Sin = Disease?

[Shadows-shine]

I saw a thread in another guild comparing sin to disease. So I want to know if it's a fair comparision?


I don't think it is a good analogy because, we can choose to sin or not, but we can't choose if we're going to get a disease or not. We weren't born sinful because Adam fell, we became sinful because we chose to sin.


And if sin were like a disease, then we wouldn't be held accountable for our actions, because we couldn't help or fully understand what we were doing. In legal cases, when a person with a mental disorder is brought to trial for committing murder or some other crime, they usually aren't convicted because the defense argues that they have a disorder and didn't understand what they were doing. So therefore, if sinning was like having an incurable disease, then we can't be punished for them.

Discuss!  

[R0bot0]

Sin is like a disease because even when we think we aren't sinning, we are. Just like we sometimes don't know we are sick, but we are, even if there is physical, emotional, or mental proof that you are sick. It's like a disease, ebacuse it spreads, and multiplies as we multiply.

My point of veiw about this topic 3nodding  

[Fighting Fefnir]

I'd agree with the OP here. I don't think that calling sin a disease is accurate. She's correct in that sin must be chosen in action, compared to the involuntary aspect of disease, and while disease can often go away on its own, sin (in Christian view) must be cleansed by Jesus.

The last point made about mental patients, however, doesn't fit with the Christian aspects of the concept of sin. People are given free will and understand that what they are doing when they sin is harmful to themselves or others, and must thereby be held fully accountable.

I'll point out that God's status as all knowing makes it impossible to have free will in the most well received universal theory of a singular universe having no parallels. With no free will to exercise, there can be no sin because we only have the illusion of free will and can't choose for ourselves. However, that's not really the point.

Point is, sin isn't like a disease at all.  

[Shadows-shine]

XSK Ambrosia

Sin is like a disease because even when we think we aren't sinning, we are. Just like we sometimes don't know we are sick, but we are, even if there is physical, emotional, or mental proof that you are sick. It's like a disease, ebacuse it spreads, and multiplies as we multiply.

My point of veiw about this topic 3nodding

How can we be sinning and not know it? Like just sitting there with your family reading the scriptures, you could still be sinning?  

[rosadria]

It's a useful analogy in explaining the need for Christ. I'm having trouble locating it, but I seem to remember a verse that briefly used a similar analogy. I'll do some digging, but I'm not having much luck at the moment.

Edit: Found it.


But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.
Matthew 9:12  

[Shadows-shine]

VK Fox

It's a useful analogy in explaining the need for Christ. I'm having trouble locating it, but I seem to remember a verse that briefly used a similar analogy. I'll do some digging, but I'm not having much luck at the moment.

Edit: Found it.


But when Jesus heard this, He said, "It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick.
Matthew 9:12

Christ's way of using the analogy was not the same as the thread I saw used it. The way it was potrayed in that thread was that we had no choice whether or not we sin because we are born that way because of Adam. Sinning is a choice. We are sinners because we choose to be, but we can't choose if we have a disease. That's the point I am trying to make. Jesus came to minister to those who didn't know Him and to reveal the Gospel and the standard by which we are supposed to live if we want to return back to Heavenly Father. Yes, we are all sinners, because we chose to disobey God, Jesus was the only one who lived a sinless life, but that doesn't mean we aren't capable of doing that too. We can all be sinless just like Christ. Hence why the scriptures say "Be thou perfect as my Father in Heaven is perfect." If that was such an unrealistic commandment to achieve then Christ would not have said it.