Phat writes:
The responsibility for sin rests with each individual, but the method of repenting and correcting the sin can involves prayer and reflection as well as personal responsibility. It only makes sense.
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.
He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8