On Tuesday 7 May 2002 MT wrote:

> What is sin, in a unificationism point of view?

Here is the Divine Principle viewpoint:

Sin is a violation of heavenly law which is committed when a person forms a common base with Satan, thus setting a condition for give and take action with him. Sin can be classified into four kinds. The first is the original sin. This sin originated with the spiritual and physical fall of our first human ancestors. It is ingrained in our lineage and is the root of all sins. The second is hereditary sin. This is sin which one inherits from one's ancestors on account of their connection through lineage. It is written in the Ten Commandments that the sins of parents will be visited upon their descendants. (Exod. 20:5)

The third is collective sin. This is sin for which a person is responsible as a member of a group, even though he neither committed the sin himself nor inherited it from his ancestors. An example of this kind of sin is the crucifixion of Jesus. Although only the chief priests and certain scribes committed the deed when they sent Jesus to be crucified, the Jewish people and humanity as a whole have together shouldered the responsibility for this sin. As a consequence, the Jewish people were cast into the position to undergo grievous suffering, and humanity as a whole has had to walk a path of tribulation, until the Second Coming of Christ. The fourth is individual sin, which an individual himself commits.

The original sin may be thought of as the root of all sins, hereditary sin as the trunk, collective sin as the branches, and individual sin as the leaves. All sins sprout from the original sin, which is their root. Without extirpating the original sin, there is no way to completely eradicate other sins. However, no man is able to unearth this root of sin, buried deep in the recesses of time. Only Christ, who comes as the root and True Parent of humanity, can grasp it and uproot it.

http://www.unification.net/dp96/dp96-1-2.html#Sec4_5
Exposition of the Divine Principle
Chapter 2, The Human Fall, Section 4.5 - Sin

So sin is any action which brings us into relationship with Satan. It groups sin into four categories, the original sin of our first ancestors, which we all inherit through our fallen blood lineage. Second is the sin we inherit from our ancestors. Third is collective sin such as the sin of slavery in America. Fourth is our personal sin. It likens sin to a tree, with the categories of sin representing the root, trunk, branches and leaves. The mission of the Messiah is to uproot this evil tree and establish the tree of life, which is likewise created by the true lineage of the Messiah and all his offspring. The true parents are the tree, we are the branches, just as Jesus said that he was the vine an we are the branches in John 15.

Damian Anderson
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