Original Sin

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I thought this might be an interesting concept and thread considering there are more Christians on this forum than I thought, according to a thread elsewhere on the forum where people were asked about their faith (or lack thereof).

In case anyone is unfamiliar with the concept of original sin, or is in need of a reminder:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/christianity/beliefs/originalsin_1.shtml

What do people think of this concept?

I think it is strictly fantasy.

I found the concept problematic even when I was a Christian.

Quote from the link I provided in the OP:

"It's not literally true: (regarding the concept of original sin).

Science shows that the Biblical creation story is not literally true, and demonstrates that Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden are myths and not historical figures.

This destroys the idea of original sin as being caused by the misbehaviour of the first man and woman, and the idea of inheriting guilt or punishment for that misbehaviour.

Most modern theologians don't think this a good reason to abandon the doctrine of the fall. They believe that although the story is not historically true, it does contain important truths about the state of humanity."

It's easier to push people around if you can convince them there's something horribly wrong with them, that they owe something.

Original sin.

Dirt that never washes off even though I never touched dirt in the first place when it appeared upon my skin.

People yelling at me saying I should feel bad and be ashamed for something I never had anything to do with, but it's passed onto me whether I like it or not.

I could confess all my sins, say thousands of Hail Marys, pray for forgiveness, do everything I can to earn that forgiveness, but in the end, it wouldn't even matter because I'd still have this original sin.

It's another thing that tells me I'm going to Hell no matter what so I give up.

Religion is so complicated and cruel. That's why I don't go to church anymore.

I think we can say it was a useful plug for explaining the inherently predatory nature and behavior of humanity as it relates to Darwinian game theory and telling people that yes, under most circumstances, we have evil in us because evil is oriented to winning zero-sum / negative-sum games hence there's a fitness pressure, especially when there's intense human v. human competition for resources and status, for us to get more evil so we can climb the hierarchy more, throw more people down the ladder, have more interest from the opposite sex, have more kids, and displace the people who weren't as ruthless and didn't gain status.

If you have to explain to a community, that you're in charge of seeing to the future and longevity of, the problem of evil then you have to think about rigging explanations that help people understand the problem even if there's no materialist theory of evil at that given point. The future cohesiveness of your community and their ability to maintain cohesiveness over zero-sum / negative sum games partially depends on a swift handling of that. Without cohesiveness your community disappears.

The Adam and Eve thing is a strange and confounding story.

My own take: if you add a dash of Buddhism it all falls into place and makes sense. In Buddhism "all suffering is caused by attachment". Attachment to things, to ego, etc.

Adam and Eve start off in state of bliss -at one with the universe. When they eat the apple they become aware of self, and start being at odds with the rest of creation. Become both greedy and egotistical. And at the moment suffering begins.

So "original sin" and "the fall" were not a thing that happened once long ago in human history. It happens to us all in leaving infancy and becoming human. We all born into paradise, and we all partake of ego and get booted out of the garden of eden.

Thanx.

I thought babies were pure ego.

they seem to have been born that way

My son is Practically Perfect in Every Way. He takes after his mother.

The notion of Original Sin is problematic. Sin leads to pain and suffering. An all-powerful God could stop it. He could keep sin from being passed on. It’s just a convoluted reason to explain why things are the way they are while removing culpability from God.

Even when I was not a heathen, I had issues with it.