Doctor Faustus and the Role that Sin plays in God's Divine Plan

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Doctor Faustus and the Role that Sin plays in God's Divine Plan. The nature of sin is brought up many times in the play Doctor Faustus. It seems that Faustus (like all of us) is damned. The question posed is; can we as humans do anything to save ourselves from eternal damnation, or are we doomed from birth. The play deals with Faustus struggle to understand sin and its effect on the human soul. There is a interesting scene where the seven deadly sins appear before Faustus. To understand the importance of the seven deadly sins in this play, we must first learn what constitutes a sin. Once we grasp this, we can proceed to understand the role that sin has on the play. Then we can determine whether or not we as individuals have any impact on our salvation. In the bible sin is regarded as any deviation or any lack of conformity, to the will and nature of God. The basic cause for sin is a lack of perfect love for god. Sins come in many forms, they can consist of deeds, thoughts, attitudes, or even states of character. The bible teaches that all people have sinned, and that by our nature we are all sinners. To find out more about the nature of sin I opened my bible to see what insight the new testament had to offer. It seems that nowhere in the bible is there an attempt to give a formal or comprehensive definition of sin. The bible talks a lot on the subject of sin but seems to give little philosophical insight into the nature of sin. The Apostle Paul declares that "anything that is not based on faith is sin." (Romans 14:23) It seems that God wants man to live with his face continually turned toward him in love, devotion, and obedience. The Apostle James talks about how there are sins of commission and omission, for "the person ... ... middle of paper ... ... From mortal and venial sins to the seven deadly sins, the concept of sin can be a tough thing to nail down. Our predispositions about life and the temptations we experience while we are here can bog us down. This can keep us from the real message of good news. That we are all saved, and our sins are already paid for. All we have to do is repent and turn toward god. Like Jesus said "Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." (Matthew 7:7) He is there, all you have to do is let him in. That truly is the good news that Faustus missed out on. Works Cited English Renaissance Drama (A Norton Anthology) W.W. Norton & Company New York Copyright 2002 Good News Bible, American Bible Society Copyright 1976 The Revels Plays Christopher Marlowe Doctor Faustus A&B Texts Manchester University Press Copyright 1993

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