Original Sin
This past week has been all about the Sandy Hook killings and the need for a new discussion about gun regulations and mental health. But I noticed something else that got me thinking and that was the big emphasis on ‘sin in the world’. It certainly is easy to say it, especially based on the predominant Christian background of culture in the US. Christianity states sin came in the world with Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God. All evil and all bad things stem from that basic doctrine of ‘original sin’.
Sin, Control and Power
There is a problem with this concept of sin. It is a mythical tale that through oral tradition story telling explains why we are the way we are. But what it doesn’t do is allow itself to be dissected very easily. It needs to be kept in an abstract realm to fit in theologically with the rest of Christianity. If it is dissected its power to impart guilt and condemnation will be destroyed. The powers that be in the Church and in the ensconced power in society as a whole doesn’t want that to happen because if it does, those who are invested in that story no longer have power over you. The can’t blame you or guilt you into behaving as they would like you to.
Mental Illness Explored
Let’s talk about mental illness as one example of how ineffective power is taken away if sin is explored. In medical and scientific circles they know that a mental illness is when something abnormal happens chemically, electrically or biologically in the brain of an individual. They know there is both therapeutic and/or pharmaceutical possibilities of treatment. They also know that research needs to continue into neuroscientific areas so we can learn more about why brains do those ‘evil’ things. What really makes it happen, all the way down to the cellular level, in other words.
Stop Signs
But in the certain religious oriented population it’s more likely you will hear this bad behavior talked about as a result of our sinful condition. And here is the rub – what do you do with that information? Do you scientifically find out the landscape of sin? How it develops chemically? Do we go to a medical lab and delve into sin with an electron microscope to see how it behaves? No, we don’t. We just say it exists and isn’t that too bad. Oh well. Let’s hug our kids and hope for the best.
Go Signs
That is not good enough. We should rid ourselves of the guilt of sin by going beyond it and exploring bad behavior in as much detail as we can in as many directions as we can. That is how we will find answers, not by saying it’s sin and that’s that.
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Drawing by Marty Coleman
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