I need help understanding the concept of original sin?

Question

Okay, I get that the original sin was Eve eating the apple, and then Adam followed suit. I get that this was a sin against God. However, I have trouble with the idea that we are all guilty of this as well. How is their sin genetic?

For instance, if one's father commits murder...that is a crime against God too, as it is against a commandment. However, the child of that father is not considered guilty of it.

Could someone explain to me how I am guilty of eating the apple if "my ancestor" did it, not me?

(Not trying to be offensive. I just don't get it.)

Haha, I realize we don't know exactly what fruit it was. It just makes more sense to type the widely understood "Apple" than it does to type "the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge" each time I refer to it.

Answer 1

The sin of disobedience is a behavior. Children learn their behaviors from there parents. Adam and Eve had many children who learned this behavior and continued to pass is along from generation to generation.
There are all kinds of examples of this type of thing in Scripture. Ahaziah "did evil in the eyes of the Lord, because he walked in the ways of his father and mother"(1 Kings 22:52). His mother encouraged him in doing wrong" (2Chronicles 22.3). Similarly, in Jeremiah 9:14 we read of those who "followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them." So, again Numbers 14:18 is basically dealing with sinful patterns of behavior being passed on from one generation to the next.

Answer 2

Good question. Interesting how we automatically believe it was an "apple". We don't know what fruit it was. Anyhow...in answer to your question it's like this: Suppose you want to make bread, however the original bread pan has a dent in it. If you made one loaf and then many more through that original dented pan, then all the loaves would have dents in them once they were baked, right? It's the same with "sin".

Adam and Eve sinned against God, by disobeying him and not upholding his Universal Sovernity (I know spelled wrong - sorry), and they had children AFTER they sinned. Since the first human couple were the "original" humans, and then had children, we all came from them with this "dent" in us, or sin. But don't worry, God will wipe this sin away, this imperfection that we all inherited, for none of us are perfect.

Answer 3

When Adam at the "apple", he was literally committing high treason against God. Up until that time, Adam had dominion over the earth. But by rejecting the commandment of God and obeying Satan, he was literally bowing the knee to Satan and hence making Satan his boss instead of God. This has to do with the free will God had given man. Once Satan became boss, sin(separation from God) entered into the physical and spiritual being of man and the earth. It took a long time for sin to get ahold of man so completely which is one of the reasons why it took so long for Adam's generation to die. But as a result of the fall man fell under the Law of Sin and Death(Romans 8). Not until our redemption was paid at the cross, were we delivered from this law into the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus. Nevertheless our bodies and this planet are still subject to the Law of Sin.. and not until the Rapture will we be completely delivered and get our ressurected bodies.

Anyway I said all that to say this. Any descendant of Adam has the seed of sin inherent in his or her genes. Both physically and spiritually(being dead to God). When we accept Christ our spiritual nature receives a Blood Bath(if you will) making our spirits alive unto God(Reconciliation). Hope this helps.

I Cr 13;8a
12-2-6

Answer 4

You don't inherit the murder, rape, or any other sin. However, evidently you do continue to inherit the knowledge of the tree of good and evil. At some point in life you develop an inate ability to recognize good and evil. The failure to reach this point in the human condition qualifies you as a special person. You are either learning impaired or have some other type of mental condition that prohibits this ability, none the less you are held to a different standard in both the religious and secular communities. Odd but true... It is one area where religion and science agree. They both agree that people without the ability to know the difference between good and evil are different and should be treated as such. What do you think?

Answer 5

The original sin was not following what God commanded. When that happened they (Adam and Eve) were now susceptible to death. The wages of sin are death. That's how your ancestors made it our problem.

If ones father commits murder that does not mean you are guilty of it but now you are talking about curses.


Think of it this way: How come many alcoholics have alcoholic children, why when you are abused do you sometimes abuse?

Why in my family did my mom have a child out of wedlock and so did her children.

We need to break cycles or "curses" like these. Only through prayer can we do this.

I said I would never turn out like my mother but I did exactly what she did, its in the sub conscience and that is why it is out of our control sometimes.

Be aware of where you came from and pray history does not repeat itself.

Pray and break strongholds the devil may have on your life that you may have not created but that need to be broken.

Answer 6

You are posing to different questions. Original sin refers to Adam's representation of man in the creation and his falling from grace being our representation he committed the original sin and thus the sin nature or as some have called it "in-being sin" sin that is spiritually indwelling has passed to all men "for in Adam all sinned". However man has suffered physical aspects due to Adam's original sin. In the original sin of Adam, he chose willing to sin, that is to transgress the known will of God, by chosing to rebell against God's command.

Answer 7

A child isn't guilty of the sins of their father or mother. That said, we are not guilty of any sin of a family member or a family member of the past (ancestor). This doctrine of "original sin" isn't Scriptural.

Answer 8

The real question here is simple. Where did the story of Adam & Eve come from? Most people say it came from Moses (at least the written form of the story). Where did Moses grow up? Egypt. And here is the truth. The story of Adam & Eve isn't a Jewish story or a Christian story it's a story of Egyptian Mythology. So, honestly, it really don't matter. And yes, I'm an ordained minister. :)

Answer 9

This thing that you inherited from Adam is not something that is attached to you in a metaphysical sense or a part of your genetic code. The very essence of sin has more to do with your natural propensity towards the advancement of self above all others. The first act of rebellion on the part of Adam and Eve against the commands of God resulted in a separation from God. We as tripartite beings with body, soul and spirit were meant to have communion with our maker but our spirits are dead to God and therefore closed to the affects of His direct touch of intimacy in relationship with Him.
I believe it is wrong for the Church to hold to the doctrine that we are to be found guilty for doing only that which is our nature to do. This flies in the face of sound biblical teaching and the concept of justice as it applies to God's dealings with us. It is absurd to say that you are givin a sinful nature without your benefit of choice and then to punish you for having it.
God will not , does not hold you responsible for anyones sinfulness but your own. The Bible says that all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God...if anyone says that he has no sin then he is a liar.
Being born into sin is being born with the propensity to seek gratification of self above all else. As a baby you learn to anger and coo to get your own way. If an infant were the size of an adult with all the energy and rage that it demonstrates we would have a world of wicked murderers. We are born seperated in the spirit from the unction and intuitive urgings of the Spirit of God and therefore we make choices from birth that are not with the benefit of guidance from God.
You should see sin in two regards. Firstly as a seperation from God in your spirit which Christ has dealt with on the cross to silence any argument about fault. Being reborn by the Spirit of God cures the tear in our vertical relationship to Him and offers forgiveness for the sin that is of our own commission. That is the second view of sin and it is that for which you are to be called to account for.
Don't worry about Adams sin we have enough of our own volitional acts of sin to answer for.

Answer 10

God is the Father. The Father only asked ONE thing of His first human son--to listen to His voice and not eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, otherwise he would suffer the penalty of death. Now, if we don't listen to our parent(s), we assume parents are loving and looking out for our best interests, then we suffer the consequences-with me so far?.
OK then, they did not listen. They weren't even sorry. They even blamed God (Adam did directly) when he said to his Father, "The woman whom YOU gave to be with me, (and get this), SHE gave me the fruit from the tree and so I ate." The woman blamed the serpent(Satan).
God always keeps His promises.
They were made to leave their beautiful garden paradise to scrape a living out of the ground that they came from and to grow old and die because they were now imperfect and their subsequent offspring were also born imperfect being stained as it were by their parents' sin.
Sad but true. But, not for forever because God's first prophesy at Genesis 3:15 gives us the hope we need to lighten our hearts.
So, as we know, Jesus(The Seed) came to fulfill that promise from God.