The Universal Moral Law & Devolution since the Fall

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assume that we're all talking about the same thing, the transition from a perfect world in which there is no sin, to a fallen world in which every human being is born with sin.

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Unfortunately the Adam and Eve story doesn't support that Adam and Eve didn't miss the mark before they ate of the fruit.The theme of the story is about the sin that got them kicked out of the Garden. The story also doesn't support that every human being is born with sin. Sin is not a thing, it is an action. Each person is born with the potential to do right and to do wrong and since Adam and Eve ate of the fruit, they also had the potential to do right or to do wrong.So there really is no support for whether they did or didn't sin before eating the fruit, but there is support for the statement that they already had the potential within them. All humans have that potential. I don't see that eating the fruit changed that.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz

I agree that the Adam and Eve story is a type of "Just So Story".The Book of Enoch seems to be the source information for the fall doctrine and St. Augustine's ideas on Original Sin apparently dominate the teachings today.Enoch was supposedly written about 2BCE, so it came before Christ; but it is interesting how nonscriptural writings can affect relgious doctrines.

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What a vicious way to see all of humanity!

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Yep, but not all cultures had that idea fortunately.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz