Original Sin

Exploring the details of Christianity

Moderator: Moderators

Post Reply
User avatar
JBlack
Apprentice
Posts: 207
Joined: Sat Oct 03, 2009 5:21 pm
Location: New York

Original Sin

Post #1

Post by JBlack »

I was talking to one of my cousins who is a Christian. We started talking about children and babies that die. My cousin, as well as many other Christians I know, believe that babies and kids will go to heaven automatically.

But they also believe in Original sin. They believe that we're all born hell-bound sinners, and must be saved. If you don't die an accepter of Jesus Christ, then you go to hell. :-k

I point out to my cousin that this is kind of contradictory. How can a baby go to heaven if that baby is already a sinner, being that he was born a sinner. We're all born sinners and that's why we all need Jesus Christ....right?

Apparently I was wrong (as usual :( ). It's different for children. So then at what age does Original Sin kick in? He tells me after 12, is when you need Jesus. He claims this to be biblically supported. Disappointingly (but not surprisingly), he wasn't able to tell me where in the bible this was.

And so my question:

1. Do babies and children go to heaven automatically?
2. Is there really a such thing as Original Sin?
3. Is there anything in the bible about 12 being the "cut off " age?
"Each of those churches accuse the other of unbelief; and for my own part, I disbelieve them all." - Thomas Paine

User avatar
Student
Sage
Posts: 639
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:10 pm
Location: UK - currently dusting shelves 220 - 229, in the John Rylands Library

Post #61

Post by Student »

Jonah wrote:Classical western Original Sin doctrine flows from Augustine as coming from the "unfortunate" event of being born of a woman.
No, I don't think that that is correct. As originally formulated by Augustine, original sin had nothing to do with being born of a woman. The only role the woman was believed to play in procreation was as the receptacle for the man’s “seed�. Therefore original sin was passed down the male line. Hence it is all about Adam; Eve doesn’t get a look in.

It was only when the true nature of the woman’s role in procreation was understood did the need for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception arise. Indeed it only became a statement of faith in 1854 ensuring, retrospectively, that Mary would be free from the taint of original sin and thereby avoiding the possibility of Jesus “inheriting� it from his mother.

Jonah
Scholar
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 12:32 pm

Post #62

Post by Jonah »

okay, we could quibble. On one hand, Augustine made mysoginist statements. On the other hand, he didn't make as many as most in his day.

So, if we took "woman" off...and just get to the "born" part. It doesn't change much. The issue is still sex and babies. And it's this weird disease concept that infected all of western christendom up to and through the Immaculate Conception (which the Orthodox Church thinks is a load of kaka along with Original Sin).

The goofy thing is that Augustine's sexual sins really weren't that profound. It was his feeling about them that was the problem. Maybe the toilet training in infancy didn't go very well. I dunno. But if that's what it was, heck, what a price everyone in the west has paid for that.

User avatar
Student
Sage
Posts: 639
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:10 pm
Location: UK - currently dusting shelves 220 - 229, in the John Rylands Library

Post #63

Post by Student »

Jonah wrote:okay, we could quibble. On one hand, Augustine made mysoginist statements. On the other hand, he didn't make as many as most in his day.

So, if we took "woman" off...and just get to the "born" part. It doesn't change much. The issue is still sex and babies. And it's this weird disease concept that infected all of western christendom up to and through the Immaculate Conception (which the Orthodox Church thinks is a load of kaka along with Original Sin).

The goofy thing is that Augustine's sexual sins really weren't that profound. It was his feeling about them that was the problem. Maybe the toilet training in infancy didn't go very well. I dunno. But if that's what it was, heck, what a price everyone in the west has paid for that.
I also have no desire to quibble but you appear to be obsessed with the notion that Original Sin has something to do with sex and babies. It does not.

The doctrine of Original Sin considers that this is the state in which all humanity exists as a result of the Fall of Man. Adam’s disobedience, in eating the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, which God expressly forbade, caused him to sin.

Augustine argued that humanity inherited this original sin from Adam. He [Augustine] based his understanding of this seminal transmission of Original Sin on a mistaken interpretation of the Latin text of Romans 5:12
propterea sicut per unum hominem in hunc mundum peccatum intravit et per peccatum mors et ita in omnes homines mors pertransiit in quo omnes peccaverunt
The Latin “in quo� can be read as either masculine or neuter. Augustine chose to interpret it as masculine “in whom�(i.e. Adam) : Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.

However, had he understood a little Greek he would have realised that “in quo� should be interpreted as neuter thus giving “Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in that all have sinned.

Consequently Augustine, and the Church of Rome, held to the doctrine and insisted that all babies were born sinners and so argued for the necessity of infant baptism. Sad that a simple error can lead to so many suffering for so long.

Jonah
Scholar
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 12:32 pm

Post #64

Post by Jonah »

student,

You have simply verified what I have said about Augustine and the doctrine as it has functioned in western history.

You are adding an assertion that the doctrine, as it has functioned, is an error and that an authentic doctrine of Original Sin exists independently of Augustine's and the whole western Church up until.....when? I will be very interested in the HISTORY of the authentic version of the doctrine...shall it be the typical leap from modern fundamentalist biblical interpretation to fundamentalism itself? You can fill us in.

