{"id":179,"date":"2009-01-28T09:34:33","date_gmt":"2009-01-28T09:34:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/original-sin-a-definition.html"},"modified":"2009-01-28T09:34:33","modified_gmt":"2009-01-28T09:34:33","slug":"original-sin-a-definition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/original-sin-a-definition.html","title":{"rendered":"Original Sin: A Definition"},"content":{"rendered":"
The Original Sin Series<\/u>
Intro<\/a>–Intuition<\/a>–Definition<\/b>–Genesis<\/a>–Jesus<\/a>-Paul-Augustine-Calvin-Conclusion<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Some commenters are concerned that I’m setting up a straw man — that is, I’m leaving the doctrine of Original Sin undefined so that I can then dispute an unformed doctrine.  So I will defer to the BBC, and their excellent summary of the doctrine<\/a>.  This will be our working definition of Original Sin:<\/p>\n

What is original sin?<\/b>
Original sin is a Christian doctrine that says that everyone is born sinful. This means that they are born with a built-in urge to do bad things and to disobey God.<\/p>\n

Original sin is not just this inherited spiritual disease or defect in human nature; it’s also the ‘condemnation’ that goes with that fault.<\/p>\n

An explanation for the evils of the world<\/b>
Christians believe that original sin explains why there is so much wrong in a world created by a perfect God, and why people need to have their souls ‘saved’ by God.<\/p>\n

A condition you’re in, not something you do<\/b>
Original sin is a condition, not something that people do: It’s the normal spiritual and psychological condition of human beings, not their bad thoughts and actions. Even a newborn baby who hasn’t done anything at all is damaged by original sin.<\/p>\n

The sin of Adam<\/b>
In traditional Christian teaching, original sin is the result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience to God when they ate a forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden.<\/p>\n

Effects of original sin<\/b>
Original sin affects individuals by separating them from God, and bringing dissatisfaction and guilt into their lives.<\/p>\n

On a world scale, original sin explains such things as genocide, war, cruelty, exploitation and abuse, and the “presence and universality of sin in human history”.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Read the rest on the BBC<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Original Sin SeriesIntro–Intuition–Definition–Genesis–Jesus-Paul-Augustine-Calvin-Conclusion Some commenters are concerned that I’m setting up a straw man — that is, I’m leaving the doctrine of Original Sin undefined so that I can then dispute an unformed doctrine.  So I will defer to the BBC, and their excellent summary of the doctrine.  This will be our working definition…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":134,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theology"],"yoast_head":"\nOriginal Sin: A Definition - The New Christians<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/tonyjones\/2009\/01\/original-sin-a-definition.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Original Sin: A Definition - 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