Can someone please explain to me the notion of the original sin that Adam or Eve committed?

Question

I know the basics of the story: the fruit, the serpent, etc. but not the details.

But which of the two sinned by taking the fruit? or both? Were their sins different? Did the sin of one carry over to the other?

This question is motivated by an answer to one of my other questions: "It was Adam that carried the seed of sin...to be passed from generation to generation."

which can be found here: http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070810084431AAZGdaB&r=w

I always thought Eve was the one who sinned by taking the fruit and Adam sinned by partaking of it so now I question my understanding of this basic element of the Bible.

Answer 1

Original sin may be taken to mean: (1) the sin that Adam/Eve committed; (2) a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam/Eve.

Answer 2

Basically there are two perspectives from which to explain it. Taking the scientific one, we have to start by saying that science hasn't discovered the unified field theory yet, if there is one, so their perspective is limited and I will speak from that limited view. Say god is our subconscious mind and the thoughts are those of it and ours are the ones we choose to listen to. In that case the sin was to listen to their faulty reasoning instead of their intuition, which is more accurate than any quantum computer in what it does, compare images and note discrepancies. The practic or reasoning is addictive, apparently, and even science describes the conscious mind as a monkey on the back of a tiger. The monkey symbolizes addiction, as you may know. That's pretty much it in a nutshell. Solution: go back to using both hemispheres of the brain and that dual perspective allows us to make more accurate and interesting conclusions, a la listening to God. We are still at square one in our 'evolution'. Looking to the tree for answers, only, is worshipping, being dedicated to the world outside ourselves to answer our questions instead of including the subjective experience of the living organism itself in understanding life. Put God in there, awareness, and we have something more than a mechanical model and we are human in the best sense with two perspectives and two eyes to see the depth in things easily. So it was not the fruit, but the limited perspective. Leave out an intelligent the univers and we are just machines, Spirituality is putting heart and emotions back in and realizing the value in seeing the world both objectively and from subjective experience inside a living model, us. Hope that makes some sense. I'm assuming you can see the religious perspective from that. The prophets got all this from dreams, visions and heard, at least in their heads, from the subconscious or God as the left brain is able to see it. The unified theory with the theory of everything should bring it up into our consciousness, the long way around.

Answer 3

they both sinned because they both disobeyed. But how it is carried by the man because he became the authority over Eve as part of her curse for sinning.

The only difference in their sin, (and this is just a possibility) is that Eve, by not standing up for God's word, allowed herself to be decieved. But the Bible says Adam wasn't being decieved at all but simply openly eating the apple in defiance. Neither is better or worse.

Answer 4

Why are you so confused? God said don't eat off this tree. Adam and Eve BOTH ate. They both sinned. Eve was first Adam was second. The serpent tempted Eve and Eve tempted Adam. Adam carried the seed because he was a man. Seed - you know, sperm. Then God said that from now on women would suffer during childbirth because of the sin.

Answer 5

Ok... no one knows really why God placed that tree in the Garden of Eden, (a question I would ask him if I ever get to speak to him).

The Devil used the serpent to speak to Eve. The Devil choose Eve because, unlike Adam, she wasn't as spiritually strong as her husband. If the Devil went to Adam instead of Eve, he would have never been able to tempt Adam. See?

The bible teaches that Eve was deceived. Adam was the one that sinned. There's a difference. Adam could have said no to his wife, but unfortunately he went with her. If he didn't go along with his wife God would have made other arrangements where Eve was concerned.

The original pupose of the Earth was for Adam and Eve to fill it with perfect human beings and for everyone to like in a paradise world. But because they committed this sin, the Earth is now filled with imperfect humans.

What was the sin that was committed? Disobedience to God.

Answer 6

Eve was the one who believed the 'serpents' lie and therefore ate the fruit.
Later, she gave it to Adam and he also ate.
However, Adam never did believe the 'serpents' lie.
He knew what he was doing.
He was not deceived. He rebelled against God's command.
1 Timothy 2:14 explains: "Adam was not deceived, but the woman was thoroughly deceived . . ."
This explains why Romans 5:12 puts all the responsibility on the shoulders of Adam: "through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men."

Answer 7

Well Eve technically started it, but because they both ate the apple and were embarrassed to be seen naked in the form that God gave them, he cast them out. Both sinned against God, because they disobeyed his command not to eat the fruit from the tree.

This is perpetuated later on in Christianity because church fathers will say that all women are debased and somewhat evil after this - that they need to be controlled by their husbands, etc. So, yes, on that regard you are correct in your thinking, only because that is the way it was passed down for hundreds of thousands of years.
It started earlier, but in 591 with Gregory the Great calling Mary Magdalene a prostitute and that she redeemed Eve when Mary repented and found Jesus...then they really went to town on this Eve/Mary M/Virgin Mary theme in the middle ages when prostitution was a problem..they erected all these convents for women, prostitute and not, and stuck them in there on the base that they were unruly and needed to be controlled - the Original Sin of Eve (Adam was rarely mentioned then) still carried on in women..

Answer 8

it all comes down to it was disobedience. Yes Adam could of refused but he also rebelled and that was a sin because he even quoted god to eve concerning the fruit. Man is the life giver, a good illustration of it Mary was imperfect but had a perfect child named Jesus because the father the life giver could pass on perfection and not sin.

Answer 9

... "Original sin," the notion that every human is born with the guilt of Adam's sin hanging over them, is false. Look at Ezekiel 18...

Ezekiel 18:1 The word of the LORD came to me: 2 “What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:
“ ‘The parents eat sour grapes,
and the children’s teeth are set on edge?’
3 “As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. 4 For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.
...
19 “Yet you ask, ‘Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?’ Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. 20 The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.

In this chapter, God presents a hypothetical family of alternating good and evil sons. He does this expressly to teach that GUILT for sin IS NOT INHERITED, CANNOT BE INHERITED...

The "sinful nature" IS NOT GUILT FOR SIN, but the tendency TO SIN, a result of being born into a fallen world. Since GUILT does not attach at birth, EVERYONE is BORN INNOCENT. Then, when they reach the age to CHOOSE, they become responsible for their actions. In light of this, infant baptism and "immaculate conception" are both just a bit of voodoo, trying to explain away or "fix" something that doesn't exist.

Answer 10

My understanding is that it refers to the first sin, committed when Adam and Eve succumbed to the serpent's temptation. They defied god by doing so, therefore sinning.