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WHATEVER
BECAME OF SIN?
You don't hear much about sin anymore. lt seems to be
one
of those
words irrelevant to modern society. ls sin passé?
by
William F. Dankenbring
W
HAT IS
sin? 1 was talking
about this subject with
severa! people recently.
One American artist thought back
on his life and his experience in the
armed forces and said, "Sin is one
thing in Sunday school and some–
thing else in the service."
A fellow from England com–
mented, "Sin is enjoying yourself."
A few moments later, he added,
"We used to say, 'Let's go have a
sinful time,' and then we'd go danc–
ing or boozing."
"Sin is whatever you believe is
wrong," declared a widely traveled
man in bis forties.
A young, dark-haired photogra–
pher grinned and off-handedly sug–
gested, "Sin is whatever you do that
backfires in your face."
A friend and former
Air
Force
member told me, "I always thought
sin was something that was enjoy–
able." He mentioned that his uncle
was a minister of a church where
people couldn't smoke, drink,
dance, go to movies, or wear lip–
stick. "In fact," he admitted, "my
wife grew up in that atmosphere.
When she was younger, her con–
science would be smitten if she went
to a movie or played cards."
I asked a sophomore college girl
" WAS THE FORBIDDEN FRUIT
AN APPLE?"
One would think so if
artists and writers are to be believed.
But, biblical revelation makes no men–
tion of the kind of fruit the flrst human
beings were "forbidden" to eat. The
tree was, after all, a symbol - of the
wrong kind of knowledge that leads to
sorrow and death.
Ploin Truth
Art
PLAIN TRUTH December 1973
ber opm10n. "1 always thought it
was disobeying your parents," she
replied, "or doing something that
you knew you shouldn't."
''This is so much fun, it's got to be
sinful!" declared a young fellow
summing up the modern view!
The Demise of Sin
The disappearance of the word
"sin" from the vocabulary of mod–
ero youths is significant. As the
moral climate of the world rapidly
changed following the 1950's, and
as the 1960's saw the introduction of
situation ethics, the "new morality,"
and an increasingly pleasure-ori–
ented society, the attitudes of people
toward what was considered sin
have altered accordingly.
Things which were once consid–
ered extremely sinful three genera–
tions ago are now commonly
accepted. Today, living together
without the benefit of matrimony is
considered "aU right" in the eyes of
many. Masturbation, once con–
demned by moralist and medica!
expert alike, is no longer commonly
regarded as a vice but as an experi–
ence, according to modern psy–
chologists. A few generations ago,
most of society considered sex as
sinful, but today, times have
changed. The world of the '70s
is
one in which the moral climate, phi–
losophy, and general temper is
much more tolerant, free, or liber–
tine - depending on one's point of
view.
Many substitute the word "crime"
for sin. Thus, a whole range of
human activities which used to fall
under the category of "sins" against
God have been reduced to "crimes"
against society or individuals. What
once was labeled sin is now mere
social disturbances or mental aber–
rations. Society as a whole has lost
sight of the concept of sin.
lt
went
out with the stagecoach or wind–
wagon.
What has caused the change in
the prevailing attitude toward sin?
How
Attitudes Change
A glimpse of the answer is re–
vealed in a striking research project
sponsored by the National Science
Foundation conducted among Cali–
fornia 6th graders by Dr. Leon Fes–
tinger of Stanford University.
Dr. Festinger conducted an ex–
periment among children in 24
sixth-grade classes in 17 different
schools. Children were offered
prizes for good performance in a
test, and, at the same time, were
given opportunities to cheat.
Changes in their attitudes were ob–
served.
As
the test progressed,
it
became
clear that children who did not take
advantage of cheating opportunities
became more severe in their alti–
tudes toward cheating, but those
who did cheat became more lenient.
Dr. Festinger found that the eas–
ier
ü
was to cheat, the more severe
became the attitude of those who
didn't cheat against those who did.
The harder it was to cheat, the more
lenient toward cheating became the
att itude of those who did cheat.
The greater the reward offered,
the more severe became the attitude
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