the concept of sin

For a while I’ve been thinking: what exactly are religions referring to when they talk about sin? What does sin actually represent in daily life?

If you don’t have a base definition of sin in your mind, it’s possible for you to either go down the rabbit hole of guilt and shame or stop caring about it altogether and not take it seriously.

So far, this is the idea I have come up with: I think that our universes (physical, spiritual, emotional, etc,) run on certain laws of nature. Some of our actions can cause us to benefit from these laws. And if we violate certain other laws it can harm us instead. Thus, sin would be a violation of natural law in such a way that it causes one, or others, more harm than benefit.

By this definition, the teachings of a true religion or a philosophy would have to be congruent with the most accurate findings in science. Consider this: if after rigorous research we find that lying causes relationships between loved ones to break up which causes more negative consequences (assuming that somehow science has arrived at a “final truth”), then we could make the argument that lying is a sin. Because in the long run, it does not serve us well.

If authenticity holds more benefit in certain situations than its opposite, then in that situation that could be considered a virtue. If being sedentary could cause more harm than benefit to your health, then perhaps it could be considered a sin.

Now, this problem is more complex than what I’ve explained so far, because it doesn’t explain a bunch of other things like how do we even determine what is harmful and what is not, especially in different contexts, etc. Perhaps this is where checking out world religions or some philosophies, or long-tested scientific findings, or gathering observations would be useful.

However, I believe that thinking of sin in a, say, more arithmetic way could reduce the feelings of shame that can get in the way of genuine self-improvement and unnecessarily burden you. If you realize that certain actions of yours cause more harm to yourself and others, you could see the logic behind it and just change up your actions.

Again, this issue has a lot more rabbit holes you could dive into. For example, you could argue that a lower sense of spirituality could mean a lower sense of self-awareness, awareness of what causes harm or what is good or bad, or a lower sense of motivation for trying to change oneself… But the main point is that perhaps we can start by seeing sin as just a violation of natural laws that doesn’t serve us well in the end.