cafeteria-plan.  I don't serve my beliefs, they serve me.

You may be surprised to read, at this point, that I actually do believe in a God ... of sorts.  Not like any Judeo-Christian man-god, my God is abstract nothingness that has no opinion of my actions or behaviors - or anyone else's - and supports my decisionmaking with unconditional love and acceptance.  I can do anything and my God wouldn't be disillusioned with me one iota.  I generally choose to not engage in antisocial behavior not because I need God's approval (I don't and I have it anyways), but to get approval from my fellow embodied human friends and family and society.  I don't resent my fellow humans for asking me to be pro-social in my behavior, because I like living in a society.  I like having a family and a tribe.  I don't actually see any tradeoff happening, because most antisocial behavior is totally disinteresting, and prosocial behavior has massive payoffs. 

I wish everyone felt like being pro-social was win-win.  Instead we are taught - we are actually TOLD - that it is a SACRIFICE!  And so we believe that we're doing the world a favor by being nice or friendly or helpful, and that our reward will only come from God in some afterlife.  That's so stupid!  Society pays its own rewards and bountifully!  If you don't already realize it, having a loving dysfunctional family, a passionate love-hate romantic relationship, a circle of friends that make any task joyful and simultaneously make us absolutely annoyed - those things are the Kingdom of Heaven.  We don't have to be perfect for these people - they like us anyway!  And we secretly adore their flaws!  They help us, and they love us, and we get to love them because they need us as much as we need them.  We get our fun fixes, our drama fixes, our moments of terror and our moments of world-shattering love from them - that's everything folks!  There's nothing more out there to experience or have.  We get the full gamut from the people already around us.

So be pro-social.  Love your society.  Realize how obsessed you are with belonging here (because you really are totally obsessed with it, as am I), and embrace your healthy obsession instead of resenting and fearing it.  Stop giving power to oppressive ideas like sin or evil - those ideas are intended to conquer and control you.  You don't need to be conquered or controlled because you are a willing member of society.

And finally, stop attributing the problems in our society to some secret dark force.  We are the problem and we are the solution.  Feel strongly inclined towards antisocial behavior?  Get a therapist and figure out where you were wronged, what misinformation you were fed, and start looking for tribes and friends that will pay out the social trust fund that you're entitled to.  Worried about a friend or relative who exhibits antisocial tendencies?  SELL THEM ON SOCIETY.  Make them feel how amazing it is to be loved, accepted and contributing.  Help them find friends that they actually connect with and feel they get a social payout with.

And that's all, I think.

--steps off soapbox--