Oedipus does not know that he has married his mother, but does that mean that what he did was not a sin? When we do something wrong, but do not know that it is wrong, do we still deserve to be punished? When King Josiah's men found the Law of God and he was able to read it for the first time, he wept because all of his people had broken God's law. They had not known that they were sinning but they were still sorry, knowing that they had disobeyed God. The Bible says that God is perfect and he must punish sin. So, when we do something wrong, whether we know it or not, we have still sinned. Oedipus obviously knew that what he did was wrong and deserved punishment. However, he did not repent and turn from his sin as the people of Israel did in Josiah's day. Oedipus punished himself and lived in misery. It is awesome to know that we have a merciful God that is faithful and just to forgive our sins when we repent and turn to Him.
P.S. I commented on Ethan's and Hannah's post.
It's really awesome that we have such a merciful God, however, we must keep in mind that the Greeks did not consider their gods so awesome. Their gods make our "Old Testament God" (as some call Him) look meek and mild. But I think Oedipus reacted the way his gods would have reacted had he even repented. They weren't as forgiving as God is.
ReplyDeleteI think in regards to your overall question, yes, sin is still sin no matter what. Even if you don't know that what you are doing is wrong it is still a sin. I small child may steal a piece of candy from the store in complete ignorance of the fact that what they are doing is a crime. Nevertheless, they are still stealing.
ReplyDeleteWhat is sin? Is sin an act of the heart or an act of your physical body, or the combination of the two? If someone were to spike your coffee with alcohol and you were to become drunk, would you be sinning? Is sin the willful act of straying from God's plan or can someone else's sin have a reaction and therefore you have sinned? Only God truly knows but, it is a very interesting topic.
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