Original Sin Contradiction

[Affluence]

I thought the idea of original sin was that even if you have no sinful acts, you are still a sinner because Adam and Eve sinned a long long time ago, and through some convoluted means you've inherited this "sin." This seems extremely counter intuitive.

It means that but it also means more than that. Some things are passed down through generation such as alcoholism. Sins of the father. Counter intuitive but true none the less. Is it the same thing as sin? Peace.

[Angry Citizen]

There is no absolute proof by definition.

And yet you're a theist. Poor fellow.

[Affluence]

I am a Christian. I am not a Christian because I read something in a book and believed it. I am a Christian because one night years ago in Virginia Beach I found myself lacking. I opened my heart to the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit entered.

For years I had a problem with the concept of original sin. I was able to keep it at bay through the realization that it did not truly matter to me if that doctrine were true or not. I did not need original sin to find myself convicted, I had more than enough personal sin to do that job.

A number of years ago I was involved in a conversation with some friends on the subject of original sin. And it stuck me like a ton of bricks. The Genesis story is an analogy. Adam and Eve were in the garden at one with God. God had told them not to eat of the of the fruit of a specific tree. I view that tree as a symbol of the act of separation from God. When we decided that we could separate ourselves from God that decision was the source of the fracture that created the big bang and led us to this world.

That act is in my mind the actual original sin. It seems to me that since making that decision, any other decisions I make, ie my other sins, are minor in comparison.


That is the sense under which I have come to accept and understand Original Sin.

All very well put. I am a mentor and during counseling I have seen sin as we call it flow down from generation to generation. Things like alcoholism, child abuse, drug abuse and other criminal traits. I find that we as children cant help but mimic our parents for both good and for evil. Sins of the father. Its another analogy to original sin is it not? What you and I do now will effect our children and our grand children in turn. How can it not? The Bible simply teaches the wisdom that still applies today. Over many Millennia some things just dont change much. Peace.

[ZNFYRH]

It means that but it also means more than that. Some things are passed down through generation such as alcoholism. Sins of the father. Counter intuitive but true none the less. Is it the same thing as sin? Peace.

As a Catholic, this is one of my biggest problems with the Roman Catholic interpretation of Original Sin.

A newborn child inherits the Original Sin of its mother. Problematic, because that infant has literally done nothing sinful. But since Roman Catholicism requires you open your heart to God and accept Jesus, etc., since an infant has not done that, an infant won't go to Heaven. The last century saw the RC Church also say that the infant won't go to Hell, either. Even though souls going to Hell isn't in the Bible...

Then you have your Baptism, which means that your Godparents vouch for you. That also means that you have the sins of your Godparents. If the child dies, it goes wherever the Godparents would go at that particular instant. Again, because the child hasn't accepted God of their own accord.

Finally, there's Confirmation. This is when you're finally responsible for your own sins and your own acceptance into Heaven.

All around, I think Original Sin was created within the religions of Abraham (all forms of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) in order to put women into a subservient role in society; it's THEIR fault we are where we are.

[Angry Citizen]

All around, I think Original Sin was created within the religions of Abraham (all forms of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) in order to put women into a subservient role in society; it's THEIR fault we are where we are.

So... why are you a Catholic then?

[Affluence]

As a Catholic, this is one of my biggest problems with the Roman Catholic interpretation of Original Sin.

A newborn child inherits the Original Sin of its mother. Problematic, because that infant has literally done nothing sinful. But since Roman Catholicism requires you open your heart to God and accept Jesus, etc., since an infant has not done that, an infant won't go to Heaven. The last century saw the RC Church also say that the infant won't go to Hell, either. Even though souls going to Hell isn't in the Bible...

Then you have your Baptism, which means that your Godparents vouch for you. That also means that you have the sins of your Godparents. If the child dies, it goes wherever the Godparents would go at that particular instant. Again, because the child hasn't accepted God of their own accord.

