10 - Sin and salvation

Summary

In philosophical theology, any discussion of sin and salvation involves a notion of God, particularly if sin is regarded as at least sin against God and salvation is regarded as at least salvation by God. A central use of the term God in traditional monotheism offers the term as a maximally honorific title that entails worthiness of worship in a titleholder. Worthiness of worship requires, among other things, moral perfection, including a perfectly loving character altogether free of hate toward other agents. As such, an agent who hates some people will not be a genuine candidate for the titleholder of God. As a result, many alleged Gods fail to qualify as the true God, and emerge instead as imposters. Sin and salvation take on distinctive traits against the background of a God worthy of worship. We shall identify some of these traits in order to illuminate the topic of divine-human redemption in Christian philosophical theology. / Sin / It is arguable that we humans are experts regarding sin, even if we don't know it and even if we don't like to talk about it. It doesn't follow, of course, that we can immediately offer an adequate portrayal of sin. One can be an expert regarding deception, for instance, even if one can't offer an adequate portrayal of deception.