InnocenceNovember, 1986Copyright © 1997 Property of Deborah K. Fletcher. All rights reserved.
Innocence is an abstraction for a virtually nonexistent state of being. It refers to the condition of never having willfully done wrong. It is not the total absence of evil within the being of an individual, for all people have the capacity for eveil, but, rather, the abstinence from willfull use of one's evil capabilities. Innocence is a difficult concept to discuss, because the term has so many meanings. It is used to mean youth, or naivite, though not necessarily both at once. It is used to mean physical or emotional purity, though, again, not necessarily simultaneously. It is used to mean goodness, simple and unadulterated. It is used to mean truth. In courts of law, it is used to mean not having committed a given, wrongful act, whether willfully or not. Each person, and each institution, has a separate concept of innocence. Some religions state that innocence is the opposite of sinfullness, thus negating all meaning of the word, for these same religions state that a capacity of evil, or a single lapse in innocence of a parent, condemns a child as a sinner from birth. The rationale to that argument is a combination of the Banishment and the Crucifixion. In the Banishment, the evils of Adam and Eve were passed into Cain and Abel, causing all future descendants of man to be banned from Paradise. in the Crucifixion, Christ descended into Hell to cleanse Man of sin through the cleansing of His own sin, showing that even the human-born Son of God carried the curse of inherent sin. Please View and Sign My Guestbook © 1998-2000 Debbie Fletcher, joiya@tcia.net
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