{"id":10886,"date":"2021-11-23T01:10:32","date_gmt":"2021-11-22T14:10:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/?p=10886"},"modified":"2022-07-02T14:25:30","modified_gmt":"2022-07-02T04:25:30","slug":"no-sin-no-christianity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rationalemagazine.com\/index.php\/2021\/11\/23\/no-sin-no-christianity\/","title":{"rendered":"No sin, no Christianity"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mp_wrapper\">\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-excerpt\">\n    <p>Editor\u2019s note: If you would like to submit a letter for possible publication, please email it to editor@rationalist.com.au.\nDear Editor,\nPaul Monk, in his piece It's time to abolish the erroneous idea of sin, states that teaching about 'sin' and the 'fall' has all sorts of pernicious consequences. He says that these notions are utterly without credibility and that to teach that we inherit a fallen and sinful nature is odious. He maintains that such teachings should be rejected root and branch and that to do so would pull the rug from the whole edifice of revelation and salvation.\u00a0\nMonk is correct in everything he says. What needs to be stressed, however, is that to reject these teachings would do much more than pull the rug from the edifice of revelation and salvation.\nRejection of these concepts goes to the core of Christian belief \u2013 the belief in Jesus. Jesus, the saviour and son of God, came to earth to have himself sacrificed so that all those who believe this story can have their \u2018sin\u2019 cancelled and go to heaven. If there had been no original sin, then there would have been no need for God to have impregnated a betrothed Palestinian virgin in order to give birth to Jesus.\nRejecting the absurdities of original sin and the 'fall' is equivalent to rejecting Jesus. No Jesus equals no Christianity. Rejection of these beliefs is, therefore, a rejection of Christianity.\nMichael Meyerson\n&nbsp;\nDear Editor,\nOn reading Paul Monk's article on sin where he contends that the very id...<\/p>\n  <\/div>\n  <div class=\"mepr-unauthorized-message\">\n    <hr style=\"width: 100%;max-width: 1000px !important;height: 5px;border-width: 0;color: red;background-color: red\" \/>\n<div style=\"text-align: center\">\n<h3><em>You're part way through this article. Want to keep reading?<\/em><\/h3>\n<h4><em>Only members of the Rationalist Society of Australia can read our Premium articles.\u00a0<\/em><\/h4>\n<h3 style=\"height: 20px\"><span style=\"color: #c83200\"><em><a style=\"color: #c83200\" href=\"https:\/\/rationalist.com.au\/membership\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Become a member today.<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h3>\n<h4><em>Already a member? 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