A strange, but entirely sincere question...

[Plantaganet]

Does God sin?

Just something I've been pondering today. All and any responses are welcome.

[iris27]

1. Which God did you have in mind?

But yeah, most of them at some point in the writings about them have done things that violate the code of behavior they set for their followers.

[sakabatou]

7. Let's just say it's the god of the Biblical god

[iris27]

27. TWWYP?

To whom would Yahweh pray? :rofl:

[polichick]

2. Only if it's true that He created Republicans.

[ZombieHorde]

3. According to the Christian Holy Bible, God made humans in God's image; sounds like idolatry to me.

(meant to be funny)

[Angry Dragon]

4. The Bible does say that god is an angry and jealous god

and he did kill millions of people and animals

[grasswire]

8. did he kill them, or did they die as a result of their choices and free will? n/t

[Deep13]

11. Whose choice was the flood, the destruction of Sodom or the divine injunctions to ...

...kill and enslave?

[trotsky]

29. You see, god was FORCED to murder all those millions...

because they sinned. It's not his fault!

[NMMNG]

14. More of that blame the victim crap

You're offered two choices; submit to the whims and demands of the overlord or suffer. It's your own "free will" if you get tortured or even killed by God because you didn't do his bidding to the Nth degree. What sort of fucked up sadist sets up such a scheme? What's more, how is this being worthy of worship?

Did Job's children and servants die as a result of their choices/free will? Or did God just smite them to antagonize Job as part of a bet with Satan? I'm anxious to see how you'll twist it to tell me that Job and his children chose to be tortured by God.

[snagglepuss]

What did rabbits, moose and elephants do to deserve being drowned?

[snagglepuss]

23. What did rabbits, moose and elephants do to deserve being drowned?

[Angry Dragon]

26. If one believes what is written in the Bible

he really did kill them

[SheilaT]

5. I have to go with:

Just exactly how are you defining sin?

I rather expect that most believers (especially fundamentalists of all kinds) would say that if God does it, then by definition it's not a sin. At least not for him. Sort of like the idea (wrong, in my opinion) that the President is above the law, and that anything he does is okay.

Maybe we should ponder: Does God have lawyers?

[sakabatou]

6. He's murdered plenty of people

1. Let's human sacrifice be practiced (Jeptha's daughter)
   
2. Lies (I'm not sure which person, but he promised a guy that he'd win the battle)
   
3. Demands sacrifices of animals (Gluttony?)
   
4. Get's pissed off at many people (Jonah, people of Israel for many reasons)
   
5. Allows sin to appear by not stopping Adam and Eve eating the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. If he's all knowing, then he knew this would happen.
   
6. Blames us for not being omnicient
   
7. Would send good people to Hell, just for not believing
   

Etc.

[grasswire]

10. I don't think you are considering the principle of free will...

...the opportunity for the humans to make their own choices.

[darkstar3]

12. In the presence of an omnipotent and omniscient creator, free will is a red herring.

Say what you will about the Calvinists, at least their views on predestination made sense in context with their vision of God.

[Exultant Democracy]

22. ha

love this post

[LAGC]

18. According to many neuroscientists, its looking increasingly unlikely that we really have "free will"

It's an illusion, created by our limited perceptions of the world and our ignorance of what really goes on inside our brains.

[NMMNG]

19. The principle of free will

The opportunity for the religious to blame victims for their own plight. It's especially popular in RRRW circles.

[dmallind]

21. Sure - Every human on earth but Noah's family chose to drown of their own free will. nt

[sakabatou]

31. Including innocent children and pregnant women

[BillyJack]

24. He's created many people

aka: You and Me, and others (like the whole human race....across time)

:shrug:

[sakabatou]

30. My parents "created" me. Your parents "created" you

No deity involved (imo).

[BillyJack]

32. ehm, our parents had nothing to do with the mechanisms in place

lead to our 'creation'

Who put those mechanisms in place?

the sex drive
the formation of offspring in a variety of environments (mammilian, reptilian, etc.)

