Original sin
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According to Christian tradition, original sin is the general condition of sinfulness (lack of holiness) into which human beings are born (Psalm 51:5). Original sin is also called hereditary sin, birth sin, or person sin. Used with the definite article ("the original sin"), it refers to the first sin, committed when Adam and Eve succumbed to the serpent's temptation. This Biblical story of original sin is the sign and seed of future evil choices and effects for the whole human race. Christians usually refer to this first sin as "the Fall". Original sin is distinguished from actual sin as cause and effect: "a bad tree bears bad fruit" (Matthew 7:17, NIV). Original sin is not "personal" (in the modern sense of this word)—in that it is not the consequence of personal choice or personal failure to act—but nevertheless it is "personal" in the sense that every individual person is personally subject to the effects of original sin.
Jews do not believe in "original sin," but it is a key teaching for most Christians. In line with the Hebrew Tradition, contemporary Christian theologian Matthew Fox's doctrine of "original blessing" is sometimes used in contrast to original sin so as to recall, on the other hand, the many blessings of Creation with which God blesses the human race. For Christians, atonement for original sin (and actual sin) requires the redemption of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection. Subsequently, many Christians require baptism either to wash away this sin or to make a public and symbolic representation of one's redemption. Some churches, such as the Unity Church, regard the concept as blasphemy, as they believe the concept of a perfect creator consistently creating a flawed creation implies an imperfect God.
By analogy the term is used in fields other than religion to indicate a pervading inherent flaw.
[edit] The original sin (the Fall)
[edit] Classical Biblical view
Adam and Eve's sin, as recounted in the Book of Genesis is sometimes called in Hebrew החטא הקדמון (the original sin), on the basis of the traditional Christian term. But the term used in classical Jewish literature is חטא אדם הראשׁון (the sin of the first man, or of Adam).
The account in Genesis 2-3 implies that Adam and Eve initially lived in a state of intimate communion with God. The narrative reads that God "caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil" (Gen. 2:9, NASB). God then forbade Adam to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil warning him that he would surely die if he did. Man was not forbidden to eat from the tree of life initially, but was after breaking the commandment to not eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. God said that "man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Gen. 3:22, NASB). The serpent persuaded Eve to eat from the tree and "she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate" (Gen. 3:6, NASB). After eating the fruit Adam became aware of his nakedness (Gen. 3:1-7). God bestowed a curse upon each of the active participants. First the earth is cursed with thorns. Next the serpent's physical form is altered and God sets up an eternal enmity between Eve and the serpent and all their offspring (Gen. 3:9-15). God then pronounces two curses upon Eve. First, she is to suffer pains in childbirth. Second, her husband will henceforth rule over her and she will strive for that power (Gen. 3:16). God then tells Adam that he will now struggle for his sustenance, and places the fault of fallen mankind on his shoulders (Gen. 3:17-21).
Adam and Eve were not necessarily expelled from the Garden of Eden for their disobedience per se. The narrative reads that God no longer wanted them to eat from the Tree of Life, which would impart eternal life to them, something they lost upon disobeying God's orders. To avoid this, God expelled them from paradise (Gen. 3:22-24).
[edit] Reform and Conservative Judaism's views
The more modern liberal branches of Judaism, such as Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism, which see no "evil" other than the evil actions of human beings, disagree with traditions that identify the serpent with Satan. Eve's only transgression was that she disobeyed God's order. Adam was with her the entire time and at no time stopped her. Therefore, it is incorrect to blame Eve alone. Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden and had to live ordinary, human lives. In other words, they had to "leave home" and grow up and live as responsible human beings. If they had never eaten from the forbidden tree, they would never have discovered their capacity to do evil. God gave Adam and Eve free will when he created them, but it was not until they ate the fruit that they became aware of the possibility of choosing to do evil or to do good, as they originally had no knowledge of both.
[edit] Dead Sea Community and Ancient Judaism
Some of the ancient Jewish peoples, most likely around the Second Temple era, viewed Original Sin not coming from Adam and Eve, but rather from just before the flood (Genesis 6:2) where the "sons of God saw that the daugters of men were beautiful, and they married". The interpretation is that these "sons of God" were fallen spirits who married earthly women and their fallen state gets entered into humanity that way. This view is clearly seen in the Dead Sea community as the origins of Original Sin. Although this may have been in opposition to the Rabbinic Tradition at the time which saw dual created Adam, one as corrupt and fallen and the other as the Spiritual Man.
