Original Sin - Scripture and Reason

I doubt any one person can be said to have originated the message. It certainly was not the main selling point for Paul. He started out as an apocalyptic marketeer selling the sky is falling message and only towards the end of his career did the emphasis change. It clear though that it was the salesmen that originated the idea, not Jesus.But why would a person being Godly be an obstacle to indictment?

According to the Bible stories, each of us is qualified to be a judge and in fact it is part of our duty. Reality.And commentaries are meant to try to get around what the Bible stories actually say.

Sorry, stop and read.You say you do not want me to tell you what the stories say yet the only source for any knowledge about the characters in the stories are the stories themselves and the stories actually explain it pretty well.The God character did not set it up that way and in fact tried to keep it from becoming a fact but failed. The God character simply screwed up and things did not happen according to plan. Once the God character realized what had happened he tried to minimize the damage and threat to himself by denying them immortality.

Yet that is exactly what the God of scripture is described as, a bumbling rookie who learn on the job, often makes mistakes, is fearful, angry, makes rash decisions, acts irrationally just to prove a point, cheats and reneges on his promises. Do you know what a creed is?I dismiss the Gods of scripture based solely on scripture. I read what is written and believe it actually says what the words say and I do not confuse what is written with what I wish had been written.Let's take an honest look at the God of scripture.He creates an attractive nuisance. Then he creates a man and some animals. He decides that the man needs a help meet but has no idea what that might be so he starts bringing animals for the guy to try out. None of them work (although the guy was pretty satisfied with the sheep) so he puts the guy to sleep, takes one of the guys ribs without even telling him and makes a woman.Now the two folk are wandering around the garden and the god character says don't do this but when he was creating them he didn't give them the capability of knowing they need to obey him so instead he tries threats; "If you do that you will drop dead on the spot". Well neither of them have a clue what drop dead means and when they meet up with a friendly snake, the snake tells them the truth. "Go on; if you do that you ain't gonna drop dead. In fact your gonna be more like the BIG guy." So they do that and they don't drop dead and they are more like the BIG guy. But Big guy gets scared and is afraid they will do what he already told them they could do so he gets made at them, punishes them, throws them out of the garden and say "Get the troops and seal this place off and make damn sure no one ever gets back in".Later a guy is walking along and meets a stranger and the stranger starts wrestling with the guy. The guy doesn't know it but it's the Big guy again. They wrestling all night and the Big guy can't make the Big guy can't win so he cheats and breaks the guys hip; but the guy still ain't saying "UNCLE". So finally the Big guy stops the fight and gives the guy a new name. But does the Big guy say "Sorry about your hip. I shouldn't have tried to cheat." Nope, not a word, just a new name.So pharaoh has some slaves and they want out. They are the Big guys worshipers so he sends a hit squad to give pharaoh a message he can't refuse. Well the message works and pharaoh says "Okay, just take them and get out." But Big guy says, "Oh no, I haven't finished yet" and changes the guys mind. The Big guy sends another messsage he can't refuse and pharaoh does not refuse it and says "Okay, just take them and get out." But Big guy says, "Oh no, I haven't finished yet" and changes the guys mind.This goes on and on until pharaoh says "Enough of this. Go already."So they go.But Big guy says, "Oh no, I haven't finished yet" and changes the guys mind and this time Big guy doesn't send another message, he snuffs the guy and all of the guy's supporters. And that's how Michael became Don Corleone.There was this guy who really like the Big guy. He was always talking about the Big guy and annoying the hell outta all around. The Big guy was having a cuppa with his buddy and right hand man Satan and comments on how the guy really like Big guy. But Satan says "No wonder. You always did like him best and give him all the new toys." So Big guy says "Tell you what. I bet even if I take all his toys away he will still like me so you go take all his toys away." So Satan takes all the toys away and everybody is saying "Boy you musta done something really bad." and the guy is like "I didn't do anything but I just need to accept that all the toys are gone." and they are like "Wow, what did you do?" and he is like "I didn't do nothin'." And so Satan says "Boss you were right" so Big guy says "Yup, It's good being the Boss. And I don't even have to tell the guy I'm sorry."The point Phat is that the Gods of scripture are just a human constructs reflecting what people of an era and culture thought a God would be like. They created Gods that were like the strong man, or prince, or tyrant or friend or whatever struck their corporate fancy.If Christianity is to have any relevance and value then Christians need to understand it as a path, a calling and job description.GOD, if GOD exists will not be like any of the Gods we have invented.