What is Sin?

[BananaSlug]

Most Christians assume "sin" is the opposite of what God wants you to do (God told Moses to touch the rock for water and instead he struck it). I do not believe in "sin" or God but what if "sin" is simply our primitive survival instincts? Bear with me a second...

Murder- many animals kill members of their own species. A male lion killing cubs that do not belong to him ensures they will not compete when they get older.

Adultery- in reality, the only truly monogamous animals are birds (but they still have their flings on the side). Multiple mates ensure you really get your genes out there.

Stealing- A bald eagle that steals fish from an osprey gets food to feed their young without the expense of actually having to work.

Once human ancestors began to live in social groups, especially in early hunter-gatherer societies, any of the above behaviors would automatically be "sin." If a member of the tribe started killing his fellow tribe members two things would happen...
1. They would retaliate and kill him.
2. He would kill everybody and then die (because he would then be alone).

The same thing could be applied to every thing that we would consider "sin," though some would only apply to agrigarian societies (such as abstinence before marriage, etc.).

Any other thoughts?

 

[Rauffenburg]

The most problematic thing about the idea of sin as oulined by you is, that it is not even necessary that this which is against God's will is bad or evil. It becomes necessary only when one assumes that God can do no evil. But how do we know that? It cannot be sufficient to say that we know it by what God has told us. But if we know it independently from what God has told us, we cannot rely on scripture to determine the essence of sinful action.