[edit] Disputes concerning original sin
The doctrine of Original Sin has received considerable scrutiny from contemporary Christians. The chief dispute centres over the emotive argument of whether an apparently innocent baby can be deemed subject to sin and death. The dispute centres around distinctions between personal sin (i.e. freely willed, conscious and understood) and original sin (not the result of free will). The Augustinian tradition makes a clear distinction between sin which is the result of freely and consciously chosen actions, and the impersonal nature of original sin; namely the unchosen context and situations into which the child is born and which surrounds the baby, and into which the child might be educated and formed. Effectively, the Augustinian teaching says that even though the baby has not made any conscious choice, it is nevertheless personally affected by—and subject to—sin, and that God's grace is essential to give hope and salvation. The Augustinian view is seen by some scholars as a negative view of human nature, since Augustine of Hippo believed that the human race, without God's help, is depraved.
Original sin, from the Augustinian perspective, is not a free and individual choice by a baby; but rather the effect of the sum total of "world sin", taught analogously through the story of the sin of Adam and Eve. The Augustinian doctrine of original sin teaches that every individual is born into a broken world where sin is already active; that they are inevitably influenced personally by the actions of others and the consequences of choices made by others. The Augustinian effectively believes that human nature—and hence every individual person—is flawed. The Augustinian remedy for original sin is baptism; the ritual washing away of the unchosen but inevitable condition of birth sin; and a vigorous declaration by Christians that sin shall not prevail, but that God's grace can overpower it with our free cooperation.
Some individuals challenge the entire doctrine of original sin as unbiblical, understanding the concept is to contradict Mosaic teaching that the children should not be punished for the sins of the fathers. Ezekiel 18:20 again states unequivocally that descendants are not to be punished for their parents' sins.
Those who understand original sin as personal guilt and sin, rather than as sin in an analogous sense, are confronted with a yet graver difficulty, particularly if they conceive of sin as a matter of a person's soul as such, rather than of the ensouled body, or enfleshed soul, that is the person. Sin, they say, is an issue of the soul, but, if we inherit our bodies from our parents and our souls from God, then original sin, which is inherited with human nature from our parents, must be a matter of the body; or, if it is a matter of the soul, original sin must come from God.
Judaism rejects the concept of the original sin altogether and stresses free will and men's responsibility of their actions rather than religious obedience or faith. Why, they ask, would God, who is, by dogma, universal unconditional Love, create sentient and sapient beings, then intentionally let them become corrupt—and then punish them from generation to generation with eternal torture for simply just being born in the world and for nothing else—and judge people not on their actions but by their faith or its lack—and then by whim save the beings from nothing else but from his very own wrath.
Christian churches that deny original sin have differing explanations for the ancient Christian practice of conferring on infants what the Nicene Creed calls the "one baptism for the forgiveness of sins". Several denominations (following anabaptist traditions) deny offering infant baptism altogether and insist that only persons who have reached the "age of accountability" should be baptized.
[edit] Original sin (Christian doctrine)
There are wide-ranging disagreements among Christian groups as to the exact understanding of the doctrine about a state of sinfulness or absence of holiness affecting all human beings, even children, with some Christian groups denying it altogether.
[edit] Original sin in the New Testament
The doctrine of original sin is thought by some to be implied in the Apostle Paul's description of human sinfulness as no less universal than Christ's free gift of righteousness, especially in the verses here italicized:
- Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned—for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.
- —Romans 5:12-14, ESV
- Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
- —Rom. 5:18-21, ESV
Those who identify original sin with concupiscence apply to it also Paul's description of a general experience:
- I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now if I do what I do not want, I agree with the law, that it is good. So now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me.
- So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?
- —Rom. 7:15-24, ESV
Those who see original sin not as a positive reality but as something merely negative, namely lack of holiness, see the doctrine as implicit also in the teaching of Jesus, as expressed, for example, in the words: "I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5, TNIV).
Also, within Christian cirlces we see that John writes about "that ancient serpent" in Revelations 20:2. Which (unlike non-Christian interpretations) ties the serpent in to the garden to be identified as Satan.
[edit] Original sin in Catholicism
The Catechism of the Catholic Church says:
By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice he had received from God, not only for himself but for all human beings.
Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice; this deprivation is called "original sin".
As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers, subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined to sin (this inclination is called "concupiscence").
Catechism of the Catholic Church explains that in "yielding to the tempter, Adam and Eve committed a personal sin, but this sin affected the human nature that they would then transmit in a fallen state … original sin is called "sin" only in an analogical sense: it is a sin "contracted" and not "committed"—a state and not an act" (404). This "state of deprivation of the original holiness and justice … transmitted to the descendants of Adam along with human nature" (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 76) involves no personal responsibility or personal guilt on their part (cf. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 405). Personal responsibility and guilt were Adam's, who because of his sin, was unable to pass on to his descendants a human nature with the holiness with which it would otherwise have been endowed, in this way implicating them in his sin.
Though Adam's sinful act is not the responsibility of his descendants, the state of human nature that has resulted from that sinful act has consequences that plague them: "Human nature, without being entirely corrupted, has been harmed in its natural powers, is subject to ignorance, suffering and the power of death, and has a tendency to sin. This tendency is called concupiscence" (Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, 77), but is distinct from original sin itself.
The Church has always held baptism to be "for the remission of sins", and, as mentioned in Catechism of the Catholic Church, 403, infants too have traditionally been baptized, though not guilty of any actual personal sin. The sin that through baptism was remitted for them could only be original sin, with which they were connected by the very fact of being human beings. Based largely on this practice, Saint Augustine of Hippo articulated the teaching in reaction to Pelagianism, which insisted that human beings have of themselves, without the necessary help of God's grace, the ability to lead a morally good life, and thus denied both the importance of baptism and the teaching that God is the giver of all that is good.
The Catholic Church did not accept all of Augustine's ideas, which he developed to counter the claim by Pelagius that the influence of Adam on other human beings was merely that of bad example. For instance, the Church did not adopt the opinion that involvement in Adam's guilt and punishment takes effect through the dependence of human procreation on the sexual passion, in which the spirit's inability to control flesh is evident. Rather, the Church teaches that original sin comes to the soul simply from the new person taking his nature from one whose nature itself had original sin. In this way, the Church argues that original sin is not imputing the sin of the father to the son; rather, it is simply the inheritance of a wounded nature from the father, which is an unavoidable part of reproduction.
There is a close link between the notion of original sin and the Catholic doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, namely the Church's teaching that, in view of the saving power of the future death and resurrection of her son Jesus, she was preserved from this "stain" (i.e. lack of holiness), which affects others, that is to say, that she was conceived without original sin. Those who deny the existence of original sin thus profess belief in the immaculate conception not only of Mary but of every human being.
[edit] Original sin in Eastern Christianity
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Eastern Orthodoxy acknowledges that the introduction of ancestral sin into the human race affected the subsequent environment for mankind, but never accepted Augustine of Hippo's notions of original sin and hereditary guilt.[1] The act of Adam is not the responsibility of all humanity, but the consequences of that act changed the reality of this present age of the cosmos.
Instead of the term "original sin", some prefer to use in English the term "ancestral sin". This distinction does not exist in, for instance, Greek: the Greek translation of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (Cactus Editions, Athens, 1996) renders peccatum originale (original sin), the traditional term in Latin, as προπατορική αμαρτία (ancestral sin), the traditional term in Greek. Thus no significance can be attached to the use of the traditional English term, original sin, in Orthodox catechisms such as the following, one written originally in English, the other translated from Russian: "[O]riginal sin is hereditary. It did not remain only Adam and Eve's. As life passes from them to all of their descendants, so does original sin. We all of us participate in original sin because we are all descended from the same forefather, Adam. This creates a problem for many people. They ask, why should we be responsible for the actions of Adam and Eve? Why should we have to pay for the sins of our parents? They say. Unfortunately, this is so, because the consequence of original sin is the distortion of the nature of man. Of course, this is unexplainable and belongs to the realm of mystery, but we can give one example to make it somewhat better understood. Let us say that you have a wild orange tree, from which you make a graft. You will get domesticated oranges, but the root will still be that of the wild orange tree. To have wild oranges again, you must regraft the tree. This is what Christ came for and achieved for fallen man" (Orthodox Catechism − Basic Teachings of the Orthodox Faith by Metropolitan Archbishop Sotirios).[2] "As from an infected source there naturally flows an infected stream, so from a father infected with sin, and consequently mortal, there naturally proceeds a posterity infected like him with sin, and like him mortal" (The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church also known as the Catechism of Philaret, question 168).[3]
The view of original sin is similar in Oriental Orthodoxy. The website of the Eastern United States diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church, speaking of Mary, states: "According to the teaching of the Armenian Church, at the time of the Annunciation when the Holy Spirit entered her she was cleansed of all sin (original sin) as she was to be the vessel in which God manifest was to be incarnated."[4]
In 2 Esdras 7:46(116)-48(118),[5] a book that some Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches regard as canonical, Ezra states:
- I answered and said, "This is my first and last word, that it would have been better if the earth had not produced Adam, or else, when it had produced him, had restrained him from sinning. For what good is it to all that they live in sorrow now and expect punishment after death? O Adam, what have you done? For though it was you who sinned, the fall was not yours alone, but ours also who are your descendants."
