The African believes that there are sins, but sins are actions that come from fundamentally good people. The African believes that there are no heart sins, just sins that disrupt life and society. Sin is only a verb, not a noun. Here is a quote to help you understand. It is taken from Evil and Salvation in African Religion and Christianity by Gregor Schmidt:
'In Christianity, sin is first of all rebellion against God, the Creator; in African Religion, the community is primarily offended… The biblical concept of sin against God is difficult to understand for Africans.'
And another...
'The idea of original sin is absent. Children are born innocent except in witch families.'
One more...
"In Christianity, evil infects us as persons in our very being; sin is there and always separating from God. Original Sin assumes that we have lost control and are slaves of sin. In African Religion, humans are free. Christ is only relevant under the premise of a lost state of humanity. Because Africans don’t have this worldview, the mediatorship of Christ is difficult to grasp.'
The African does not feel that he can offend God. It is only possible to offend people or lesser gods in the active world.
'Sin is anything that disrupts the cohesiveness of an ordered world and causes disharmony. When disharmony occurs, rituals such as sacrifices and offerings must be performed to restore order in the universe. For the traditional religionist, salvation is the restoration of harmony.' (Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy, 59)
Another quote about sin:
'According to my informants, there is no abstract concept of evil in African Religion, only concrete evil actions. Every action or behavior that destroys the harmony of the community is considered evil; everything that promotes the well-being and the life-force of the community is good. “Good and evil actions are judged according to the benefit of the clan.”; the individual asks always: “Does it bring me in good terms with society?”; evil is “not following the cultural norms and the commandments of culture … an action, always with negative social implications; it can only be identified by concrete examples; incest, premarital sex and to marry an older woman are evil...This shows the importance of taboos in the traditional context, especially concerning the regulation of sexuality and marriage.
The judgment to identify a certain behavior as evil depends entirely on its visible outcome, i.e. if it affects the community negatively. There has been no evil committed if life on the outside – the public harmony – remains normal, and prosperity is a sign of goodness. Therefore, jealousy is not evil. Feelings are considered evil only if they become an obstacle to interact with others. In the same logic, adultery is only an evil action if it is discovered. “Transparency is not an African value.”' (Gregor Schmidt)
To understand Africans you have to know that most do not believe in original sin. They do not believe that man chose to disobey God and therefore came under punishment. The most common belief is that the Creator God removed Himself from man because of other people's errors or His disapproval of normal things needed for daily life. I will illustrate this to you with the traditional story told to Akans about the separation of God and man.
'The Ashanti (Ghana) tell a story that the sky was very near to the earth. Therefore the Creator God was very close to man and fellowshipped with him. A woman who was preparing fufu, the national food, continually hit God with her pestle, and that annoyed Him, so He withdrew Himself from man. Since that time the sky (God's realm) is high above the earth.'
This traditional story shows you the mindset. Here is another citation:
'My informants couldn’t tell me how evil came into this world. Two...informants told me a myth how death came into the world: God sent the Chameleon to announce to the humans that they wouldn’t have to die. But the hawk was jealous and didn’t want to grant humans this favor. So he hurried and announced, before the Chameleon could bring God’s message, that also humans would have to die. This is the reason why there is death. God punished the Chameleon for its slowness and ordered that it would never conceive a second child. Therefore, Chameleons die while giving birth. In this story, death is the consequence of an unfortunate event, contrary to the African belief that it is always caused by a person or a spirit. According to another informant, God created good and evil as a way to make people learn and mature. Without the opposite, education would be incomplete.'
'The most surprising answer was that evil came to Africa with Christianity. People behave (in) evil (ways) because the churches have rejected the traditions that guaranteed good moral behavior. “Today we’ve lost our principles: The authority system is not working anymore, the difference between age-groups [youth, adults, elders] is not respected, female circumcision has been abolished, there are high promiscuity and prostitution. Besides, the churches have separated the people in groups. Before, life was good and there was unity.”'
The thing that needs to be understood is that the African worldview of sin is very different from the Christian worldview. The African feels that he is an innocent person that God has chosen to separate from. He believes that the Creator God does not punish his sin, and that only outward sin that disrupts the clan or society is worth punishment. He does not fear God; he does not fear judgment. With this idea it is easy to understand this verse of scripture...
Romans 10:3 For they being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God.
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