Original sin

From PhiloWiki

Is there original sin? Do we live in a fallen, imperfect world?

Christian views

• Original Sin - S. Harent, Catholic Encyclopedia

"Original sin may be taken to mean: (1) the sin that Adam committed; (2) a consequence of this first sin, the hereditary stain with which we are born on account of our origin or descent from Adam.

From the earliest times the latter sense of the word was more common, as may be seen by St. Augustine's statement: "the deliberate sin of the first man is the cause of original sin" (De nupt. et concup., II, xxvi, 43). It is the hereditary stain that is dealt with here."

Secular views

• The Incoherence of Original Sin and Substitutive Sacrifice - Philip Kuchar, Secular Web

"Christianity can be summarized as the worship of a saviour-God who washes away our worries and deadly sins in the blood he shed on our behalf. But it’s clear that some people’s particular sins far outnumber those of other people. The genius of Paul was in conceiving universal sin, giving everyone without exception a necessary reason to pay special attention to Jesus’ death."

• Critique of Lee Strobel's The Case for Faith - Paul Doland, Secular Web

"Is it Adam and Eve's fault for committing Original Sin? Doesn't seem hardly fair to blame me for their mistake. And who is it that decided that everybody inherits Original Sin? God, right? God could have chosen to not make everybody inherit Original Sin, could He not? Yet He did. God decided that everybody inherits Original Sin, and therefore God decided that everybody has a "propensity" to sin, and then blames everybody for being sinners. Huh?"