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From: CONS.ELF@AIDA.CSD.UU.SE (Ake Eldberg)
Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian
Subject: Re: Is Original Sin a sin?
Message-ID: <May.2.05.41.11.1991.3045@athos.rutgers.edu>
Date: 2 May 91 09:41:13 GMT
Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu
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Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu

To the gentle who argued that original sin cannot stand because it is
against God's will, here are some thoughts.
 
Forst, we must ask ourselves what sin is. The simplest answer is
"an action that is contrary to God's will". But this is not all.
We must also ask who commits this action. The most common answer
is "we all do". This makes for an individual-centered view of
sin. Sins are words, thoughts and actions committed by each of
us.
 
But isn't it true that there is also a collective sin? Think of
the pollution of nature. It is clearly a sin, since it destroys
God's creation. But whose fault is it? The guilt here belongs not
to any individual, but to all of us collectively -- it is part of
the system that we have built, the society we live in. Every time
we ride a bus, drive a car, buy something that is packed in plastic
or go to the toilet, we contribute to pollution.
 
In theory, I guess it would be possible for us to avoid this sin
by exiting ourselves from society and living like hermits in the
desert. But this is absurd -- for most of us, it remains that we
cannot exist in modern society without becoming part of the system
that pollutes nature.

So there are sins that we cannot choose to avoid. Or at least,
the price we would have to pay in order to avoid them would be
enormous. Simply by being part of human society, as Jesus clearly
wanted us to be, we become sinners.
 
Now here comes my definition. Sin is everything that separates
man from God. Everything that separates us. This means that sin
is not only the evil actions we consciously commit after having
chosen between good and evil. There is a lot of sin which is
intertwined with humanity as such. You and I do not have to be
personally responsible for all of it, even though we are part
of humanity. The human race is separated from God, not just by
the sinful acts of each one of us, but as a collective. It is
inescapable.
 
Thus, no man can ever stand before God without sin, even if his
personal actions were ever so impeccable. In effect, it is sinful
to be human because humanity is not in obedience to God.
 
This is what I mean by original sin. Praise to God who forgives,
and ever seeks to join us to Him!

Ake Eldberg