Quote Originally Posted by Polymirize
Oh my god. You guys are right, I am just talking about man. Freewill, what a beautiful concept.

So, wait, here's where I get confused, if it's all my choice to make, and I alone am responsible for the consequences of my own actions, where does god fit in? Isn't belief in god completely extraneous? Like an appendix, something that we've totally evolved beyond now?

Or will believing in God grant me some special power? Can I call down lightning on the unbelievers or unleash plagues?

You're saying that a belief in god yields precisely the same outlook as an atheistic humanitarian ethos, when properly applied... So why bother?
You make a great point, Polymirize.

I don't think it's God that has become extraneous, but rather the belief in a God who's will is separate from our own. I don't think that God is some overlord who is waiting to punish us if we should deviate from his intentions -- how can anything oppose an omnipotent being's will in the first place? Rather, I think it makes more sense to consider that God's will IS free will, and that in such a manner we ourselves are God.

The word 'sin', according to its Greek roots, means 'to miss the mark'. And I think it makes a lot more sense that a sin is just an action that falls short of or contradicts our own will and intentions, whether they be personal or collective intentions, rather than being a digression from some external god's.