[120] World Scripture - Sin - 2. The Pervasiveness of Sin

[대태양/김현수]

World Scripture Ⅱ

Part Two - Sin and Salvation
Chapter 6 - Evil, Sin and the Human Fall

4) Sin

2. The Pervasiveness of Sin

World Scripture

If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1.8 Nor do I absolve my own self of blame; the human soul is certainly prone to evil, unless my Lord do bestow His mercy. Qur’an 12.53

All men, both Jews and Greeks, are under the power of sin, as it is written, None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside, together they have gone wrong; no one does good, not even one. Romans 3.9-12

No creature, whether born on earth or among the gods in heaven, is free from the conditioning of the three states of matter (gunas). Bhagavad-Gita 18.40 (Hinduism)

Confucius said, “I for my part have never yet seen one who really cared for Goodness, nor one who really abhorred wickedness. One who really cared for Goodness would never let any other consideration come first. One who abhorred wickedness would be so constantly doing Good that wickedness would never have a chance to get at him. Has anyone ever managed to do Good with his whole might even as long as the space of a single day? I think not. Yet I for my part have never seen anyone give up such an attempt because he had not the strength to go on.” Analects 4.6 (Confucianism)

As sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all men sinned. Romans 5.12

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51.5

When the first couple were punished by the judgment of God, the whole human race, which was to become Adam’s posterity through the first woman, was present in the first man. And what was born was not human nature as it was originally created but as it became after the first parents’ sin and punishment… so changed and vitiated that it suffers from the recalcitrance of a rebellious concupiscence and is bound by the law of death. Saint Augustine, City of God 13.3 (Christianity)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Is there anyone in the world whose righteousness is complete and perfect for all eternity? Who can be proud of his or her justice before heaven and earth? No such person exists. Is there anyone who, after finding a religion, has attained a self that will never deviate from the eternal way? You cannot confidently answer Yes. No one has such integrity that he or she can be eternally and inseparably united with Heaven’s principles. (4:135, March 30, 1958)

God is good; therefore human beings should naturally be good. However, we are people with many complications and impurities; we are unable to be good. Thus, there is a large gap between the God of goodness and us humans. When mud or grease sticks to your clean clothes, you want to immediately wash it out or even cut it off, because you hate to see it. God feels the same way when He sees these dirty humans clinging to the hem of His garment. You do not need to know the Bible to realize that we humans are stained. (92:58, March 13, 1977)

Due to the fall, the relationship between God and humankind was completely severed. No matter how people try to return to God, they cannot. Likewise, God cannot relate with us—the gap is so wide.

We are penned in behind a wall, confined behind a boundary line. What is that wall? It prevents us from approaching God, our Parent, to attend Him. It blocks even God from doing what He would want to do. That wall is a serious problem for religious people.

That wall also separates each individual’s mind and body. That wall, with various historical contents, comes between husband and wife. That wall divides families, tribes, peoples, nations, and the whole world. It divides the spirit world from physical world. It stands between heaven and hell. Even if God dwells in heaven on His glorious throne, unless that wall is removed, people on earth can never surmount the walls that surround them on every side. This is the tragedy of human life on earth. (135:268, December 15, 1985)

The Fall meant that Adam and Eve, who should have become one with each other centering on God, instead became one with the archangel Lucifer, who was a mere servant of God. Instead of inheriting God’s lineage, human beings inherited the servant’s bloodline. Therefore, no matter how much fallen people call God “my Father,” they do not feel it as true to life. (91:242, February 23, 1977)

The family created by the relationship between fallen Adam and Eve had no relationship to God. That family became the root of God’s deep sorrow, and the base through which the enemy Satan could claim his rights and exercise his authority over humanity. One man and one woman caused the Fall, but its effect was not limited to that couple only. It extends throughout the cosmos and holds sway throughout all of human history. (46:196, August 15, 1971)

We human beings are still slaves to the fallen nature that we inherited from our first ancestors, Adam and Eve. We have not escaped that yoke. This is evidenced by the confessions of saints and sages. Although they spent their entire lives in fasting and abstinence and unceasingly pursued paths of incredible suffering, they invariably confess that they could not root out the desires of the flesh before they had to leave this world. Their confessions remain as pitiful cries to their disciples who still insist on following in their footsteps. (May 1, 2004)