{"id":178,"date":"2009-01-28T09:02:39","date_gmt":"2009-01-28T09:02:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/comment-of-the-day-23.html"},"modified":"2009-01-28T09:02:39","modified_gmt":"2009-01-28T09:02:39","slug":"comment-of-the-day-23","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/comment-of-the-day-23.html","title":{"rendered":"Comment of the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scott M points out some of the most significant intellectual problems with the doctrine of Original Sin:<\/p>\n

\n

There are many ways in which this peculiarly Western variation of
\nChristian belief distorts the faith. I mentioned one, the fate of
\ninfants who die, because that’s something I immediately noticed when I
\nbegan turning to Christianity. It’s something that matters deeply to
\nme. While the Roman Catholic Church has moved away from limbo, this is
\nstill a theological issue. That is also true in most forms of
\nProtestantism. Each tradition may have its own way of ‘dealing’ with
\nthis problem (the SBC, for instance, simply declares it not to be a
\nproblem out of the blue), but it is a problem. That is not the case and
\nhas never been the case in Orthodoxy.<\/p>\n

But it strikes much deeper, into the nature of the Incarnation
\nitself. And you see this borne out in Western theology. You see, if we
\nall have and are guilty through this inherited nature, how was it Jesus
\ndidn’t inherit this ‘sin nature’? Roman Catholics take it back a
\ngeneration and came up with the Immaculate Conception of Mary. God
\nshielded Mary from inheriting this nature so she could provide the
\nperfect womb for Christ. Some strains of Protestantism stick more
\nclosely to a more literal ‘seminal reasons’ line of thought and tie it
\nto the semen of the father. They all are trying to address a problem
\nthe Orthodox have never had.<\/p>\n

Further, it’s a ‘problem’ that strikes to the heart of our
\nsalvation. For if I have this inherited ‘sin nature’ and Jesus did not,
\nthen he and I are not of the same nature. It renders moot the promise
\nof Scripture that Jesus fully experienced all that I experience, was
\ntempted in every way, yet did not sin. Moreover, as Athanasius aptly
\nput it, that which is not assumed is not healed. If Jesus was of a
\ndifferent nature than me, I’m still right where I was.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Fortunately, that is not what Holy Scripture and the Church teach.
\nRather, Jesus was fully human in every way that we are human, he
\ninherited all the forces that inevitably lead us to sin, yet did not
\nsin. In him, fully human in every way and fully divine, we have true
\nhope. He is not someone behind whom we hide from God. Rather, we follow
\nhim and through his grace and the power of the Spirit, we are able to
\nbecome like him. We are truly saved in the deepest sense of the word.
\nBut for that to be true, it is critical that Jesus’ human nature truly
\nbe the same nature with which we are born — not something different.<\/p>\n

And this continues to play out in the way we then view God,
\nespecially in our eschatology. Here, I deeply appreciate the exchange
\nN.T. Wright describes have with an Orthodox Archimandrite in the
\nSistene Chapel. The Orthodox priest pointed to the scenes on the left
\ndepicting aspects of Jesus life and said, “These I understand.” Then he
\npointed to the scenes on the right depicting Moses and the Law and
\nsaid, “These I also understand.” Then he pointed to the judgment scene
\nbehind the altar and said, “This I do not understand.”<\/p>\n

The distorted way the doctrine of ‘original sin’ has led many to
\nview the human being has in turn distorted the way they view God, the
\nway they understand the problem, and the ultimate destination toward
\nwhich we are all journeying. It’s a fundamental Western distortion that
\nsends threads in many different directions.<\/p>\n

For those who want to understand the Orthodox perspective, I believe
\nthere is a lot online if you search for “ancestral sin” or “ancestral
\nsin vs. original sin”. Obviously, don’t take everything you run across
\nas ‘gospel’ truth. \ud83d\ude09 For an Orthodox perspective in general, Father
\nStephen Freeman’s Glory to God in All Things<\/a> blog is excellent. For
\nphilosophical\/theological questions like this, I like Matthew
\nGallatin’s “Pilgrims from Paradise<\/a>” podcast on Ancient Faith Radio.<\/p>\n

You may or may not find that you agree with the Orthodox
\nperspective. For me, it was not a question of finding new ideas.
\nRather, again and again I find the things I have believed, at least
\ndimly or in part, ever since I stumbled into Christianity. However, it
\nis a very different perspective to the Western perspective.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scott M points out some of the most significant intellectual problems with the doctrine of Original Sin: There are many ways in which this peculiarly Western variation of Christian belief distorts the faith. I mentioned one, the fate of infants who die, because that’s something I immediately noticed when I began turning to Christianity. 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