Sin and Forgiveness

Sin /sin/: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

         In the novel The Scarlet Letter, Hester Prynne commits adultery, a sin according to the bible. She is forced to wear a letter "A" forever as punishment for her crime as for her offense is unforgivable. Hester is branded as a sinner and has to deal with the eternal damnation that comes with the "scarlet letter." 

       During church, I thought about how unfairly and unjustly Hester is treated. She is forever stigmatized as this horrible person just because of one thing she has done in the past. This really grinded my gears because the very people who condemned her were Puritans*. If they were actually believers of the bible then they should know the story of The Adulterous Woman**. In John 8, the people wanted to stone this adultery committing woman to death but first they ask Jesus to tell them what to do. Jesus says to the woman, " I do not condemn you." He forgave the woman for her wrong-doing whereas, the Puritans who follow Jesus do not forgive Hester for her sin. The Puritans as devotees of the bible, should have forgiven Hester just as how Jesus pardoned the woman.

*Puritans believed that The Bible was their sole authority (Ironically).

**The Adulterous Woman

1 But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people were coming to Him; and He sat down and began to teach them.3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery, and having set her in the center of the court, 4 they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in adultery, in the very act. 5 “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women; what then do You say?” 6 They were saying this, testing Him, so that they might have grounds for accusing Him. But Jesus stooped down and with His finger wrote on the ground. 7 But when they persisted in asking Him, He straightened up, and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8 Again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 9 When they heard it, they began to go out one by one, beginning with the older ones, and He was left alone, and the woman, where she was, in the center of the court. 10 Straightening up, Jesus said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more.”] 

The Bible. Print. New American Standard Bible.