{"id":37923,"date":"2018-05-31T14:42:40","date_gmt":"2018-05-31T19:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/?p=37923"},"modified":"2018-06-13T18:04:18","modified_gmt":"2018-06-13T23:04:18","slug":"the-loss-of-sin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/2018\/05\/the-loss-of-sin\/","title":{"rendered":"The Loss of Sin"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I think one of the many social changes we’re seeing unfolding before us is the loss of sin. I don’t mean loss in the good sense of moving away from sin. Rather I mean loss in the sense that the very category of sin is rejected and rendered incomprehensible. Much of Mormon proselytizing depends upon a shared sense of sin. That is that sin is something to overcome and the atonement is the answer. Without a notion of sin it is simply much harder to see what the point of Jesus or the atonement even is.
\n
\nPart of this is inevitable I suppose. Years ago Fowler’s Stages of Faith<\/a> popularized the idea that traditional theology was a lower stage of faith. The highest stage of faith was an universalizing conception where sin really didn’t apply and there were just more ethical acts.<\/p>\n

What brings all this up for me are recent comments by John Dehlin about the atonement. I bring this up not to draw attention to John but just because I think it’s the perfect example of something I’ve worried about for some time.<\/p>\n

For most of my life I felt deeply attached to the Christian teachings regarding sin, and the need for an atonement via Jesus Christ. \u201cI Stand All Amazed\u201d was my favorite hymn as a youth.
\nIn one sense the atonement is an ok teaching – in that it acknowledges that we all make mistakes. For some, this can encourage humility and self-improvement.<\/p>\n

But I realize now that the teaching of the Atonement also strikes at the core of much religious-based harm, in that it plants\/spreads the idea that we are all inherently flawed\/broken\/bad\/fallen\/dirty\/sinful, and are thus dependent on a set of beliefs and\/or a man-led institution to become whole\/fixed\/good\/saved\/worthy\/clean again. But always only temporarily…until the next mistake\/screw up\/sin\/transgression (which is always just around the corner, since expectations are set so unreasonably high).<\/p>\n

Sometimes goodness can emerge from this model, but often the atonement model can engender guilt\/shame\/sadness\/self-loathing…that can become toxic for many….leading to anxiety, depression, and even suicidality.
\nFor far too many, the atonement doctrine puts us on never-ending hamster wheel of shame and dependency.<\/p>\n

What if we were all taught from infancy that we were\/are whole, and that every mistake was\/is nothing more than an opportunity to learn\/improve?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In other words there’s improvement, but sin is really just a myth. Now I just don’t think that’s true. God wants us to improve for sure. And his arm is always already outstretched to receive us. However sin is more than just a mistake. It is a fundamental breaking of that relationship. By way of analogy it’s akin to how adultery isn’t merely doing something wrong. It’s a devastating betrayal of our relationship with an other person. <\/p>\n

Yet Dehlin’s view here seems all too common. Not only doesn’t he believe in sin and atonement. The very notions of sin and atonement become seen as themselves evils. Further, I think John’s view is rather typical of many who self-identify as “Nones.” That is they self-identify with no religion. Given how fast that category is growing, this has, I think, large implications for how we do our missionary work. How do you get someone interested when the very idea of atonement is a negative?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I think one of the many social changes we’re seeing unfolding before us is the loss of sin. I don’t mean loss in the good sense of moving away from sin. Rather I mean loss in the sense that the very category of sin is rejected and rendered incomprehensible. Much of Mormon proselytizing depends upon a shared sense of sin. That is that sin is something to overcome and the atonement is the answer. Without a notion of sin it is simply much harder to see what the point of Jesus or the atonement even is.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":37925,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-politics"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/jesus-praying-in-gethsemane-39591-gallery.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37923"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37931,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37923\/revisions\/37931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timesandseasons.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}