Historically (and presently), the claim of the Orthodox Church is that there ain't no such thing called Original Sin...and they see it simply as an erroneous invention of the western church.

So. If you have the energy, you could quibble with the Orthodox.

User avatar
Student
Sage
Posts: 639
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:10 pm
Location: UK - currently dusting shelves 220 - 229, in the John Rylands Library

Post #65

Post by Student »

Jonah wrote:You are adding an assertion that ......................an authentic doctrine of Original Sin exists independently of Augustine's and the whole western Church up until.....when?
I have done no such thing - show me where I have made such an assertion.

I simply pointed out the error in your claims, i.e. that Original Sin was to do with Sex and babies, as well as identifying the flawed basis for Augustine's original arguement.
So. If you have the energy, you could quibble with the Orthodox.
I have no argument with the Eastern Orthodox position.

Jonah
Scholar
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 12:32 pm

Post #66

Post by Jonah »

I would be desirous to be educated who in the history of western Christendom has taught Original Sin differently than Augustine such that they also tag Augustine with error. Is your interpretation of Original Sin yours and yours alone?

User avatar
Student
Sage
Posts: 639
Joined: Sun Aug 16, 2009 2:10 pm
Location: UK - currently dusting shelves 220 - 229, in the John Rylands Library

Post #67

Post by Student »

Jonah wrote:I would be desirous to be educated who in the history of western Christendom has taught Original Sin differently than Augustine such that they also tag Augustine with error. Is your interpretation of Original Sin yours and yours alone?
I have neither the wit nor imagination to formulate a theory of Original Sin. Rather, I have set out the doctrine as I understand it was originally expressed by Augustine.
BBC Religion and Ethics wrote:Augustine saw original sin as working in two ways:
• inherited guilt for a crime
• spiritual sickness or weakness
Augustine thought that humanity was originally perfect ("man's nature was created at first faultless and without any sin"), immortal and blessed with many talents, but that Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and introduced sin and death to the world.

Augustine didn't see any need to provide a good reason why Adam, who had originally been created perfect, chose to sin, or why God hadn't created a perfect being that was incapable of sin.

As far as Augustine was concerned the point was that Adam had sinned and humanity had to deal with the consequences.

Augustine developed the following argument:
• the whole essence of human nature was contained in Adam, the first man
• when Adam disobeyed God, the whole of human nature disobeyed God
• thus the whole of human nature became sinful
• thus the whole human race was damaged for all time.

“Nothing remains but to conclude that in the first man all are understood to have sinned, because all were in him when he sinned; whereby sin is brought in with birth and not removed save by the new birth... it is manifest that in Adam all sinned, so to speak, en masse. By that sin we became a corrupt mass.� Augustine

Bible scholars think that this element of Augustine's theory was partly based on a mistranslation in the Latin version of the Bible.


Certainly it is the doctrine as expressed by Thomas Aquinas and sanctioned by Pope Pius V in 1567, whereby he condemned the identification of original sin with concupiscence.

It is, I believe, the current status of the dogma within the Church of Rome. I appreciate however that Lutherans and Calvanists in particular may have different ideas.

Jonah
Scholar
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 12:32 pm

Post #68

Post by Jonah »

Well, if with Augustine, "with birth", I really don't see how we're saying things much differently. If YOU want to disassociate birth from the business of procreation, okay, I guess one might do that through some assertion that there just some kind of assignment of sinner status at birth through some kind of fancy existentialist mode...I dunno. But, most everyday people, with the help of a lot of everyday preachers in western Christendom never came up with any such fine thoughts. And like someone said in sales, perception is reality.

Lutherans, being directly in the Augustinian tradition, would be with Augustine. You may be right that Calvinism could have a different spin, but I'm betting if that's true (I just don't know), it would be more with Calvin-ism....than everyday Presbyterians.

It would be interesting to take a survey of Christians today who believe Mary was actually a virgin to ask them why they think it was important that she be a virgin.

myth-one.com
Savant
Posts: 7466
Joined: Wed Aug 09, 2006 4:16 pm
Has thanked: 32 times
Been thanked: 98 times
Contact:

Post #69

Post by myth-one.com »

Regarding Pope Innocent III & Original sin, http://www.dhushara.com/book/consum/origSin.htm wrote: Pope Innocent III put it neatly in the thirteenth century: 'Everyone knows that intercourse, even between married persons, is never performed without the itch of the flesh, the heat of passion and the stench of lust. Whence the seed conceived is fouled, smirched, corrupted; and the soul infused into it inherits the guilt of sin.'
If Pope Innocent III is correct, original sin would not be present in babies produced by in vitro fertilisation (IVF) or other processes by which the egg cells are fertilised by sperm outside the womb. :-k

So intercourse is fine for fun, but when you're ready for a family go in vitro for a baby born without original sin! :evil_laugh:

Jonah
Scholar
Posts: 324
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 12:32 pm

Post #70

Post by Jonah »

WOW! Good point.

A good exemplar of how Original Sin is a sex problem in the western Christian mind.

I wonder. Has anyone in the churches come up with an theological explanation as to how a person born out of an invitro procedure ends up a sinner from Adam? I mean, if they're going to make the assertion that it comes from Adam, shouldn't they have to explain how it actually works?

Post Reply