Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: CONS.ELF@AIDA.CSD.UU.SE (Ake Eldberg) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Original sin of infants Message-ID: Date: 1 Apr 91 09:28:13 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Lines: 47 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu This message comes from Ake Eldberg who is a Lutheran minister in Sweden. Recently, a minister of my church suddenly declared that he was unable to use the Swedish Church's official Book of Prayers at infant baptism. It was against his conscience to do so, because the service contains references indicating that the infant is tainted with original sin and needs to be forgiven. He said: A child is the creation of God. It has only just come into this world. It has never committed any sin whatsoever. It is pure. Sin requires a choice, and the infant doesn't have one. Thus, references to forgiveness of sin in the baptismal rite imply that sins are inherited, that the child is blamed for what other people (the parents?) have done. But if God created this child, and it hasn't had any opportunity to commit any sins -- doesn't that mean that God must have supplied the sinfulness in the first place. And if God deliberately creates us with sin, what right does he have to blame us for it? The newspapers here quickly caught on, and the priest has received an overwhelming support from the general public. The priest devised his own, alternative prayers to replace those containing references to original sin, and parents are now starting to demand that these be used at their baptisms. For instance, where the official rite has "God, thou who alone can save us from all evil, forgive N all sin, liberate him/her from the powers of darkness, write his/her name in the book of Life, and keep him/her forever in thy Light", the priest uses something like "Bring him/her into the Light of Jesus Christ". Attempts from the Church to defend the traditional standpoint have been weak, badly phrased, garbled by the media, and met with a total lack of understanding by the public. It is now being demanded that the outdated, primitive belief in original sin be stricken from the Christian teaching. I would be interested to hear from anyone on this newsgroup who has any idea on how one might convinvingly explain the idea of original sin to modern, half-secularized parents who come with their child to a priest and want it baptized. Since messages on soc.religion.christian only get here once per 2 weeks, if ever, I would appreciate an email CC of your postings on this subject. Your brother in Christ, Ake Eldberg