Wednesday 16 March 2011

Gleanings in Genesis Part Two

"By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin. The spirit of insubordination possessed him; he rebelled again his Maker; he ate of the forbidden fruit; and terrible were the consequences that followed."

The notion that there was no death before the fall of man is a sentiment I have heard expressed more than once during my forays into creationism. This is the first half of the premise on which Christianity is based (as explained by Romans 5 and 1 Corinthians 15). Adam committed the first sin, Original Sin. For this, God curses all of mankind. We are all born tainted and presumably there was no way to cleanse ourselves of this for about four thousand years. Luckily there was no Hell at this point, so when we died our souls simply ceased to exist.


According to the Christian gospel, Jesus Christ is the only one who can offer redemption from this bleak fate. Without faith in Him, we remain burdened with Original Sin and will suffer the consequences after death. That is His basic purpose: death through Adam, life through Christ. But if one doesn't accept the idea of Original Sin, then on what grounds can belief in Jesus be necessary? His teachings provide philosophical insight, but there is suddenly no dire need for Christian allegiance: he is but another mortal man with thoughtful words.

Herein lies the apparent contradiction: we are all punished for Adam's sin, and yet we are only supposed to be accountable for our own sins (Ezekiel 18, Deuteronomy 24, 2 Kings 14).

Ezekiel 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him.

What accounts for this inconsistency? Can God hold us responsible for the sins of our forefathers while telling us not to do the same, and if so, are we responsible for the sins of every one of our ancestors or just Adam?

29 comments:

  1. Very interesting post and blog! Am looking forward to more!

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  3. I under the impression that according to the Bible that Jesus died for all of our sins and thus they are all forgiven. It's been a loooong time since I've gone to sunday school though.

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  4. @Galivice

    Trust me, Pink's book is long and stupid. I want to focus on other topics, but there may still be quite a few of these in the future.

    @LazyTheKid

    Original Sin ensures that every human in sinful regardless of their actions and therefore needs Christ as early and for as long as possible. It's kind of a cover-all-bases type of sin.

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  5. I haven't read the Bible front to back but I believe that thoughout God has had several "changes of heart". In the Old Testament he was a wrathful God who changed into a forgiving God in the New Testament when he sent his own son Jesus to die for our sins. I think to really understand the changes in God is to read the Bible right through. Loving your posts btw.. :)

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  6. Hmm, interesting.

    Don;t really follow the bible though

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  7. Very insightful, not often I see somebody on the internet speak candidly about the bible, without breaking down and being insulting.

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  8. hmmm........, good to know, nice post

    + follower:)

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  9. I am atheist, but these articles are interesting. Followed

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  10. It is simple. Jesus show this thing "if you believe the God will resurrect you from death to life it will be true" i think.

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  11. Interesting stuff.

    Followed.

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  12. I've been cautious and rather unconvinced about religion since I gained consciousness.
    It's nothing more than a social control method

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  13. census is going round the uk at the minute. i have put my religion as metal. because fuck yes metal

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  14. Interesting, not really religious but I do see your points.

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  15. heh, dont realy have the same opinions about the whole "religion" thing, but its quite interesting...btw u comment on my blog on my last "Deathspell Omega" post, and u say that they are your fav music group (they are satanists) hehe :p

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  16. How long have you strictly followed Christianity for?

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  17. how interesting.... tell me more please sir

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  18. hmm. interesting points. followed for more

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  19. It's cool to see someone actually dissect the bible for once and do his own research as to the (non-)validity of all that horse shit. I'm used to reading the same old rants, but yours is more subtle and learned. Not that it matters for me - I know all the arguments for and against and of course there is barely any logic in any religion but what I'm really just trying to say is: nice to read something new for a change :)

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  20. great background on this, bro!

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  21. My interpretation is that we are responsible for the sins of the entire humanity, meaning that we should work to make the world a better place by helping everyone to get rid of their sins.

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  22. And here we see the problem of multiple authors

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  23. great post. looking forward to reading your next one

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  24. just read through again. still a good read.

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  25. I dig this logic, unfortunately, it is based on a book written by THE DEAD!

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