These seven sins consist of greed, lust, gluttony, sloth, pride, wrath, and envy. Although categorized in seven distinct areas, sin can be manifested through many actions that humans regularly partake in. James Kinney’s poem titled The Cold Within describes just a few out of many behaviors or ways of thinking that humans are guilty of daily. Kinney depicts a human who does not want to attribute for the greater good simply because “For, of the faces around the fire, She noticed one was black” (Kinney, The Cold Within, 7-8). This describes an unfortunately very real evil behavior that a wide amount of humans participate in which is, in other words, described as racism. The poem mentions many humans denying to help the greater good for any reasons such as “…Saw one not of his church And could not bring himself to give The fire his stick of birch, …Why should his log be put to use To warm the idle rich, …keeping all that he had earned / From the lazy, shiftless poor, …For he saw in his stick of wood A chance to spite the white, …Did nought except for gain Giving just to those who gave Was how he played the game”
In the poem The Cold Within, each stanza described a reason why each person would not contribute and help towards the greater good, each of which serving as an example of multiple human sins. These behaviors as mentioned previously included racism, prejudice, envy, greed, sloth, selfishness, etc. All of these actions that are much too commonly known are all valid examples of what exactly human sin is and how often humans commit them. There are varying explanations as to why human beings possess the ability to commit human sin consciously and especially unconsciously.
According to Gregor Etzelmiiler in The Evolution of Sin, the existence of sin derived from ultimately what is called the dark side of creation. Etzelmiiler explains that beings must understand how sin has already influenced the evolution of human beings, and the development of their lives. Sin is often described as evolving out of simply the creation of humans; the term sin is often times synonymous with just being born human and living. The lyrics from the song “Demons” by the band Imagine Dragons describes sin as a trait that is innately born within us, “Look into my eyes It’s where my demons hide It’s where my demons hide Don’t get too close It’s dark inside” (Imagine Dragons, Demons, 17-22). The band continues on in regards to sin as if humans have no control over this unfortunate attribute, “I am hell bound Though this is all for you Don’t wanna hide the truth” (Imagine Dragons, Demons, 34-36). In contrast, a song called “Human” written by Rory Graham describes sin as something that should not be perceived as a failure from humans.
Graham explains that sin is as mentioned previously, natural, but goes on to explain that humans are not to blame for something that they cannot avoid, “I’m only human I make mistakes I’m only human that’s all it takes to put the blame on me Don’t put the blame on me ’cause I’m no prophet or messiah” (Rag’n’bone man, Human, 48-54). Sin is often times described as the unfortunate consequence of attempting to simply survive. It is described as part of the natural drive of humans to live freely, despite the limitations one may encounter such as natural sin. Robert Russell argues that despite our limitation known as human sin, “(humans) must control our natural environment to some extent to survive, which is only temporary. But because we can consciously control it to a degree, we transcend nature to some extent” (Russell, 84).
Sin has the capability to do good for and towards human behavior. Although there are multiple ways that one could participate in sin, one example is often times very prevalent in almost every human’s lives. The basic drive to survive and succeed can be taken to an extreme form of becoming selfish, and self-orientated with no regards to others. Despite this, human beings have the innate need to help others and have a natural urge to help others. Although considered opposites, “they are not mutually exclusive in life.
It is possible for the same person to behave in both ways at different times or in relation to different things” (Russell, 87). Without being aware of the severity of the opposite form of behavior, one is not able to consciously make sound decisions in regards to how they should act. Difficulties that human beings often face throughout their lifetimes can be taken as an opportunity for self-growth into becoming a healthier, kinder, and overall better human. From a greater standpoint, the sins of humans and their weaknesses can be looked at as strengths when perceived from another perspective. There may be a situation where it absolutely requires somebody with the ability to make sure they succeed; which can often times be taken as a sin, in order to get things done around in our society. The ability to understand human sin and to be conscious of it allows human beings to sort of measure themselves and their behaviors and decide what kind of person they’d want to become.
Sin is a complicated term that has many varying definitions and interpretations. Often times human sin is viewed as malicious acts that humans consciously choose to partake in, and in contrast, viewed as well as unconscious acts. Although the facts are that sins are negative and/or evil behaviors, without the consciousness of sin, humans would not be able to improve not only their own actions, but to improve their own society.
