This is a follow up on the previous post about the doctrine of original sin. Ever since Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent, both refusing to accept responsibility for their actions, humans have continued following their example. All except Jesus.

The great irony, however, is that the doctrine of original sin, so strongly held within Western Christianity, is actually a symptom of just the kind of Adamic-blame game that we are called to reject.

Think about it. The doctrine says that we are born with a tendency to sin because Adam sinned. In other words, when I sin, the buck ultimately stops with Adam, not me. But if this is true, then is God just to hold me accountable?

Think about it. If I am born with a sinful nature, I am like a pot that has been fashioned with a crack. Can anyone then expect anything but that water would leak from it? Can such a pot that is made with a crack be faulted for being leaky? Why didn’t the one who made the pot make it without the crack? To blame a pot that is intentionally made defective is a sign of utter insensitivity. If I make something poorly and then blame my creation for being pathetic, the real fault lies with me, not with my creation. Moreover, to intentionally make a pot defective only to blame it is callous at best and maleficent at worst.

To hold someone accountable for the actions of another is neither just nor fair. To allow humans to be born with the taint of Adam’s sin through no fault of theirs and then to hold them responsible for it is evil. And God is not evil!

But more to the point, I don’t need Adam’s sin to explain why I sin. I sin simply because it is the easier way. I sin simply because I am placing myself before others and before God. I sin simply because it is the path of least resistance! Adam only shows us how it is done – disobey, hide, blame.

When we resort to trying to explain our own sinfulness by blaming Adam, as the doctrine of original sin does, we are only revealing ourselves to be Adam’s pupils. We have learned the blame game well from him and hold him responsible for our current unwillingness to obey God, accept when we haven’t, and repent for it. In fact, to accept the doctrine of original sin is simply to accept to repeat Adam’s original sin!