Question for those who believe in original sin, please?

Question

Could someone explain to me how sin is passed down through the generations?
Are babies born with sin? If so, from which parent do they get the sin tendency?

((((((((my beloved squirrel))))))


Father G, turn your email on or email me!

Answer 1

And people believe this because.....................

Answer 2

To respond to what "Father G" said, there is a difference in concept between "original sin", and the individual "sins" of each person, so there is no contradiction here.

I suppose that the term "original sin" (which itself is never used in the Bible) is a confusing and mis-descriptive term. That is why people have such a problem with it.

I agree to some extent with what "Church Music Girl" said. I think that Adam and Eve, by their initial act against God, somehow managed to corrupt either the collective human spirit, or human DNA, to the point that we are now born with a predisposition toward selfishness and evil. It is a kind of a spiritual birth defect cause by the carelessness of our original parents.

Since it is not entirely our fault that we were born with this predisposition, God has given us a chance for redemption and unconditional forgiveness. Notice that the fallen angles get no such chance.

===edit===

From which parent? Who knows? Jesus was the only virgin birth in history, and he was sinless, so most people assume that it was the father who passes along the sin nature, as others have already said.

Answer 3

I've been giving this a lot of thought, and for me, the key was identifying WHAT this "original sin" thing is. Genesis is all well and good, but it doesn't explain much.

To me, original sin is the inborn tendancy all humans have to put themselves and their own needs first. It's a selfishness and self-centeredness that errodes the bonds of community. It isn't the same kind of "sin" that we are talking about in, say the Ten Commandments. It's that little dark streak that we all have to overcome that leads us to commit those other sins; hence, it is their origin.

Having said that, I see it as something that we are all born with. That doesn't mean that a baby is automatically a sinner just for being born; it just means that every baby has the same potential to chose to do evil as to chose good... once they are old enough to understand all that.

Answer 4

We are born into sin (aka the world) and need to be saved. We all sin so there is no particular parent who passes this on. It's passed on through the generations because generation after generation continue to sin.

Answer 5

A day or two ago I was thinking about this;I was thinkning of the fact that Jesus was born of a virgin so that sin would not be passed to Him.Wich implicates&gives credence to the idea of genetic traits being passed on.It would suggest the sin somehow is in the genes.

Answer 6

General theological opinion is that it is the father who passes it on.

In the new testament Paul places the blame for original sin on Adam.

Answer 7

The Doctrine of Original Sin, via Augustine, insists that sin is passed on through the act of intercourse. As he had no knowledge or sperm or eggs or biology, he constructed the doctrine around the notion that children are the result of male seeds planted in female earth. Sin enters human existence through the implantation in the female earth. Remember, Augustine had issues with women, not men. So, via him, through the mother.

The theological Tradition has, however, reconstructed the doctrine (however minutely) over the thousands of years and, based on the immaculate conception, reconceived the origin of sin to be the act of intercourse rather than either parent. (So it's passed on through the fact that the parents had sex.)

These particular vesitiges of the doctrine insist that babies are, in fact, born into sin. Into, not with; sin is not, in this doctrine, merely an act or set of acts but the very condition of humanity, the essence of what it means to BE human is sin. So, just like babies are born human, they're born sinful (remember, of course, this is based entirely on the fact that their parents had sex. The doctrine has yet to be re-worked for children born of artificial insemination....)

Other forms of the doctrine of Original Sin - most of which are Modern and PostModern notions - posit sin as hereditary through behavioral norms. We TEACH our children what it means to be sinful...how to hate, how to oppress, etc. Some insist that Original Sin is passed on through social systems. We are born into oppressive social systems and are, therefore, born into sin. In the first case, babies are not born into sin but WITH sin, as sin is conceived as parental lessons (for this see some strands of Feminist Theology, i.e. Mary Daly). In the latter, babies are born into sin but it is not THEIR sin as much as it is the sin of society - their parents, their parents' parents and complete strangers who weild power (for this see most types of Liberation Theology including James Cone and Gustavo Guiterrez).

The differences, of course, are found in the definition of Sin. Traditionally sin has been defined as (1) Separation from God and (2) Separation from Neighbor. The Augustinian/traditional theologies lean more heavily on the first definition (without discounting the second) while the more contemporary theologies give more credence to the second definition, understanding that the second creates the first.

Hope that helped.

Answer 8

Babies are born with a sinful nature, they are not born with sin already added to them. This sinful nature has to be corrected by parents until the child reaches an age when he can understand the sacrifice of Jesus for their sin. Then they receive Jesus and His atonement for their sin. Their sin is then forgiven.

Answer 9

Mastery of mass manipulation! Is it appropriate that one recruit "sins" (falls out or screws up ) and all his friends are made to run one extra mile for his short commings? basically whilst coaching with a manipulative ideas-washing technique. Recruits are all dressed the comparable, heads shaven, motherless maggots that could desire to do issues one way, via one entities regulations as a fashion to alter into "infantrymen". Religions use the comparable theory. All mankind is asserted to be born sinful and we could desire to flow via the regulations, despite they could be, or go through some form of wrath from a God created via the ruling potential as a fashion to control the loads. No offence to every physique, basically my address issues.

Answer 10

The way I understand it is, Adam and Eve both sinned in the Garden of Eden. The original sin was that they did exactly what God told them not to do. Sin is kinda like a disease, and since Adam and Eve both had this sin disease all of their decendants (ie me and you and all humanity) inherited this disease.

Answer 11

Augustine believed it was passed down in the man's sperm. Some of his contemporaries didn't like that, because Eve was the one who had sinned originally, and ergo, it should be passed down in the egg.