Question for christians...?

Question

If you believe in original sin, then you believe you are responsible for the crimes of your ancestors, right? So does that mean you are eager to pay reparations for slavery? After all, if you are responsible for the sins of Adam and Eve, you are also responsible for sins of your slave-owning ancestors aren't you? (This would be for white christians, of course.)

king of hyrule:
a: I'm not an atheist
b: It is a legitimate question. Your inability to answer it is not a reflection on me.

Yes, jamie, I did know that. But the majority were white.

ML - I'm white. In fact, my ancestors did own slaves. Its only your own bigotry that causes you assume I must be black.

Answer 1

Your first premise is faulty. Original sin does not mean that we are responsible for the sins of our ancestors. Rather, it means that we still feel the consequences of what they did.

So no, I am not personally responsible for slavery, nor do I feel that I am.

Personally, I think that the best way to make reparations for slavery is to treat African-Americans as civilized, intelligent, responsible human beings; the opposite of the way they were treated as slaves.

Answer 2

There are multiple scriptures that tell us that God doesn't hold us responsible for the sins of our ancestors. Since many of our ancestors were known to have children with people of different races, it would be awful hard to argue that everyone alive today didn't deserve such reparations to some extent. God wants what is best for people today. I can barely afford groceries most weeks. I'm pretty sure giving my money to someone else for some past ancestor who may or may not have owned slaves woulnd't benefit anyone in God's eyes. The original sin was being selfish and ignoring God by the way. God loves you, and he wants to hear from you.

Answer 3

Yes, we are accountable in a way. we have to recognize that the very things within human nature that caused these people to make these choices are in us also. How can any one of us say that if we were not in that situation at that time, we would not have behaved the same way? We have the same desires for power and wealth, have the same issues of pride and self exaltation, they just manifest themselves in different ways now. It is only by acknowledging the past and taking a certain amount and kind of responsibility can we keep from repeating the same sins. It is not just white Christians, but we all have things in our direct lineage as well as in our cultural lineage that we need to be aware of and repent for

As far as paying reparations, please, right now black people have jsut as much opportunity for education, employment and wealth as anyone else- the only responsibility I have is to make sure that I do not harbor the very sins that berought about slavery in the first place and that I make no justification or excuse for it.

Answer 4

"If you believe in original sin, then you believe you are responsible for the crimes of your ancestors, right? "

Why do you make assumptions about people? Don't you know that people/the World/God are too complex to say that "If this is true, then this other thing must also be true." From the way you phrased your question, it sounds like you are making more of a statement rather than trying to gain insight.

Answer 5

In my church we believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam's transgression.

I want reparations for my Quaker ancestors that created the underground railroad, and my other ancestors that fought in the civil war.

Answer 6

It's time to move on and let things go. It's the only way we will start to heal some of these feelings. As far as "responsibility" goes.....No, I don't feel responsible for slavery, or any other act that happened....the Native Americans being slaughtered, etc. Am I ashamed that it happened? Yes, as a human I would've hoped that we would've learned some lessons from the past, but clearly we haven't. I feel our "responsibility" is to act appropriately in the future and learn from past wrongs. We have the "free will" to do that.....we just keep screwing it up. Adam and Eve messed up...do I pay for some of that...sure do, but they were responsible for what they did, not me. We are "paying" for our mistakes, but like I said, it's up to us to move on and not make the same mistakes. We grow and become better people.

Answer 7

If you read the Bible, you will find that you are responsible only for your own sins; no one elses. Every person will stand before God to give account of their own sins; no one elses. There may be scriptures in the BIble which tells of hardships being passed down from generation to generation due to the privious sins of ancestors, but it no where says that we must pay for the sins of our ancestors. There are certainly things going on in the world today, which make life difficult for many people, because of the wrong which has been done by people of the past, but the Bible no where tells us that we are having to pay for the sins of other people; regardless of who they may be. Adam and Eve were the ones responsible for the beginning of sin on the earth, but they had to pay for their sins just as we have to pay for our sins today. God tells us that the wages of sins is death. But He is speaking of the wages for our own sins; no one else's. And thanks to Jesus Christ, He made a way for us to be able to escape having to pay the wages for our sins. That way was Him giving his own life upon the cross of Calvary; and shedding his own blood to cleanse us from our sins. But it is up to every individual as to whether or not they receive the forgiveness which He provided for us. The reason why the priests all through the Old Testament had to continually offer sacrifices unto God, was to cover the sins of the people at that time. The blood of the sacrifices which they offered paid for our ancestors sins. Just as the blood of Jesus has paid for our sins, and provided us with forgiveness forever; causing there to no longer be any need for the Old Testament sacrifices.

Answer 8

I think some one needs to look up the meaning of original sin & maybe take some bible classes.

P.S if you have ever been a slave let me know,,, maybe then you would actually be intitled to reparation or , You could get a job just like everyone else black white or purple.

Answer 9

People are born with a sin nature. That means no one is sinless. The only sinless person who lived was Jesus Christ.

No, I am not responsible for the sins of my ancestors. I'm responsible for my sins.

Answer 10

We are not accountable for their sins, but the results of their sins influence us. Following are some texts that tell us our heirs will have some problems due to the results of our sins.

Exodus 20:4. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
5. Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;

Exodus 34: 6. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
7. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

Numbers 14: 18. The Lord is longsuffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation.