This was like watching murder. Defilement. And it was something worse than either of those things. Even among his family, black trade as they were, books were holy things.
The whole conception of 'sin' is one which I find very puzzling, doubtless owing to my sinful nature.
The Basic Writings of Bertrand Russell: 1903-1959
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The whole conception of 'sin' is one which I find very puzzling, doubtless owing to my sinful nature.
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Everything at some point has been declared the root of all evil.
Evil then consists not in being created but in the rebellious idolatry by which humans worship and honour elements of the natural world rather than the God who made them. The result is that the cosmos is out of joint. Instead of humans being God's wise vice-regents over creation, they ignore the creator and try to worship something less demanding, something that will give them a short-term fix of power or pleasure.
The world is evil only when you become its slave.
[M]an cannot be wicked without being evil, nor evil without being degraded, nor degraded without being punished, nor punished without being guilty. In short _ there is nothing so intrinsically plausible as the theory of original sin.
All our good is apparently from God, because we are first naked and holy without any good, and afterwards enriched with all good.