Panel: REIMAGINING GOD IN A COMPLEX WORLD: TOWARDS A DYNAMIC THEOLOGY FOR SOCIAL-CULTURAL TRANSFORMATION



964.2 - CAUSALITY OF THE PERCEIVED GOOD

AUTHORS:
Wiese T. (University of St. Andrews ~ St Andrews ~ United Kingdom)
Text:
Traditionally sin has been perceived as the direct linear cause of Adam's first sin which resulted in sinful human nature with a propensity to transgress God's law and an effect of the lack or privation of the good. Recently society views behavior and status of people groups either their gender, sex, race or behaviors as constructed by the norms of society. This creates a view that sin is subjective, changing, and normalized contrary to the traditionally views that sin is violation of God's commands. I argue that sin is a complex dynamical system in which humanity is enslaved. This system of sin is interdependent and inter-relational. The choices the individuals make influence and enable consequences that are not proportional to the sin but nevertheless changes the systems and the individuals in the system, who is turn by their choices change the system. These choices create feedback loops, recursion, and constraints that change and affect the individual and the system. Thus, sin is a perceived good in which human choose within the constraint of the system.