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: psburns@lims04.lerc.nasa.gov (MAUREEN BURNS) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Is Original Sin a sin? Message-ID: Date: 28 Apr 91 23:42:29 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: NASA Lewis Research Center Lines: 78 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article , pkk36438@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Polygon) writes... >Were Adams and Eve born to be bad? No. However, they decided to do something >that was against the God's wish. It was reason that they were seperated from >God. > Firstly, Adam and Eve were not "born", they were created. They were created in the image of God, and intended to be image bearers of God. They were created to be good, to be involved intimately with each other and with God. Their environment was perfect, as was their relationship with each other and with God. To be in the image of God implies that they had a volition, or free will to choose. Satan sold them the lie that there was more to life than what God provided, so they chose to seek satisfaction outside of God by partaking of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. >Rightness and wrongness must involve a decision or a choice. If people behave >involuntarily, they are not responsible for what they do in the sense of >morality. There is no such thing as an involuntary behavior or action. (Except of course for heartbeat and breathing!) We are volitional people, and are capable of making right and wrong choices. However, as a result of the fall, our thinking has been distorted due to sin. "Perceived" loss of choice is not the same as "actual" loss of choice. We percieve that we have no control or choices, but actually we do. (The laws may tell you a different story, which is out of my scope.) >If we have to be evil, then how can God, if there is such God, blame us for >being evil? If God decided to let people born to be bad, then Original Sin is >of God's wish and should not be considered evil. > The concept of "Original Sin" is, I think, Biblical, but it has been distorted a bit in translation. Sin is a condition of separation which we have inherited from our first parents, Adam and Eve. The so-called sinful action we exhibit in life: lying, stealing, promiscuity,etc. are the visible and logical fallouts of a condition one exists in. We are born into that state of separation, into that sinful state. Our natural tendancy is to move away from God, to seek satisfaction outside of his provisions. Look at how fast a two-year old demonstrates a streak of anger or rebellion or deceit. They don't learn those behaviors. They are born into it. However, on the flip side, because we have been created in God's image, there is inherent goodness in us. Because of the fall, it's distorted, almost invisible in some people. It's that goodness that drives us to repentance when we realize sin in our lives. It's that goodness that is appealing to us, and make us want to make things right. It's that goodness that, when you are born again, is aghast at sin and evil in the world. We are fallen image bearers, living life in a fallen world. There is something wrong with everything. But there is something right, too. > >So we see that morality involves free will and a revealed standard for >measurement. Is a baby born to be evil? No. It's because he/she has not have >a chance to make a choice-- for better or for worse. When he/she is able to >make a choice, he/she may or may not responsible for his/her act depending on >how his/her moral standard is established. Some standards can be universalized >and some cannot be. It will be morally valid to judge a person when he/she >makes a choice and selects a scale or standard of morality. I believe we are accountable to GOd for our choices only when we realize our options between right and wrong. To accept Jesus is right. To reject him is wrong. An infant has no way of discerning those options. That implies, that although he or she is still in the state of separation, that he or she is not accountable to God for that state, and therefore, is under the protection of the almighty. (I mean, that if an infant dies before that point of accountablity, God will take him or her to heaven. Only God knows when that child is intellectually capable of understanding choices. Perhaps, you can loosely compare it to a child who is born with some life long disease that needs constant medical attention. They have a condition that they are helpless to change or control. THey are not even aware of their condition. They are completely dependant on parents (for example) to administer the correct medication for protection. But at some time in their life, they are made aware of their condition, and given the responsibility to chose to either take care of it or not take care of it themselves. The choice is theirs only. It is not too different from the state of sin into which we are all born. Maureen