Doctor Faustus and the Role that Sin plays in Gods Divine...

Doctor Faustus and the Role that Sin plays in Gods 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†¦show more content†¦When Jesus was asked what commandment in the law was the greatest. He replied: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself . The whole law of Moses and the teachings of the prophets depend on these two commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40). Since the entire law of God is according to the words of Jesus, this scripture is merely a commentary on the wonderful principles of love. If this is so, then sin should be defined in terms of a lack of love, rather than as a formal law. According to this point of view a sin is any failure to love God and our fellow man with a perfect heart, which then a lack of love would lead to certain attitudes and deeds which are displeasing to God. Keeping this in mind we can proceed to see how sins are classified. There are two categories of sin, mortal sin and venial sin. We commit mortal sins when we break a commandment of God in a serious manner, for example, idolatry, adultery, murder, slander. These are all things that are contrary to the love that we owe God. Jesus taught that even looking at a woman lustfully is a sin. Sin can be both committed on the inside (choices that we make in our minds) or on the outside (choices that are then carried into action). A man who willfully desires to have sex, steal, murder or some other mortal sin, has