L5- Social Sin

• Sin from Christian Perspective

  Sin, from a Christian perspective, is any thought, word, or action contrary to Christian moral norm. Sin is the violation of God’s law. In the New Testament, sin is understood as hamartia, a Greek word which means, missing the target.
• Sin from Christian Perspective


  In the Old Testament, sin is disobedience against the commandment of the Lord (Lev. 26:14-39; Deut. 11:26-28; 28:15 ff). The story of Adam and Eve describes how they disobeyed God by eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil
• Sin from Christian Perspective

  The story of the Judges presents the vicious cycle of the people by repeatedly committing idolatry.
• Sin from Christian Perspective

  The stories of the Old Testament are actually a history of people falling away from their merciful God who constantly loves and forgives His people.
• Sin from Christian Perspective

  In the New Testament, there are many stories of transgressions and offenses. One of the parables of Jesus describes sin as the ungrateful desertion of the Lord (The Parable of the Merciful Father).
• Sin from Christian Perspective

  In the Letter of Paul to the Romans 1:18-32, Jesus said that sin is denial of glorification due to God and the presumptive attempt to be one’s own lord.
• Sin from Christian Perspective

  Sinners are excluded from the Kingdom of God. Sin, therefore, is disobedience to the commandment of God and rejection of His Kingdom.
• Classifications of Sin

  1. Original Sin
  2. Personal Sin
• passive notionof the original sin

  refers to the sinful situation into which everyone is born or also known as “the sin of the world” (John 1:29) which ultimately is the rejection of Christ.
• active notion of the original sin

  refers to the involuntary inclination to sin and the collusion with the sins of others prior to choice.
• Original Sin


  It signifies the powerlessness in the human being before any personal sin. This is similar to what St. Augustine describes as aversion a Deo or alienation from God (Gorospe, 57-58, 59).
• Original Sin

  At the bottom of these two notions of original sin is the reality at hand that there is something wrong in this world and that the human being seems powerless before evil.
• Original Sin

  On the brighter side, the seeming disjunction of the world due to original sin opens to us another reality that we need to be redeemed and that necessitates a redeemer.
• Original Sin

  The redemption process, however, entails our active participation through the path of discipleship. We have to follow what Jesus did like giving sight to the blind and freeing the captives we have to work to experience ginhawa.
• Personal sin


  refers to the actual sin one commits in everyday life. It can be distinguished as mortal/grave offense and venial/light offense.
• Mortal sin


  is a transgression of God’s law in an important matter with full knowledge, consent, and free will. Examples could be murder and adultery.
• Venial sin 


  is a transgression of God’s law in an important matter, but without full knowledge and freedom (K.H. Peschke, 300). Examples could be lying to help others or just for fun and eating a little too much.
• Types of Social Sin

  1. Sinful Structures
  2. Sinful situations
  3. Complicity
• Sinful Structures

  Are those which systematically oppress human dignity and violate human rights. They stifle human freedom and impose gross inequality between the rich and the poor

  One example is the justice system: many politically motivated killings happened but nothing has been resolved
• Sinful situations


  Are those which promote and facilitate greed and human selfishness.

  Example of which are hiring and contractualization in labor and the unjust division of profit between the landlord and the peasant.
• Sinful situations

  The rich, and those who have the capital, use the said conditions to maximize and increase their profit even if the poor live in subhuman condition
• Complicity


  Refers to a disposition where persons opt not to take responsibility for the evil being done or they silently allow oppression and injustice to continue. This is also understood as indifference.
• Complicity

  When we want to play safe or when we do not want to get involved with issues especially if this will affect our family, these are forms of complicity
• Complicity results to the mentality in Filipino called kanya-kanya. We do not mind others’ business, for as long as it does not affect us.
• Complicity

  But the truth is, we affect one another; every action, be it group or individual, has a social effect because we are interconnected – magkaungay ang lahat.