Importance of Original Sin

Sin is hard to define. It seems that some things are sinful for some but not for others. We generally seem to think that sin is about what we do or don't do. I suggest that when we see it that way we are only looking at the symptoms of sin and not the actual sin itself.I think that the actual sin is what is in our hearts. Where is it that we find joy in this life? I think that sin is in some ways an addiction. When we do something for our own benefit regardless of the impact on others it becomes just a little easier the next time and it has a cascading effect. If however we resist then it is a little easier to resist the next time.It works the other way as well. If we do something for someone else sacrificing something of ourselves then that too comes more naturally to us as we continue down that path, and we find joy in bringing joy to others.At the ultra extremes I would say that sin is having a heart that finds pleasure in the suffering of others and the opposite is finding pleasure in completely giving one's life over to serving others. It seems to me that in this life pretty much everyone is going in one direction or another, at least to some extent. That isn't to say though that the trajectory that we establish can't be changed.As for original sin I'd suggest the the Genesis account is only about the point that we do have a sense of right and wrong from very early on in life.

Hi Phat. That is ok but it will only take you so far and for that matter can, and will, lead you down the wrong paths. To understand Jesus' message in the NT it is important to have a fairly reasonable sense of the culture and the political environment of the time. Much of what Jesus was talking about was very political and if we want to know how to apply that message to the 21st century we have to understand it in Jesus' 1st century Jewish environment.That is the trouble with a lot of Christianity theology today. It is taking texts written in a very different time and in a very different culture and trying to force them into a 21st century world. Square pegs and round holes.There's a hymn I like that has this line in it that reads like this; "So complex so simple, so clear so mysterious". The Christianity message of loving your neighbour and the message in my signature is simple and clear. Christian theology is complex and mysterious.

Well, you are wrong. Obviously you will disagree, but much of your end times theology isn't eschatological at all. Jesus spoke against the revolutionaries telling them that if they kept that up Jerusalem, and more specifically the Temple, would be destroyed as happened in 70AD. You assign a ridiculous literal interpretation to something that obviously is meant as hyperbole.

Well, that's pretty conclusive and explains a lot.

We've gone through this before so I didn't see the necessity of posting the details again. Here is an example from Matthew 24.

quote:

---

1 Jesus left the temple and was walking away when his disciples came up to him to call his attention to its buildings. 2 Do you see all these things? he asked. Truly I tell you, not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down. 3 As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. Tell us, they said, when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age? 4 Jesus answered: Watch out that no one deceives you. 5 For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. 6 You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. 7 Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. 8 All these are the beginning of birth pains. 9 Then you will be handed over to be persecuted and put to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of me. 10 At that time many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, 11 and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people. 12 Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, 13 but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved. 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15 So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’spoken of through the prophet Daniellet the reader understand 16 then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 17 Let no one on the housetop go down to take anything out of the house. 18 Let no one in the field go back to get their cloak. 19 How dreadful it will be in those days for pregnant women and nursing mothers! 20 Pray that your flight will not take place in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until nowand never to be equaled again. 22 If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.

---

Edited by GDR, : No reason given.