[edit] Original sin in mainstream Protestantism
The notion of original sin as interpreted by Augustine of Hippo was affirmed by the Protestant Reformers Martin Luther and John Calvin. Both Luther and Calvin agreed that humans inherit Adamic guilt and are in a state of sin from the moment of conception. This inherently sinful nature (the basis for the Calvinistic doctrine of "total depravity") results in a complete alienation from God and the total inability of humans to achieve reconciliation with God based on their own abilities. Not only do individuals inherit a sinful nature due to Adam's fall, but since he was the federal head and representative of the human race, all whom he represented inherit the guilt of his sin by imputation.
Because of this conundrum, Protestants believe that God the Father sent Jesus into the world. The personhood, life, ministry, suffering, and death of Jesus, as God incarnate in human flesh, is meant to be the atonement for original sin as well as actual sins; this atonement is according to some rendered fully effective by the Resurrection of Jesus.
[edit] Original sin in Restoration Movement
Most Stone-Campbell Restoration Movement Churches, such as the Churches of Christ, Christian Churches, and other Congregational Churches of the same origin, reject the notion of original sin, believing only in the sins for which men and women are personally responsible. Adam and Eve did bring sin into the world by introducing disobedience. This spread to further generations in much the same way other ideas spread, thus ensuring an environment that will produce sin in any individual above "The Age of Accountability."
In the Old Testament, in the Book of Ezekiel, God's people are rebuked for suggesting that the children would die/suffer for their father's sins:
- The word of the Lord came to me: "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel: 'The parents eat sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge'? As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel. For everyone belongs to me, the parent as well as the child—both alike belong to me. The one who sins is the one who will die.
- —Ezek. 18:1-4, TNIV
The Lord then gives examples of a good father with a bad son, of a good son with a bad father, etc. and states:
- "Yet you ask, 'Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?' Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live. The one who sins is the one who will die. The child will not share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. The righteousness of the righteous will be credited to them, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against them.
- —Ezek. 18:19-20, TNIV
God concludes: "house of Israel, I will judge each of you according to your own ways … Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall. Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit" (Ezek. 18:30-31, TNIV).
Many Restoration movement churches and individuals, however, do believe that Adam's sin made us depraved (that is, with a tendency towards sin) without making us guilty of Adam's sin. Man is predisposed towards sin, but though every person sins, they are not intrinsically forced to sin.
[edit] Original sin for Seventh-day Adventists
One authoritative Adventist position is outlined by reference to publicly available theological positions available on the General Conference of the Seventh-day Adventist Church’s official website on theological doctrine, the Biblical Research Institute.[6] This site shows that a debate still rages within Adventism as to the origins of sin.[citation needed] There has been a move by some scholars towards a more traditionally Augustinian understanding of original sin. On the other hand, there does still appear strong theological support for the ‘traditional’ Adventist position, which is more in line with Eastern Orthodox understandings.
[edit] The original sin in Gnosticism
Many Gnostic sects (particularly the Ophites) saw the figure of the serpent as a divine benefactor and liberator of humanity, rather than as Satan, Lucifer, or any other ill-intentioned figure. They held that the world was created by the Demiurge, an imperfect creator who wished to rule it as a tyrant. However, the spirit of Christ interfered by possessing the serpent and telling Eve to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eating from this tree allowed Adam and Eve to have free will and thus defy, if need be, their Demiurge creator. Therefore, according to many Gnostics, what Christians call the Fall of Man was really the freeing of humanity's minds and souls.
[edit] The original sin in the Unification Church
Unification Church members believe that there were an actual Adam and Eve although the names were not necessarily the same. The story of the fall, as written in the Bible, is interpreted by Unificationists as an actual historical event rather than a parable. However, some elements in the story of the fall in Genesis, the Tree of Life, the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, the forbidden fruit, and the snake, are believed to be, by Unificationists, symbolic metaphors for ideal man, ideal woman, sexual intercourse, and Satan respectively. The essence of the fall is that Eve was convinced by an angelic being (Satan) to center her love on Satan instead of God (Yahweh). Eve then convinced Adam to center his love also on Satan. This was consummated through sexual intercourse between Adam and Eve apart from the will of God. Unificationists generally believe there was a “spiritual (sexual) fall,” between Eve and the angel, and a “physical (sexual) fall” between Eve and Adam. Some Unificationists also regard Cain killing Abel as a third fall, however this is a minority viewpoint. Unificationists have the literal belief, based on their strict moral code of "absolute love" and sexual purity and the need for indemnity, that since the "fall of humanity" all of human history has been a constant manichaean struggle between the forces of "God" and "Satan" to correct this original mistake.
Unification theology views the Biblical tale of the fall partially in symbolic terms. The serpent here, as in some other interpretations, represents Lucifer. Eve's acceptance of the fruit symbolizes an act of adultery, by which evil enters into Eve; Adam's acceptance of the fruit likewise is an act of intercourse, which spreads the evil from Eve to Adam. Having not waited until they had reached a more perfect form, they became tainted with sin.
The Unification Church sees the four aftereffects of the fall as:
- a failure to see from God's viewpoint and love as God loves
- a failure to receive God's love
- a reversal of dominion
- a multiplication of evil.
The chapter of the Divine Principle explaining the fall and original sin. [7].
Unificationists believe that original sin is forgiven through the Blessing Ceremony.
[edit] Original sin according to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (also known as the LDS Church, and the "Mormons") teaches a doctrine, known as the Fall of Adam, that the actions of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden brought about spiritual and physical death. Latter-day Saints believe that separation from God (spiritual death) was an intended part of the plan of God, but that Adam and Eve needed to exercise their own free will and were thus given to "choose for themselves." The main objective of the plan was that mankind should be tested (see Book of Abraham). Because separation from God was necessary, Latter-day Saints see the transgression of Adam and Eve as a great and necessary choice to gain knowledge and experience, rather than a "mistake". After committing their transgression, Adam and Eve were cast out of God's presence and were capable of suffering physical pain and death. Their choice to enter that fallen state willingly meant that God's "Plan of Happiness" could proceed as intended, and was in line with His will, because of the foreordination of Jesus Christ as the Redeemer from death and the Atoning One.
Mormons do not believe that the transgression in Eden was of a sexual nature—nor could it have been, they hold, as God commanded Adam and Eve to multiply and replenish the Earth, implying that sexual relations between our progenitors were sanctioned, and that they were de facto married by God in Eden. Likewise, they do not blame Eve for being the first to partake of the fruit, but rather celebrate her wisdom in recognizing that her descendants would have to be born, live, and make righteous choices on Earth, learn to repent through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, and pass through death, in order eventually to be fully redeemed and return to live with God again. The idea is that it is better to pass through the sorrow of this life, in order to know the Good from the Evil, rather than to exist in a perpetual state of innocence and stagnant ignorance. (2 Nephi 2:11)
Mormons do not believe in the concept of original sin as it is used in modern Christendom, but that everyone will be punished for their own individual sins and not for any transgression of Adam or Eve. Neither do Mormons believe that children are conceived in sin or come into the world with any kind of "impurity" whatsoever. Rather, Jesus Christ atoned for any "original guilt" and the sins of parents cannot be answered upon the heads of their children. Furthermore, Mormons hold that little children are incapable of even committing sin and as such have no need of baptism until age eight when they can fully discern right from wrong, and are thus capable of sin and can be held accountable. Little children who die before reaching the age of accountability (even though they are unbaptized) are automatic heirs of salvation and are saved in the Celestial Kingdom of God.
