Christian views on sin
Your lips have spoken falsely, and your tongue mutters wicked things" — a separation between God and man, and unrequited worshipping.
[14] The Jansenist movement, which the Catholic Church declared to be heretical, also maintained that original sin destroyed freedom of will.
[20] Substantial branches of hamartiological understanding, including Catholic,[21] Presbyterian,[22] Continental Reformed,[23] and Reformed Baptist[24] subscribe to the doctrine of original sin,[25] which they believe Paul espouses in Romans 5:12–19 and which Augustine of Hippo popularized in Western Christianity and developed into a notion of "hereditary sin".
[27][28] The Fall that occurred when Adam and Eve disobeyed God affected humankind only minimally as it established a negative moral precedent.
[29][30] A third line of thinking takes an intermediate position, asserting that since the Fall the sin of Adam has naturally affected human beings such that they have inborn tendencies to rebel against God (in which rebellion by personal choice all accountable humans, except Jesus and, to Catholics, Mary, will choose or have chosen to indulge).
[33] Hickey states that "Through the power of Jesus Christ, no generational curses need remain in our family lineage" and says that prayer is efficacious in ending the cycle of ancestral sin.
[33] James Owolagba adds that in addition to prayer, frequent church attendance including regular reception of the sacraments, especially Holy Communion, aids in delivering an individual from generation sin.
(STh I–II q.71 a.6)[40]To recognise the possibilities of sin in man is equal to acknowledge his human nature, his control and mastery of his own actions.
Sometimes, however, the sinner's will is directed to a thing containing a certain inordinateness, but which is not contrary to the love of God and one's neighbour, e.g. an idle word, excessive laughter, and so forth: and such sins are venial by reason of their genus.
At the root of the inordinate turning to the creatures is self-love which expresses itself in disordered desire (cupiditas) and rebellion towards God (superbia).
Some forms of the seven deadly sins (i.e. debilitating one's health because of their love of food) can constitute as grave matter, while others may just be venal (i.e. over-eating).
[45] The Eastern Orthodox Church presents a view of sin distinct from views found in Catholicism and in Protestantism, that sin is viewed primarily as a terminal spiritual sickness, rather than a state of guilt, a self-perpetuating illness which distorts the whole human being and energies, corrupts the Image of God inherent in those who bear the human nature, diminishes the divine likeness within them, disorients their understanding of the world as it truly is, and distracts a person from fulfilling his natural potential to become deified in communion with God.
In the case of the believers those sins are called mortal which force the Holy Spirit to depart from one’s heart, which destroy faith.
For the Holy Ghost does not permit sin to have dominion, to gain the upper hand so as to be accomplished, but represses and restrains it so that it must not do what it wishes.
But Scripture testifies that there are also some other sins in which also the reconciled, when they have fallen, lose faith, the Holy Spirit, the grace of God, and life eternal, and render themselves subject to divine wrath and eternal death unless, turned again, they are reconciled to God through faith (Rom 8:13; 1 Cor 6:10; Gal 5:21; Eph 5:5; Col 3:6; 1 Jn 3:6, 8; 1 Tim 1:19; 2 Per 1:9).
[53][50][54] 'Sin, improperly so called' include those in the "category of benign neglect, fruits of infirmity (forgetfulness, lack of knowledge, etc)".
"[55] John Wesley explains the matter like this:[56] Nothing is sin, strictly speaking, but a voluntary transgression of a known law of God.
There may be ten thousand wandering thoughts, and forgetful intervals, without any breach of love, though not without transgressing the Adamic law.
[56]If a person backslides through sin proper but later returns to God, he or she must repent and be entirely sanctified again, according to Wesleyan-Arminian theology.
We further believe that original sin continues to exist with the new life of the regenerate, until the heart is fully cleansed by the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
"[59]This original sin remains after salvation and may only be removed by entire sanctification (the second work of grace or baptism with the Holy Spirit).
Richard S. Taylor explains "Many, perhaps most, of the errors which have protruded themselves into Christian theology can be finally traced to a faulty conception of sin.
There may be ten thousand wandering thoughts, and forgetful intervals, without any breach of love, though not without transgressing the Adamic law.
It is therefore not to be confused with involuntary and inescapable shortcomings, infirmities, faults, mistakes, failures, or other deviations from a standard of perfect conduct that are the residual effects of the Fall.
"[62] H. Orton Wiley, the premier Holiness theologian of the last 100 years, explains that in defining sin, "the power to obey or disobey is an essential element.
As John Allen Wood, one of the Methodist leaders of the Welsyean-Holiness movement explains in his work, Perfect Love: "The Lowest type of Christian sinneth not and is not condemned.
"[67] This leads D. S. Warner, the founder of the Church of God to conclude "Holiness writers and teachers, as far as my knowledge extends, uniformly hold up a sinless life, as the true test and Bible standard of regeneration.
[70] Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that individuals are only responsible for the sins they personally commit.
In their Articles of Faith the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teaches, "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.
The traditional teaching of some churches traces this idea of atonement to blood sacrifices in the ancient Hebraic faith.
