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16 SIN
Sin is no more than the breaking of the laws of a religious institution.
Sin is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "a violation
of some
religious or moral principle."
It is not against any law to kiss your children in public. But if
a society of which you are a member enacts such a law, then it would
be a crime to kiss your children in public. If a religion dictates
such a law, it would be a sin to kiss your children in public.
Before you can have sin, you must have a religious law prohibiting
some
act. Therefore, if there are no religious laws, there can be no
sin. I repeat if there are no religious laws, there can be no sin.
If there are no religious laws then the only laws that are left
are social laws. The breaking of social law is criminal and socially
punishable but it is not sinful and certainly not damning to the
soul by any definition.
God may, in fact, divinely inspire the writing of social and religious
laws to better order society. But it is nonsense to believe that
God would waste one moment writing a law, the violation of which
would mean the potential unmitigated, eternal damnation of the soul
of the lawbreaker who is truly an immortal, infinite part of God
and of every other human being who ever existed.
Inner peace comes in knowing that religious laws are written
by men in order to perpetuate some religious institution and that
one can only sin
against the religious institution, not against God.
Inner peace comes in knowing that God's love for us is unconditional
and we can never sin against God because we are always at one with
God.
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