Is the original sin the same as the gaining of sentience?

Question

Sentience - what separates us from animals. Creative thought - all animals thoughts are directly realted to survival of self and species. Humans are different; we think creatively. This to me is sentience.

Answer 1

According to the tale of Genesis, no, not quite. The original sin was disobeying God to eat the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Knowledge of good and evil isn't the same as sentience, or self-awareness, though it's related to it; rather, it's a conscious and emotional awareness of the distinction between right and wrong. It is considered a sin chiefly because it was done in disobedience to God; God feared that if Adam and Eve disobeyed once to eat that apple, they might disobey again and partake of the fruit of the Tree of Life, and live forever. So he banished them from the Garden to prevent that from happening; Christians consider this the "original sin", and the loss of man's primordial innocence.

Of course, I find your idea very interesting, and in some ways it's an improvement over the original fable of Adam and Eve. But there isn't much Biblical support for it, is all; Adam and Eve, pre-fall, don't give any indication of being non-sentient. They might not have had exactly the same self-awareness as they did post-fall, but they did seem to have some notion of themselves, and they certainly had the capacity to feel or perceive (which is the looser requirement for being considered "sentient").

Perhaps you meant instead to say that Adam and Eve's original sin was gaining "sapience"? You could make a stronger argument for this being the case, since sapience is the ability to act with judgment.

Answer 2

no, the original sin is the same as eating nachos.

adam and eve were reveling in the fruit when nachos were truly invented. adam said unto eve 'now that we're all smart and sht, after we get over this whole being naked monkeys thing, we should can this sht up and make salsa, and no salsa would be good without nachos!' and since this was the first time a human ever said anything or thought about a nacho, this is why i use the term 'invented' which is more of a real definable word unlike sentience.

because sentience I don't really think you have the idea down. You can exist without knowledge your whole fcking life.
like hey, what if you "ate the fruit" tomorrow, and your whole life was revealed as a sham, like truman show awakening type thing.

Creativity, logic, reasoning, these things are all inherent in animals too. I mean if you believe that we're all just big hairless monkeys, then obviously you must belive also that given enough time in a large enough environment, that other animals would evolve complex societies as well.

For all we know, birds are all telepathic, sea otters caused world war 1, and that dolphins are way smarter than us, because they live simpler lives and just swim around eat and fckeachother all day.

yeah.

Answer 3

Your thought is exactly how "creationism" and "evolutionism" fit in my mind as NOT being mutually exclusive.

ADDED: Now that I have read Rob Diamond's answer, my answer is, in fact, based on "sapience" rather than "sentience". I am too often careless about exact definitions :-(

Desiree, I can't assume you are careless or incorrect. But...do you agree with Rob D's distinction in meaning,. and if so...which word do you mean?

Answer 4

Original sin doesn't exist. It's just a guilt trip thought up by the old Catholic church to make people feel they needed to believe.
We shouldn't feel like from birth we were bad. Babies are not sinners.

Answer 5

Nope. The original sin has everything to do with obedience.

Answer 6

Pretty much... :S

Adam and Eve both at from the Tree of Knowledge, and forever cursed Homo sapiens. It sucks, but there it is.

Answer 7

to my knowledge, thru the word, the original sin was Adam and eve. babies are born with it, but, if they pass without ever understanding of it, its no sentence at all

Answer 8

sorry, I don't understand your post. Clarify 'senitience' please.