why does christianity believe in original sin?

Question

is it because without the idea of original sin there would be no need for jesus?

original sin is a pretty traumatic concept. how can anybody possibly think people are born sinful? dont you see how good people are every day? or do you only see the bad in people?

its not a fact. it was an idea made up two thousand years ago by christians who wanted to push their agenda of guilt down peoples throats.

and if humans were perfect, they would BE G-d. humans are imperfect and need G-d, and thats why G-d gave us laws to live by to make the world better.

no, original sin is foreign to judaism. if it was a jewish concept, i would not ask this question. judaism says humans are born pure and good, with a clean slate. anybody with a basic knowledge of judaism knows this.

i never said jews deny sin, kingreef. we deny that humans are born sinful. pay attention. of course sin exists.

Answer 1

First of all, "Christianity" does not believe in original sin. That is about as blanket of a statement as saying Americans believe in Jesus. While many Christians believe in original sin, many do not.
I do not, for I do not believe the Bible teaches such a doctrine.

Romans 7:9 does not make any sense if the doctrine of original sin is true. How could Paul be alive apart from sin before he sinned if he was born with sin?

The Bible does seem to teach that we are born with a sinful nature. This makes sense. Children don't have to be taught to lie, but the do have to be taught to share. Children have to be taught respect, but they figure out how to punch, kick, and bite their siblings all on their own.

While I don't agree that people are born sinful, I do believe we are all born with a tendency to sin. No, I don't think this is traumatic concept, nor does it have anything to do with "seeing good in people." It has to do with the fact that not only are we not perfect, but that in reality, none of us is better than anyone else. We are all in need of a savior. This is not traumatic, realizing that I don't have to be perfect, and that I don't have to be better than everyone else is a pretty soothing concept, actually.

Answer 2

The first thing that someone should be considering is whether the idea of sin is actually real.

If God is supposed to be perfect how could She have made anything or anyone that wasn't perfect.
Think about it. The idea of sin assumes certain things about God that seem highly unlikely.

First it assumes a God who is too incompetent to organize a simple educational field excursion and figure out a way to get all of the students home safely.

How likely is this that God would not be smart enough to come up with a plan for our salvation that is going to work?

It also assumes that God must have created us imperfect if we are sinners.

One might assume that God would be able to create someone perfect each and every time if he chose to. Assuming God is capable of this, then it follows logically that we must be perfect creations if we are actually creations of this perfect God.

Unless of course you are saying that God chose to create us imperfect.

If God created us imperfect then anything that may go wrong is Gods fault, not ours. This seems a bit illogical at best so I think that we need to assume that What God creates would have to be perfect.

If this is the case and Gods creations are perfect, then nothing that we can do could change what God created perfect and make it imperfect unless we think that we are more powerful than God is.

How likely is it that we the creation could be more powerful than the creator. I personally find this idea somewhat amusing, and a bit absurd.

Religion tells us that God is perfect. If this is true then it could hardly be logically for Gods creations to be considered to be anything less than perfect.

If this is the case then Nothing that we can ever do could possibly change this perfection that God willed, unless we were so powerful that our choices could override and change the will of God.

How likely is that????

Think about it.

The idea of sin is simple nonsense; a lie made up about God by religion.

Love and blessings
don

Source --- Course in miracles

Answer 3

No, you don't understand. Original sin refers to the sin that Adam and Eve committed. That was the original sin that lead to Man not having eternal life anymore. Remember the tree of life was blocked off to them after that first sin. That's because the Lord had told them that Man would surely die in that day. We are still in the day of Man, and Man does now die. The tree of life was not the forbidden tree in the center of the garden, the tree of knowledge of good and evil was. The Lord said that man wants to be like US. If Adam and Eve got to keep eternal life and have the knowledge of good and evil, they would have the attributes that God has. This is why it could not be allowed, and they were cast out.

There was a need for Jesus to save mankind, and show them how to get back the eternal life that they once had. That's why Jesus had to die for our sins. Jesus was the Word of God, and therefore, Jesus IS God. Man is not a separate being from his word, and neither is God. Man is not a separate being from his spirit, and neither is God. There is no such thing as a trinity. God is not 3 people. Jesus' name is Elohim, which means God with us.

Being good every day, has nothing to do with it. It is still man's nature to sin since Eden. As shown by Cain killing Abel. Cain was good every day before that too, and he didn't even repent for it. You have heard of the saying that You can do any number of good deeds, and people will always only remember you for that one bad deed you did? Cain was a good son, and brother. But because of original sin, he killed his brother. Tell me some of the good things Cain did. You can't. Tell me Cain's sin. I rest my case.

Answer 4

Origial sin came from the book of Genesis your bible. In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve sinned there. Why are there sacrifices in the Old Testament. It is what happened in the Garden of Eden. After they sinned God slaughtered one of His own creation, a lamb if you please,
that is something not guilty of sin dying in the place of the guilty.

You are a young person with a lot to learn, that is why you are in college. For many unanswered questions may I suggest attending a messianic congregation near you. Check the phone book or newspapers. If you want to get educated on the internet go to http://www.mjaa.org/

Answer 5

Jewishgirl, Shalom. Not all of us Christians believe in original sin, as Latter-Day Saints we believe that children are born clean and pure, I still don't understand the concept of original sin. I believe that some idiot made it up to make people scared of having children. An inheritance of the Lord.

Answer 6

Not all Christians believe in original sin, as in the Catholic teaching, but I believe that God doesn't count sin against us before we reach the age of reason.

I do believe that our basic nature remains that of Adam, rebellious and sinful by nature. Adam did a whole lot more than just eat an apple, or pear, or whatever the "fruit" was....

Answer 7

The only original sin that most of Christianity believes in is from the Garden of EDEN with EVE being tricked into eating of the fruit of the TREE of the KNOWLEDGE of GOOD and EVIL by the serpent and then giving some to ADAM . And they both knew that they we naked and tried to hid form the lord in embarrassment for their state of undress.

Answer 8

Again I see a comparison to the Bhakti Yoga belief which existed long before the appearance of Lord Jesus.

It would seem that according to Bhakti Yoga, the original sin would be the desire to be god. In order for souls to make the effort to be god, they are sent to this material existence. That is the first sin. From there we get ourselves lost in the material existence transmigrating from one life form to the next.

As human beings we have the chance to use our human intelligence to possibly get relief from this "wheel of samsara" the wheel of birth and death.

Answer 9

JewishGirl,
I'm trying to understand the reasoning behind typical Jewish thought. I find your festival's enlightning beyond compare. Some of your customs amazing and prophetic. But when it comes to sin, it's like all of your brains dropped out of your heads.

There were sacrifices made for all kinds of things, different sacrifices for different sins of all kinds. Now that the temple is no longer there, you are denying sin.

Am I missing something?

Are you even Jewish?

Maybe we need to have aTORAH PARTY!!!

TORAH! TORAH! TORAH! TORAH!

Answer 10

look up the word "theodicy"...

a simplistic answer would be that most primitive [ancient] myth/cults/totems propitiated the spirit world with sacrifices....keep the ghosts happy and they might not do you harm....but since there was death, disease, starvation, war, plagues etc etc etc ....from the earliest times on....the idea was born that somehow the earliest ancestors must have really done something horrid for the gods to continue punishing their descendants...call it a primal evil, original sin, fall from grace-being too noisy , being too rude, not offering enough sacrifices, offending the gods [somehow], being too proud, being made of dirt.....all the same story...

mankind was good....mankind screwed up....mankind thereafter pays a price ....

again, look up "theodicy" as justification