Question about Original Sin?

Question

Doesnt believing in the concept of original sin make God a cruel entity. Why would God burden a human child with a sin that he never committed. I would certainly not worship an entity which doesnt give human a choice and declares him/her "sinner" from the very beginning.

Answer 1

I don't believe in Original Sin, I think it is something invented by Augustine of Hippo. We are all responsible for our own sin, not Adam's. We need to atone for our own sins, not for Adam's. We are responsible for our own sin, not for the sin of our neighbors.

Answer 2

God is not some cruel entity! What are you talking about? I don't know where you got this idea. The human race are naturally sinners. Original sin is just the sin we get from being born from people who sinned.The Virgin Mary was born free from original sin because she was born of the Holy Spirit. It's not just some crazy thing we tag onto babies, it's what we believe. I don't think you should judge others religions.

Answer 3

The purpose of original sin is to give us humans a choice. Instead of just being created and programmed like robots to believe whether we want to or not that God is God and all that good stuff, He gives us a choice.

If you choose to believe that Jesus died to save you from such sin and accept that this is the only way to salvation, you won't end up in hell. ( not the firey inferno and the big red guy with a pitchfork. Hell is simply eternal seperation from God. And what's worse than being constantly reminded that you were wrong?)

It's all up to you. Original Sin is actually a gift. It's a hard concept to come to grips with, but it is.

Think of it this way. What's the use of playing in a contest if you already know you're going to win? There's just no sense in knowing the keys to the Mercedes is in box A. But there's always this guy in the audience who's saying "I know which box it's in. All you have to do is ask."

Answer 4

ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It is not Adam and Eve's fault that we sin. Have you ever lied? Have you done anything wrong in your whole life- that is not adam and eve's fault, or God's it is ours, However the love that God has for us, is SO amazing, that He sent His only son to die for us so that we can live eternally with Him. Before I became a born again believer, I believed in God, but never thought I needed to admit that I was a sinner- because people would tell me that I am the "sweetest" thing in the world- no, I am not = I was a sinner that needed saving. God is infinitely Holy and we are not, but yet, He still decided He wanted a way to redeem us - there is no salvation without the shedding of blood. It is our choice to accept that or not.

Answer 5

I've never completely understood that either, but the response I got from a priest in training was something along the lines that if your father had accumulated a rather large debt with his gambling and he suddenly died, you as his child would be held accountable for the blame.

Now of course that was just a way of explaining it metaphorically to a kid was then a 12 yr old, but nonetheless the same principle held true.

Other religions and philosophies deal with the same concept of being "damaged at birth" and that in order to be redeemed you have to live your life a certain way and receive certain rituals and religious awareness or suffer some irreparable setback.

Ultimately it is your choice to worship whom or what you please. But do so with realizing that their are aspects to life that we humans aren't wise enough to see, understand or even realize completely. But the biology of life is way to complicated to be simply dismissed as a microsecond event, known as the big bang. Something had to make that firecracker go bang in the first place.

Answer 6

I don't believe in the concept of 'sin'. Religion wants you to believe that you are somehow flawed and unworthy, a 'sinner'. The concept of sin was defined by the church, and as long as we use this word, then the church has power over the debate.
How can you hold a baby in your arms and think they are already damned?
I don't believe in sin, just like I don't believe in holy spirits and transubstantiation. People do bad things sometimes but calling it sin is, to me, outdated, and we need to change the language of the debate.

Answer 7

Understand that sin is disobedience to God's commandment.
A child will lie. Lying is a sin. The child has disobeyed.

It is inherent in free will that you have a choice to follow or disobey...

The child is not burdened by GOD for any sin other than that of disobedience. Sin (disobedience) is passed down through generation to generation.


God gave man the choice to obey or not.

For the most part I think mankind has disobeyed if you look at the state of affairs in the world.

That is not GOD being cruel. That is mankind being cruel and not following the law of God which is love.

You have to teach children to behave and do right. You do not have to teach them how to misbehave, disobey and do wrong.

If you sin in one law, you are quilty of sinning.
At some point you will sin even if you begin as a baby with no sin. What is passed down is propensity to disobey and we tend to choose it over obedience.

Answer 8

The concept of orignal sin is why Jesus Christ died on the cross for all who believe in God. Christ died for all the since WE HAVE commited and ARE GOING TO commit.

Now with that being said. . .there is the whole issue of innocence vs. experience. Babies and young children who die ascend to heaven because they have yet to understand or grasp sin i.e the difference between right and wrong. They are in effect innocent in the eyes of Christ.

All humanity is prone to commit sin. God DOES give us a choice--to or not to sin.

Answer 9

Man has made that distinction not God. Original sin merely describes the point in time when humans became self conscious; If anything it should be named original opportunity, not original sin.

Answer 10

Sin entered the world when Eve ignored God's instructions, and ate from the Tree of Knowledge in the Garden of Eden. From that time forth God said that sin would be in people. BUT, in the same way, He provided us with a way to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven. His son, Jesus! God does give us free choice to remove sin from our lives if we choose to do so. All we have to do is acknowledge that Jesus is the son of God, that He died on the cross for us, God is faithful that whoever asks, and means it in their heart, shall be saved. And that means forever, into eternity!

Answer 11

You have stumbled on the answer in your question. God does give us a choice.Every thought and action we experience is our choice. We can live life as we choose. Don't be bogged down by concepts and details. Some things we will not understand. Do not waste time and energy trying to figure out the fine print. Live life and your questions and doubts will disolve leaving only contentment.