Do you also carry the burden of all sins by your ancestors, all the way back to Noah, then all the way back to Adam & Eve?
Romans 5:12-21, 1 Corinthians 15:21-22 shows us that Adam & Eve's sins led to a limited life (ie. Loss of eternal life) for them and all subsequent humans.
Psalm 51:5 goes even further, saying that there is guilt of sin at the moment of conception.
This Psalm is said to have been written on or about 990 - 931 BC by King David, so that he could repent his great sins concerning Bathsheba.
The concept of ancestral sin is found in Exodus 20:5 , 34:6-7, and Deut. 5:9.
Jer. 31:29-30 subsequently prophesized around 600 BC that the day would come when the son would no longer suffer the iniquities of the father.
Finally, around 582 BC, Ezekiel 18 declares God's commandment that every person was from that day forth, solely responsible for their own sins.
Romans 5:12-21 says Adam brought sin into the world, and subsequently, everybody became sinners. Many misinterprit these verses in Romans by failing to consider Jer. 31:29-30 and Ezekiel 18.
Augustine (354-430 AD) subsequently went on to coin the phrase "originating sin", but was somewhat misled with his self-confessed mediocrity of understanding Koine Greek.
God made mankind upright (ie. good, without sin) according to Eccles. 7:29, so sin wasn't present at Creation.
Adam & Eve suffered the loss of eternal life due to their sins, as did all other humans.
Adam & Eve were also evicted from the Garden of Eden. When a landlord evicts the current generation, the next generation of the evicted has no right to reclaim the Garden; it belongs to the Owner.
God was under no known obligation to provide neither eternal life nor the Garden to His creation. Therefore both of these were God's gifts through grace to Adam & Eve. Their simultaneous eviction from the Garden and loss of eternal life was God's judgement for their sins. Once they lost both of these, neither of these prior gifts of grace remain as rightful property or assets that are still in the estates of Adam or Eve. Neither of these asset (ie. Occupancy of Garden, and Eternal Life) are available to be passed on to subsequent generations as a legecy of Adam & Eve.
This is suggested as an alternative explanation which is more simple than Original Sin, and yet fully meets and describes all parts of the Bible.
If you feel I have failed to adequately describe or explain 1 or more Bible verses by this proposal, please let me know in the Comments below.
Eastern Orthodox Christians saw this fall of Adam & Eve as an infection with the "disease of death".
Augustine and subsequent Western theologins however saw it as Original Sin.
It appears Augustine decided to ignore Jer. 31:29-30 and Ezekiel 18. Original sin becomes a moot point, even if it existed, as God said in Ezekiel that He would blot out and forgive all prior sins that are repented. That obviously would include Original Sin. Secondly, God expressly commands that vicarious or ancestral sin or Original Sin is no longer in effect as of 582 BC (or there abouts).
Besides Augustine (and my new theory presented above), there are three other theories that try to explain Original Sin (see http://www.the-highway.com/fall_Sproul.html ). To me, all of them are far fetched, spurious, doubtful, poorly supported by the Bible, or not necessary.
This Original Sin idea subsequently got expanded into "Total Depravity" under Calvin's TULIP doctrine.
My analysis, if fully supported by the Bible, seems to deflate Augustine and Calvinism, while somewhat supporting Arminianism.
These are complicated theologies, and I don't begin to know how to spell them, let alone all the nuances of each of them.
Perhaps it's best to regard all of this as a Satanic distraction away from the most important issues:
- Jesus Christ and His Teachings
- God's Word in the Bible
- Removing sin and iniquity from our lives
- Loving God with all of our mind, body, soul, & strength
- Understanding the Gospel
- World-wide testimony and spreading the Gospel.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting. Free speech is encouraged & supported, but it must be done in a respectful manner to all opinions. All comments will be read by Blog Moderator, and responded to as appropriate. Spam will be deleted.