What About Original Sin?

It has been the title of several novels, songs and movies and the inspiration for more art than I can count. But we’re not looking at literature, music or art this morning.

We are at the end of our “Asking for a Friend” series where we have answered questions that the Cornerstone family has submitted online.

And through the summer we’ve answered questions like, “How can a loving God send people to hell?” “What does it mean to Bless God?” and “Why didn’t Jesus turn the water into grape juice or sparkling cider? And last week Pastor Deborah did a great job on “Why does the God in the Old Testament seem different from the God in the New Testament?”

This morning’s question is “Why does all of humanity have to suffer with sin because Adam sinned one time? it doesn't seem fair.”

And that’s a good question.

The story of Adam’s sin, technically Adam and Eve’s Sin, is recorded in the book of Genesis and is often referred to as “Original Sin” or “Ancestral Sin”. And original sin is defined in Wikipedia this way, “Original sin, in Christian theology, is humanity's original state of sinfulness (propensity toward active sinning) resulting from the Fall of Man.

So, while many of you are familiar with the concept and the story of original sin it would be presumptive of me to assume that everybody is.

The story is told in the first book of the bible. Bring you up to speed, God has created the heavens and the earth and all the critters and then he finishes by creating the first people, Adam and Eve.

And with their creation they are given responsibilities and guidelines, or rules. The responsibilities are spelled out in Genesis 1:26-28 Then God said, “Let us make human beings in our image, to be like us. They will reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the wild animals on the earth, and the small animals that scurry along the ground.”

So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.

Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

Nice and simple, their responsibility was to make more people and to be in charge, not a bad job description.

And the rules are spelled out in Genesis 2:15 The LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to tend and watch over it. But the LORD God warned him, “You may freely eat the fruit of every tree in the garden— except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. If you eat its fruit, you are sure to die.”

Just as simple, you can do whatever you want, just don’t eat the fruit of that one tree. You can eat the fruit from any other tree, just not that tree.

And of course, you know happened in Chapter 3? Yep, fruit salad for lunch.

Ramón Gómez de la Serna wrote, “When a woman orders fruit salad for two, she perfects the original sin.”

Let’s pick up the story in Genesis chapter 3, Genesis 3:1-6 The serpent was the shrewdest of all the wild animals the LORD God had made. One day he asked the woman, “Did God really say you must not eat the fruit from any of the trees in the garden?”

“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

“Of course we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,” the woman replied. “It’s only the fruit from the tree in the middle of the garden that we are not allowed to eat. God said, ‘You must not eat it or even touch it; if you do, you will die.’”

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

“You won’t die!” the serpent replied to the woman. “God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil.”

The woman was convinced. She saw that the tree was beautiful and its fruit looked delicious, and she wanted the wisdom it would give her. So she took some of the fruit and ate it. Then she gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it, too. At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.