Finally, there's Confirmation. This is when you're finally responsible for your own sins and your own acceptance into Heaven.

All around, I think Original Sin was created within the religions of Abraham (all forms of Christianity, Judaism, and Islam) in order to put women into a subservient role in society; it's THEIR fault we are where we are.

That is very well put and as soon as you can claim victory over your issues with it all, can you come to know God in Harmony.

"God is perfect, Religion is how man messed it up ". When i heard this it rang true. No I dont think God hates fags. I dont believe God could hate anything since Hate is a lower energy by definition. What's true is what's rue for you. I am catholic and learned to tolerate it. Peace.

[ZNFYRH]

"God is perfect, Religion is how man messed it up ".

Agreed.

I was in a fight with my girlfriend just the other day. She asked why I don't want to go to church on Father's Day, and in fact why I don't go to church much at all, when I am Catholic.

I said that I believe in the Catholic faith. However, I don't believe in the Roman Catholic Church and what they did to the teachings of Jesus. Be he fictional or real, it doesn't matter. Catholic is my belief system, not my religion.

One of my favorite quotes from the movie The Man From Earth

Believe in what He tried to teach without the rigmarole. Piety is not what the lessons bring to people, it's the mistakes they bring to the lessons.

[Judicator]

It means that but it also means more than that. Some things are passed down through generation such as alcoholism. Sins of the father. Counter intuitive but true none the less. Is it the same thing as sin? Peace.

So if your dad is/was an alcoholic, then you are a sinner, simply by accident of birth? The only way I see that alcoholism can be "passed on" is if you become an alcoholic like your father because of the heritable component of alcoholism.

It's just unclear to me how something other than an action or maybe a thought (I guess thinking is a kind of action), can be a sin.

[ZNFYRH]

It's just unclear to me how something other than an action or maybe a thought (I guess thinking is a kind of action), can be a sin.

Exactly. That's the kind of stuff that controlling people who want power over others use to rope those others in.

[Philip Lu]

That is very well put and as soon as you can claim victory over your issues with it all, can you come to know God in Harmony.

"God is perfect, Religion is how man messed it up ". When i heard this it rang true. No I dont think God hates fags. I dont believe God could hate anything since Hate is a lower energy by definition. What's true is what's rue for you. I am catholic and learned to tolerate it. Peace.

The problem with that is the claim that the Bible is the absolute truth and the word of God...

[Affluence]

So if your dad is/was an alcoholic, then you are a sinner, simply by accident of birth? The only way I see that alcoholism can be "passed on" is if you become an alcoholic like your father because of the heritable component of alcoholism.

It's just unclear to me how something other than an action or maybe a thought (I guess thinking is a kind of action), can be a sin.

I thought it is all but proven or at least with a high propensity to do so that you follow your parents. Sins, actions other. Let me explain. If your dad beats your mother you will grow up to beat women and think it is normal. If your father is a drug addict you will also be a drug addict. If your father is a Mob Boss you will grow up in the Mob. Could this not the same as original sin? Sins if the father.

[Philip Lu]

I thought it is all but proven or at least with a high propensity to do so that you follow your parents. Sins, actions other. Let me explain. If your dad beats your mother you will grow up to beat women and think it is normal. If your father is a drug addict you will also be a drug addict. If your father is a Mob Boss you will grow up in the Mob. Could this not the same as original sin? Sins if the father.

No, you are wrong. Original sin means that you already have sin when you are born because (assuming that the Bible is right and we all descended from Adam and Eve) Eve at the apple. You could say that since humans are not perfect, we are likely to sin once we are born, but you cannot say that we have sinned. If the Mob Boss kills a thousand people, we do not hold the son accountable. Only when the son actually does something wrong, can we hold him accountable. The same with drug addicts. The son of a drug addict is not arrested for possession of drugs. Even though it is more likely that he will become a drug addict (because of the environment), he has done nothing against the law until he does drugs. That being said, it is wrong to punish us for what was not done by us.