[edit] Original sin in the Unity Church
The Unity Church believes Original Sin to be false doctrine, and a blasphemous one. If a manufacturer consistently puts out a product with the same flaw, it is the fault of the company, not its products, and so it would be if God were creating beings with the same flaw.
The Bible is cited as self-contradictory in this matter. In Genesis 1, God created everything in God's image and called it "good", then Genesis 2 comes along like a retcon by a different author. Then Psalm 8 calls humans "a little lower than God" and Psalm 82 calls humans "gods, children of the most high", which Jesus quotes in John 10:34. Jesus also says we are the "light of the world" and capable of perfection in Matthew 5, and capable of greater things than he is in John 14:12. This is not consistent with the concept of Original Sin.
[edit] The original sin in Islam
The Qur'an recounts the story of Adam and Eve in a similar way to that of the Bible. According to Qur'an, Eve was not the delayed product of Adam’s rib (as in the tradition for Christians and Jews); the two were born from a single soul. It was Adam, not Eve, who let the devil convince them to eat the forbidden fruit.[1] Both repented and both were forgiven.
[edit] Excerpts from Qur'an
Is it certain that it was Adam and not Eve who was tempted? Irrespective of this, both are forgiven together, the concept being that Man and Woman were created equally, by God, of the same material and therefore have equal rights to redemption.
This episode is mentioned in the Qur'an in several places. Amongst them are:
- But the Satan made them both fall from it, and caused them to depart from that (state) in which they were; and We said: Get forth, some of you being the enemies of others, and there is for you in the earth an abode and a provision for a time. 2:36
- But the Shaitan made an evil suggestion to them that he might make manifest to them what had been hidden from them of their evil inclinations, and he said: Your Lord has not forbidden you this tree except that you may not both become two angels or that you may (not) become of the immortals. And he swore to them both: Most surely I am a sincere adviser to you. Then he caused them to fall by deceit; so when they tasted of the tree, their evil inclinations became manifest to them, and they both began to cover themselves with the leaves of the garden; and their Lord called out to them: Did I not forbid you both from that tree and say to you that the Shaitan is your open enemy? They said: Our Lord! We have been unjust to ourselves, and if Thou forgive us not, and have (not) mercy on us, we shall certainly be of the losers. 7:20-23
Adam and Eve are forgiven by God after they repent:
- Then Adam received (some) words from his Lord, so He turned to him mercifully; surely He is Oft-returning (to mercy), the Merciful. 2:37
Therefore, the idea that the sin propagates to their offspring is categorically refused by Muslims, citing verses such as:
- Say: What! shall I seek a Lord other than Allah? And He is the Lord of all things; and no soul earns (evil) but against itself, and no bearer of burden shall bear the burden of another; then to your Lord is your return, so He will inform you of that in which you differed. 6:164
- Allah does not impose upon any soul a duty but to the extent of its ability; for it is (the benefit of) what it has earned and upon it (the evil of) what it has wrought: Our Lord! do not punish us if we forget or make a mistake; Our Lord! do not lay on us a burden as Thou didst lay on those before us, Our Lord do not impose upon us that which we have not the strength to bear; and pardon us and grant us protection and have mercy on us, Thou art our Patron, so help us against the unbelieving people. 2:286
That is to say, all children are born without sin in the state of purity.
[edit] See also
- Actual sin
- Divine grace
- Hamartiology
- Justification
- Pandora's box
- Prevenient grace
- Total depravity
- Fall of man
[edit] External links
- Article "Original Sin" in Catholic Encyclopedia
- Catechism of the Catholic Church − English version in accordance with the Vatican's editio typica as promulgated by Pope John Paul II.
- The Book of Concord (www.bookofconcord.org): The Defense of the Augsburg Confession, Article II: Of Original Sin; from an early Protestant perspective, part of the Augsburg Confession.
- Sermon #44: Original Sin by John Wesley: A perspective from one of the founders of Methodism.
- Dictionary of the History of Ideas: Cosmic Fall; an overview of some views on original sin focusing on the early modern period.
- Original Sin as Privation: An Inquiry into a Theology of Sin and Sanctification by Leon Hynson: An overview of many perspectives of original sin.
- Original Sin Myths
- Thomistic Salvation: A Layman's Guide: Describes the Catholic doctrine of original sin and its consequences; from a Thomistic perspective.
