Wasatch

This is my second post. I'm a questioning 5th generation Mormon. I don't claim to be a scholar, but if anyone has questions about the Mormon Faith I will try to answer.
I have a couple of questions about the Bible.
Did the children of Israel (Jews) of the OT believe in sin. Did sin exist?
Same question about heaven and hell. Or, are these inventions in the NT?
Wasatch

sidewinder

I am assuming that by sin, you basically mean something that is wrong. I think the ancient Israelites believed in sin in the OT days but you must remember that many things considered to be sin by them were violations of religious doctrines. I would not consider these things to be sins. They also had religious doctrines which considered things like murder and adultery to be sins, which most people would agree is wrong, whether you are religious or not.

The ancient Israelites believed that God lived in Heaven, which was located just beyond the sky. It seems that the ancient Israelites were not certain about life after death. There are verses which talk about people going to "Sheol" after they die. Sheol seems to have been a place of mystery, not necessarily a Heaven or Hell.

I think the belief in Heaven and Hell, as we know it today, came about after the exile of the Israelites. They borrowed some religious ideas from the Persian religion and incorporated into their own religious beliefs. It took off from that point and many Jewish sects and early Christian groups developed these ideas within their own religious beliefs.

Jayhawker Soule

e.g.: Google -> Judaism heaven hell

I've never understood how, for some, the willingness to ask the 'big questions' marches hand in hand with a reluctance to use a search engine.

Marduk

Yes they had sin and were often encouraged to repent, tie their sins to a goat and let it wander off into the woods, sacrifice an animal etc. but they did not have the idea of "original sin" That came long after Jesus time, St. Augustine I believe. Sin, to the Jews was disobeying the "law' worshiping idols, adultery etc. as was already pointed out.

Grand Nubian

Sin is a description of an act that is in disobedience to god's commandment or wishes. It's different than something "wrong".

It's wrong to sin, but the realm or dimensions of "wrong" exist outside of sin.

For example: It's wrong to break the law, but it's not always a sin to do so. Where sin is always wrong.

It was wrong for Eve to bear false witness against the serpent but not yet a sin. God didn't give the commandment against lying until moses hiked the moutain so lying was okay until that point.

"Wrong" is determined by each person's morality while sin is determined by what god commands or wishes. It seems that our morality existed before god addressed the issue.

Jack the Bodiless

"Sin" seems to be a very peculiar concept.

As previously mentioned, the Jews believed that "sin" could be transferred to a goat and driven off into the wilderness (the origin of the word "scapegoat"). How can "disobedience of God" be transferred to a goat (or to Jesus, who supposedly performed a similar function)?

It's treated as some sort of magical contaminant. According to creationists, it's highly mutagenic (causing the far-reaching consequences of the Fall). And it appears to affect YHWH rather like kryptonite affects Superman: he "can't abide it" and cannot magically eradicate it, despite being allegedly omnipotent in other respects.