Original Sin

The idea of original sin was born in a primitive parable designed to explain the origin of human beings.  The moral of the Adam and Eve story was that we folks today suffer evil events because of our immoral behavior, our sins.

The parable was widely accepted, encouraged by the religious establishment which proclaimed its ability to overcome guilt and forgive sins. So the biblical account grounds the origin of human existence in sin and guilt.

Saint Augustine made a fundamental Christian doctrine of this, taking the Garden of Eden story as a historical account. He set up a whole scenario that saw Jesus as the One chosen by God to enable human beings to overcome that original sin. The phrase "Jesus saves from our sins" was born in Augustine's mind.

That Augustinian mind-set has prevailed through the succeeding centuries, still resounding in even liberal-minded theologies. But the onset of the scientific age has made it necessary to put aside that original guilt imputed in Genesis. Galileo, Newton and Darwin have made that parable of origins untenable. No longer can we accept an imaginative  account of original sin as the basis of human existence. We must learn to think in evolutionary terms.  The human experience is the product of a millennia of uninterrupted centuries of upward growth and development.   

 There is no reasonable basis for an account of original sin. The parable served its purpose in fostering a religious frame for human existence, but it has lost its relevance. No longer are sin and guilt the foundation of human life. Human beings have been on an  upward trajectory since their awakening, increasing in skill, intelligence, and ability with the centuries. Our mission is to plan and think forward, not to look back in anguish. 

The phrase " Jesus saves us from our sins" is not biblical.  Jesus did not speak of himself as a savior. Rather, he advocated and demonstrated a new dimension of life, a forward step in the evolution of the Spirit. This is the healing, accepting, loving way that human beings are capable of. Jesus showed that in his life. So he could rightly say " I am the way".