Sin

I've been thinking about original sin. Seems to me there are 2 kinds of original sin. There is the original sin – that is, Adam and Eve in the garden and the apple and all. And then there’s “Original Sin” as a systematic doctrine. That is, the sin we’ve inherited what Calvin and(as usual, Wikipedia has an nice section on it).

It always seemed strange to me that we could inherit sin. I mean, how could we be held responsible for something someone else did? Not that we don’t have enough sin in our lives anyway, but the idea that a newborn baby is guilty of “Original Sin” has always confused me. So I started thinking about what “Original Sin” really is. Maybe it has to do with power.

The sin of Adam and Eve was that they wanted to be “like God”, knowing the difference between right and wrong. This is really strange, since they clearly knew that eating the apple was wrong. So didn't they already know the difference, but weren't acting on it?

But I am thinking the "know good from evil" is a bigger question and somewhat of a paradox. I think it may be more like "wanted to proclaim good from evil." In a sense, isn't that what we do? We have our opinions on good and evil about everything from ethics to wars to politics to people's choice in clothing. I *think* they may have wanted to know it all -- to be in a position where they were able to sit and proclaim right and wrong in every situation. And perhaps, the implication is that they wanted to have the power to make it so.

Perhaps the real thing maybe was that they wanted to be “like God” -- not in that they wanted to be Godly. They wanted control over the universe. But they weren’t gods. In some ways, they were given control over the universe. And even today, we pretty much control everything. But they didn’t have God’s “Godness”. So they were left trying to control a universe that they didn’t understand and couldn’t really master.

Perhaps that desire, that need to push along what's right -- to know emphatically the best course every time about everything -- and the the "God-like-ness" to be clever enough or powerful enough to carry it out is the Original Sin.

We are born into a world that is ruled by those who are trying to play God. So, from birth, we’re taught that we’re in control and we’re not taught about God. And we have to deal with the world system controlling parts of our lives, but this isn’t God. We are rewarded as "leaders" if we take charge and enforce "good." We pass laws to force people to obey the "good." In that, we proclaim that we know good from evil and that we have the power to force people to obey.

I'm honestly not sure I'm right, but it does seem to make sense to me. To be less "Adam-esque," we should be less convicted of our own discernment. I'm not saying we should never render a thought on what is good or evil, but that our focus should be on how we live that out, not how we can enforce our ideas on someone else. Had Adam & Eve just focused on how to live what God had already told them was good, they wouldn't have gotten into trouble. The irony is that they did what was evil in the name of the good. But that seems so natural in our world, doesn't it?

On the other hand, I don't see how a baby can be "sinful" as the Calinists teach. I am still not sure this answers that.

I've thought a lot about how we use the ends to justify our means the way that Adam & Eve did, but I'll save that for later.