Week 7--Cobb Chapter 7: Sin

The root of evil is our craving for earthly security. What does this say then about criticisms of religion that say religion is not concerned enough with earthly security? There is a lot of disapproval of religious beliefs that are accused of diverting attention too often to otherworldly concerns. The concerns of worldly and otherworldly security are actually two sides of the same coin. This is because we cast our earthly worries with an eternal light that transfigures the world. A heavenly focus recasts the world as hopeful, rather than a preoccupation with earthly concerns that engenders hopelessness. Exclusively earthly concerns cause hopelessness because they reduce everything to an unredeemable chaos. A heavenly focus reorients everything and makes sense out of it.