ETC.

---------


you said:

My parents "created" me. Your parents "created" you. No deity involved (imo).
:rofl:

Speaking as a 'simpleton' myself, you are most likely more of a simpleton than me

[deacon_sephiroth]

33. I'll be sure to tell my folks that.

"Hey guys you had NOTHING TO DO with making me."

Then I'm gonna get a DNA test to prove it to them.

I can't wait until Maury opens the envelope and says "The real father is.... GOD!" He gets around a lot I hear.

When my wife gets pregnant I'll remind her that she's got nothing to do with the creation of that kid, so she shouldn't worry about the pain, it's not her problem.

[Deep13]

9. Hard to know how to answer that.

First, as a nonbeliever I don't accept either god or sin.

But considering the question within the context of Judeo/Christian/Muslim religions, it depends on what the rules are. I put it that way because the examples of morality are contradictory in the Bible. Further, many of the moral imperatives are pretty immoral by any, well, moral standard. And if Yahweh is above the rules, in what sense are those rules or God good or ethical?

[Betsy Ross]

13. No, by definition. n/t

[Speck Tater]

15. If God wanted to sin he'd just change the rules so it wasn't a sin anymore.

Or create a special exemption for himself.

The deeper answer might depend on the definition of "sin". Some define sin as an offense against God. Can God offend himself?

Others might argue that sin is some offense against our fellow beings. In that case, a being with perfect love and compassion probably couldn't even conceive of committing some offense against those he truly loved.

If I believed in God (which I don't) I'd likely say that God has the capability to sin if he so chose, but has no motivation for doing so. So God is free of sin simply because, as constituted, it's physically impossible (forgive the broad use of the term "physically") for God to choose to sin. It would be contrary to his basic nature. It would be rather like asking if the thermostat on your home heating system could steal your wife and car and run away to Vegas. Your care and wife are safe, but not because the thermostat is morally superior, but simply because it is not in the thermostat's nature to do such a thing.

[Mendocino]

16. Fictional characters are

capable of anything.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. you gotta be fucking pulling my leg. welcome to DU.

:hi:

[Tsiyu]

20. Only if She has to

And only on Tuesdays between 4:00 and 7:00 PM

[hyphenate]

25. I don't know about

but I can speak on something that might be related, and that's that what one group sees as a sin, might not be considered a sin in another part of the world.

We can see some of the things we might consider horrendous going on in another part of the world that is considered normal. We live with culture shock all the time, but the world we know now, in the 21st centiry, has been growing smaller all the time in terms of different customs and mores. But even 50 years ago, there were things going on in other parts of the world which could shock us to the core.

So we really don't have to look to a god, just to our own species, and we can truthfully say that there really isn't so much sin going on in the world, but that we might consider something a sin that could be perfectly mundane in another part of the world.

A large part of that could be seen here in our own lives: marriage and sex with someone under the "legal" age. For centuries, when the life expectancy was lower, it wasn't uncommon for a dirty old man to take a child bride. And pregnancy was normal for some as well. Abducting children for sexual slaves, marriage with first cousins, or even brothers and sisters were commonplace. Now, any of these would be unheard of, if not downright illegal. In some countries, some babies, especially female babies, are immediately killed.

Sin can't be really sin if it's part of their culture, and changing perceptions make "sin" of whatever they want it to be. Here in the US, it's not so much whether someone sins or not, but of what is legal, and what is illegal. For the most part, modern law sees polygamy, having sex with a minor, marrying a minor, etc., as unlawful, but there are plenty around who try to point out that their "religious" beliefs don't think it as such.

So, sin, is relative.

[TheMadMonk]

28. Like a kid with an anthill and a magnifying glass. /nt

[deacon_sephiroth]

34. no, he's not real, but his idea has inspired PLENTY n/t