Original Sin?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Original_sin

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans+5%3A12%E2%80%9321&version=ESV

It looks like the concept and meaning of original sin was debated for some time, and through history had a different meaning depending on the era and the group interpreting the scripture.

If Adam and Eve were not real people, how could Adam have sinned, and how could they have passed it on to their decendants?

Quote: Dalex64

So, the #1 flaw is pride.

I don't think it qualifies as pride, but rather something that's actually bad: hubris.

Consider, Christianity not only claims to have the absolute "truth," but also to know hoe everyone, not just Christians, should live, behave, think, feel and believe. Anything that deviates from this is either demeaned as decadent, immoral, dangerous, harmful, etc., or in a gentler, but more insidious way, held up as proof that one is "broken."

Worse yet, Christians have no scruples in imposing their views on everyone else, Christian or not, by force. In the past this meant making war. Later it became passing laws criminalizing the things they dislike. Today it's passing laws allowing them to discriminate against people they don't like.

All this based on sheer belief without any evidence at all to back it up.

A followup on my post,

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegorical_interpretations_of_Genesis

Talks about when people did or did not consider Genesis an allegory.

Quote: Nareed

Consider, Christianity not only claims to have the absolute "truth," but also to know hoe everyone, not just Christians, should live, behave, think, feel and believe. Anything that deviates from this is either demeaned as decadent, immoral, dangerous, harmful, etc., or in a gentler, but more insidious way, held up as proof that one is "broken."
Worse yet, Christians have no scruples in imposing their views on everyone else, Christian or not, by force. In the past this meant making war. Later it became passing laws criminalizing the things they dislike. Today it's passing laws allowing them to discriminate against people they don't like.

All this based on sheer belief without any evidence at all to back it up.

You really nailed it, Nareed. The Holy Church
in a nutshell. They would spin it as, it's all
for your own good, it's what god wants for
you, we're just doing gods will. They use
the tried and true Nuremberg Defense, they
are only following orders from a 'higher
authority'. In the real world that defense is
no longer allowed. In the Church, it's the
only defense they have.

Quote: Evenbob

You really nailed it, Nareed. The Holy Church
in a nutshell. They would spin it as, it's all
for your own good, it's what god wants for
you, we're just doing gods will.

Quote:

They use the tried and true Nuremberg Defense, they
are only following orders from a 'higher
authority'. In the real world that defense is
no longer allowed.

It just depends on who is using it. It works for Guantanamo. It works until there is a greater power, saying it doesn't.

Quote: Dalex64

It looks like the concept and meaning of original sin was debated for some time, and through history had a different meaning depending on the era and the group interpreting the scripture.

It is one of those concepts that we know exists and the hard part is figuring out why it exists or how to put it into words the right way. It is a given that human beings are far from perfect morally. I think we can all agree that we all know the feeling of doing something we know we shouldn't or not doing something we know we should. Our present lives and throughout history we see the results of our sinfulness all around us. It asks the question who are we as human beings and I think there are three answers:

1) We are naturally good but have bad tendencies and temptations - this is the doctrine of Original Sin.
2) We are naturally bad but have good tendencies and actions every once and a while
3) There is no bad or good, it is all subjective.

Christianity teaches the first answer to the dilemma of understanding sin and helps us to see that we truly are wonderful and made in the image of God. We are destined for greatness and filled with potential for goodness. God frees us from the burden of our sins so we can recover the truth of who we truly are.

Quote: Evenbob

You really nailed it, Nareed. The Holy Church
in a nutshell. They would spin it as, it's all
for your own good, it's what god wants for
you, we're just doing gods will.

I think that if the argument really was just that it is God's will you might have a point. Then it would be something like hubris to want everyone to do what we think is God's will. What if you don't believe in God or you have a different take of what God is saying? That is why it needs to be stated that God's law or will is really not much more than common sense with evidence to back it up. A child for example will do better, all other things being equal, in a home with a mother and a father. A child's heartbeat begins by 20 days after conception and at conception a unique human being begins to develop. The birth control pill is listed on the same level of cancer causing things as asbestos. There is plenty of evidence that can convince someone even if they don't believe in God to follow God's law, after all it is what is best for us.

Quote: FrGamble

There is plenty of evidence that can convince someone even if they don't believe in God to follow God's law, after all it is what is best for us.

There is no god, so there is no gods law.
It was written by a man, or many men,
and it's born out of common sense.
What you are really saying is that we
can live by rules born of common sense,
and of course this is true. Why you
want to claim them for yourself and
your god is just your obsessive control
issues again. Not you, but the Church's.

If a concept is based on a story, and the story isn't true, what foundation does the concept stand on?

The birth control pill has prevented hundreds of thousands of cases of endometrial cancer.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2015/08/06/3688609/birth-control-cancer-study/