Raising Children Without the Concept of Sin

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Tis_Bearself is correct. I entirely agree with you that the microbes know about us, and the best approach to dealing with them is to know a lot about them, which is why people don’t usually die from cuts on the finger or diphtheria these days. In the same way, although you can teach your kids your own conception of right and wrong without ever using the word sin, such an approach is necessarily lacking the correct understanding of the sources of right and wrong.
 
This is an interesting topic, and the article bothered me a lot.

On the most basic level, trying to raise children to be oblivious to basic cultural, moral, and religious concepts such as “sin” will cause problems. I see it as no different than burning books.

With that being said, I don’t like the word “sin”. It is almost too easy to say, and the simplicity of the word seems to sometimes hide a far more complex meaning.

I personally see sin as something that takes you away from God. Occasionally, that is simple, but often I see a deeply complex subject. I believe you have to teach this.
 
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Great thread. It’s too bad that the article’s author has gone hard over to atheism:
Now I believe that this life is the only life we’ll know; this planet, our only existence.
But I suppose the way she is bringing up her children, to be so attentive and caring to other people, may be a good foundation for faith when they get older. For this I pray!

My wife has a cousin who was brought up atheist but found Catholicism as a young adult. It can happen. Praise God!
 
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Of course sin carries a negative connotation- all ethically and morally wrong things are supposed to carry negative meaning. Guilt and shame can aid in the judgement of right and wrong and lead to reponsability as a guiding concept…
 
Everytime I read something like this article I remember that it is pure gift to have been given faith in Christ. Sin is, of course, a real and serious thing, but the Good News is that if we acknowledge our sin Jesus is faithful to cleanse us of it. A self-loathing sense of guilt isn’t a healthy Christian attitude, and it is sad that some were raised with this kind of Christianity. Even sadder is those who refuse to acknowledge that sin exists and to raise their children with no sense of sin. Those kids will have to deal with the fall-out at some point.
 
The fact is, people who do not understand sin will regret it later, perhaps much later. We are all sinners and we all make mistakes. The world does not become perfect if the concept of sin is removed. Even the wealthy, with all their possessions, are still limited as the lowliest day worker. Our options on earth are finite. Our destiny is not. To quote from a billboard I saw that was sponsored by a group of nuns:

Life is short.
Eternity isn’t.
 
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From the NY Times: My religious fundamentalist childhood was built around the fear of sin. My daughters don’t even know the word.

Answer: Really? So they cannot judge right from wrong? Do they run the house, do you? I fear the day that they get driver’s licenses- “It’s all good”. …
 
Her daughter has a concept of sin. It is just not the same one that her mother was brought up with. It is probably different from ours also.
 
If you ask me, this article expresses the single biggest problem with children (and society at large) today. The lack of any understanding of sin.

It makes sense from the point of view of an atheist. If you only have this life, what’s the point of sin?

But we Catholics know that is not the reality and an understanding of sin is vitally important to be able to live the Christian life. More importantly, the idea that our sin offends Jesus.

I can see why the author came to this point from what was obviously an abusive upbringing. But that doesn’t make her less wrong.
 
Catechism
1776 "Deep within his conscience man discovers a law which he has not laid upon himself but which he must obey. Its voice, ever calling him to love and to do what is good and to avoid evil, sounds in his heart at the right moment. . . . For man has in his heart a law inscribed by God. . . . His conscience is man’s most secret core and his sanctuary. There he is alone with God whose voice echoes in his depths."47

47 Gaudium et Spes 16.
 
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