The Social Effects of Sin in America

My opponent's opening remarks on the disagreement of my second guideline are remarks that I accept. Pro has made it clear that sin "is specifically transgression of God's law" and furthers this by stating that the without the religious view on sin, sin would be a "discussion of crime or immoral behavior" rather than a debate based on the argument I am trying to make. Due to this, I willfully thank Pro for clarifying the underlying foundation on which this argument shall continue. The third paragraph of Pro's argument ties into my first point based on his views where I stated "Humans do not commit 'sin', but rather make mistakes and bad choices." Sexuality is only a part of relationships. The initiative of such acts strengthen relationships, but they are not a basis on relationships. The major function of a relationship (and by extension, marriage) is on the basis of commitment. In order for a relationship to function and succeed a couple must be able to agree, commit, and stay true to one another - not express their sexuality. In extension to this, sexuality does strengthen a relationship, but is not the primary "lead[er of] strong families and aid in raising healthy children." Due to this, your argument based on removal of sexuality in the context ipso facto eliminates your transition to the case of sin by homosexuality. As for the case of apostasy, your argument is disproven by means of inaccuracy. Apostasy is defined as a "total desertion of or departure from one's religion, principles, party, cause, etc." [1]; whereas conversion is defined as "a change of attitude, emotion, or viewpoint from one of indifference, disbelief, or antagonism to one of acceptance, faith, or enthusiastic support, especially such a change in a person's religion." [2] You claim that apostasy is "when one changes from the true religion to a false one." The two ideas are separate of each other, but can be combined to denote a similar view (e.g. "Johnny claimed apostasy from Christianity and then converted to Hinduism"). To further this, to state that the separation from the path revealed by God to draw people nearer to him is "a sin against Truth" is based on a completely different topic denoting the "truth" involved in religion. While I will not delve into this premise based on the "truth" of religious faiths, I will state that there are many religions that deem themselves and the only path to God and eternal righteousness and glory and to deem any religion as the "true" religion is disproven on the basis afore mentioned. As for your second point on the judgment of God, the following link is one of the many stories that show that the ostracism of homosexuality from a loved one causes suicide: http://www.prayersforbobby.com.... Since 1993, suicide has greatly increased [3], especially in part of the bullying of homosexuals. It is from the idea of sin that you mentioned in your first point that this is based on. As for your points under "Truth Matters," your "if, then" statement contradicts your logic in part one of homosexuality where you claim that it is sinful to remove sexuality from relationships with homosexuality as a case of such meaning. I agree with you on the premise of "people [striving] for truth and virtue [creates] a better society, but to state that "truth does matter and a society which does not turn its back on truth but lives according to it will be better off" is very ambiguous. I agree with you insofar that "truth does matter," but to live life according to truth and having a society benefit is insufficiently supported. I cannot think of a society where truth is completely derived as the primary cause to its own benefit. Based on this, my point remains the same. Sin does have its effects on society as seen in my argument on homosexuality, but sin is not the apparent virtue that society and religions give it because sin socially and psychologically deconstructs society on the premises afore mentioned and in extension, the idea of sin cannot be brought up without the mention of religious premises, but I still retain the matter that sin is only a negatively connotative synonym for mistakes and bad choices. [1] http://dictionary.reference.com... [2] http://dictionary.reference.com... [3] http://www.afsp.org...