Table 1 Subject Category:
Sin

  • Christianity
  • Christian Science
  • Spiritualism
  • Jehovah's Witnesses
  • Mormonism
  • Eastern Mysticism
  • The Way International
  • Unity
  • Unification Church
    •

    BIBLICAL CHRISTIANITY

    Sin

    There is none righteous, no, not one (Romans 3:10).

    For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).

    If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us (I John 1:10).

    If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us (I John 1:8).

    Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law, for sin is the transgression of the law (I John 3:4).

    Whatever is not of faith is sin (Romans 14:23).

    Therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin (James 4: 17).
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    CHRISTIAN SCIENCE

    Sin

    Here also is found the cardinal point in Christian Science, that matter and evil (including all inharmony, sin, disease, and death) are UNREAL (Misc. Writings, p. 27).

    Man is incapable of sin, sickness, and death (SH, 475:28).

    The real man cannot depart from holiness (SH, 475:29).

    Sin, sickness, and death are to be classified as effects of error. Christ came to destroy the belief of sin (SH, 473 :4-6).

    Evil is unreal (SH, 339:9-10).

    The only reality of sin, sickness, or death is the awful fact that unrealities seem real to human, erring belief, until God strips off their disguise (SH, 472:27-29).

    The opposite of Truth, called error, sin, sickness disease, death, is the false testimony of false material sense, of mind in matter (SH, 108:24-26).
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    SPIRITUALISM

    Sin

    Man never had a fall.

    Whatever is, is right. Evil does not exist. Evil is good. No matter what man's path may be, good or bad, it is the path of divine ordination and destiny. (Childs, Whatever Is, Is Right).

    A lie is the truth intrinsically: it holds a lawful place in creation, it is a necessity. (Andre, The True Light, p. 162).

    We believe in intelligent and ignorant spirits. No being is naturally bad--evil always originates in ignorance.

    Death is not a violent result of sin. It was neither friend nor enemy. It is a part of the divine purpose (SM, 1940).
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    JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

    Sin

    Sin is a falling short of God's mark of perfection, transgression of His righteous law (MS, p. 456).

    Adam and Eve sinned by disobeying God's plainly stated law (MS, p. 457).

    At death, Adam was to return to the dust, a return to non-existence (NH, p. 88).

    No descendant of Adam is free from sin: all inherit it from first man (MS, p. 458).

    All are born in sin (imperfect, with wayward tendencies) (MS, p. 456).

    Adam brought death not only upon himself, but also upon all the race descended from him (NH, p. 89).

    Perfect human life was lost with its rights and earthly prospects (LG, p 114).
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    MORMONISM

    Sin

    Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy (11 Nephi 2:25).

    Adam deliberately and wisely chose (to touch the forbidden tree) and partook of the fruit (Talmage, DC, p. 65).

    Adam cried, "Because of my transgression my eyes are opened, and in this life I shall have joy" (Pearl of Great Price, Moses 5:1011).

    We ought to consider the fall of our first parents as one of the great steps to external exaltation and happiness (Mormon Catechism).

    We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression (AF, 2).

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    EASTERN MYSTICISM

    Sin

    The subject per se is given little attention, and forgiveness of sin is unrealistic. By the Law of Karma--"sowing and reaping"--wrong actions inevitably produce punishment, good actions their reward. Salvation consists of doing good in excess of evil in order to evolve to the highest state through successive incarnations. This highest state is Enlightenment--the realization of oneness with the World-Soul, Reality.

    Sin is not defined. It consists of actions which are contrary to one's "dharma" or "duty."

    "Sin means wrongdoing or wrong thinking due to discontentment. Suffering is the result of some wrongdoing in the past."

    "Past sins might induce an action in the present; some tendency of the past may come to us" (Meditations of Maharishi, p. 121).

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    THE WAY INTERNATIONAL

    Sin

    We, as well as Jesus Christ, were with God in His foreknowledge, but not in existence, before the foundation of the world (JC, p. 29).

    The Bible teaches that all men since Adam are born "dead in trespasses and sin" (JC, p. 70).

    When Adam sinned, Satan, who was the supreme enemy of God, obtained absolute control over all that which God had originally given to Adam (NDC, p. 59).

    What does God see on the palms of our hands? He sees on them nothing but sin, doubt, fear, bitterness, quarrels lies, hatredóeverything that sta ns a sinner (Wierville, The Bible Tells Me So, p. 108).

    Man fell because of disobedience to God's Word (JC, p. 66).

    The spirit departed from Adam....Adam and Eve's spiritual connection with God was lost (JC, p. 67).

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    UNITY

    Sin

    Man is made in the image of God...the divine spark at the center of his being . . . is very part of God Himself (GP, p. 57).

    God is within you. You can find Him there (UTC, p. 29).

    Every man in reality, is the Son of God, not a Son of God. We are all one in the One Mind, and do not exist as individualities in Divine Mind. Man is the manifestation of the "only begotten Son" of God, or the Christ idea Man. Therefore he is the Christ of God (UM, February 1918, p. 127).

    God is good and God is all. Therefore I refuse to believe in the reality of devil or evil in any of its forms.... God is life...I refuse to believe in the reality of loss of life, or death....I refuse to believe in inefficiency and weakness...in ignorance, the reality of lack or poverty...hate or revenge (SA, pp. 58-59).

    In its virgin purity, [the flesh] is the immaculate substance of Being. If it appears corrupt, or subject to corruption, humanity has made it so through ignorance (SB, p. 208).

    The forgiveness of sin is an erasure of mortal thoughts from consciousness (SB, p. 56).

    Sin, sickness, poverty, old age, and death are not real, and they have no power over me. There is nothing in all the universe for me to fear (LT, p. 35).

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    UNIFICATION CHURCH

    Sin

    Adam and Eve...were tempted by the archangel Lucifer into illicit and forbidden love. Through this, Adam and Eve willfully turned away from God's will and purpose for them, thus bringing themselves and the human race into spiritual death (DUTA).

    Evil is the emergence of selfishness into this world. God's principle of unselfish giving was twisted into an ungodly principle of selfish taking. The origin of evil is Satan (CIC, pp. 16-17).
    Taken from: The Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error 2. Compiled by Steven Cory. Copyright 1986, Moody Bible Institute of Chicago. Moody Press. Used by permission.

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