Religious Traditions
The human problem that religious traditions attempt to solve
Religion is one of the oldest human activities that have ever existed since man started interacting with each other. With interaction, there are bound to be challenges coming up between the people involved and concerns of what is the wrong thing or the right thing to be done in such circumstances. This is where the issue of sin and ignorance comes up and in order to well explain and define these, religion is evoked. This shows that religion and man has been growing hand in hand from historical times and as times go by, there are different forms that religion takes within different societies. Indeed it is religion that separates us and sets us apart from the other living species on the earth.
Religion exists to solve a given range of problems and the most fundamental one is the problem of sin. It is important to understand first the concept of religion before delving into the purposes that it serves like that of solving sin as a problem. Despite there being several definitions of religion that come up as a result of studies conducted on the same, there has hardly been any agreement on a single definition of religion. Scholars from different backgrounds have varying contention as to what religion really is. One of the closest and favorite definitions of religion is by James Martineau as quoted by James Livingston (2009) that defines religion as "the belief in an ever-living God, that is, in a Devine Mind and Will ruling the Universe and holding moral relations with mankind." This indicates that religion encourages man to find their point of reference in God or the divine being. It is these divine beings that will help man know what is to be done from what needs not be done....
The different divine beings have their own ways of speaking and giving instructions to man depending on the particular religion. One thing that comes clear is that each religion strives towards developing moral relations with each other. This can be done with avoidance of what is considered sin in that particular religion, most of which are similar in most religions, hence homogeneity in view of sin.
In most religions, sin is the greatest problem that religion needs to fight or endures to fight each day. There is a general belief that religion is the cure to sin and religions define sin as doing what is opposed to the teaching of the divine being with full knowledge of the evils of doing so. This brings in the concept of ignorance, which means if one does that without the full knowledge of the teachings of divine being on that particular evil, then it is not a sin anymore.
Sin is considered as a transgression against the law of the divine being/God or the offense against the moral or the religious law (Merriam Webster, 2014). Religions often derive their commands from the divine being and hence these commands need to be followed to the letter since they are non-negotiable and binding due to the divine source and the divine nature of the laws. Doing the contrary to what the religion says calls for punishment for committing sin. Religion hence has a double role when it comes to the aspect of sin; it both defines what sin is and also acts as a guard against sin. Without religion, it would be a society where knowing what is morally accepted and reprehensible would be impossible, there would be each individual setting their own standards and abiding by them, and this is the void that religion has effectively filled by having clear cut lines on what is…
