alphamale said:
What does it mean to say we were all born with "original sin"? How can anyone who was just born have sinned? He didn't do anything yet! Why did God make the "ultimate blood sacrifice" - wouldn't a universal pardon have been just as good?
It would have been 'just as good' of course. It would not have been understood by a people immersed in a blood sacrifice culture however.
Anyway, this has probably already been said by somebody, but I have to go to choir practice and am way too lazy today to read the whole thread just now. But here's my understanding of 'sin' and 'original sin' which is by no means to be construed that I think I am the last word on the subject:
Strip away all the rituals and rules and human notions of right and wrong, and 'sin' can be boiled down to one concept: Sin is that which harms oneself or others. And because God does not wish us to be harmed, that is why He is against sin.
"Original sin" is sin that spoiled the perfection that would have existed had there been no sin. We read in the Bible that the 'sins of the fathers are visited on the children even to the fourth and fifth generatons.' Little did the writer know that the 'sins of the fathers' would be visited on future generations for millenia, not just generations.
The way that God seems to have set up the universe is that there is cause and effect, reward and consequence, for just about everything. The person who does something good may not be aware of any immediate personal benefit for his good deed, but it is my belief that it is the cumulative effect of good deeds or virtue that makes things better until things are very good.
Likewise, the person who does something bad may not be aware of any immediate personal detriment, but it is my belief that it is the cumulative effect of bad deeds or 'sin' that screws everything up for everybody. You have a generation of adults eating twinkiess and ho-hos, for instance, and the next generation(s) may experience all kinds of ailments that they might not otherwise have had. A little bit of toxins emitted into the water or soil or air may not be significant, but the cumulative effect of millions doing it is probably why were have certain cancers, breathing disorders, and other ailments.
I don't believe any of us are held accountable when we had nothing to do with the bad deed committed by another. But we might suffer the consequence of the other's sin through no fault of our own.
Like I said, because sin is bad for everybody, God is against it.
Okay that's my take on it for whatever it's worth. Now I'm off to choir practice. Play nice.