The Fallacy of the "ORIGINAL SIN"
The Genesis' story of the "fall" of man, i.e. the story of Adam
and Eve who, supposedly, committed the "Original Sin" by eating
of the forbidden fruit of "the tree of knowledge of good and
evil" is not, in my opinion, a harmless allegory as many might
think.
I believe that humanity has paid and still does a heavy price
for the curses Moses has put in God's mouth, because of the
alleged disobedience of Adam and Eve. For it is proven that
people become whatever they believe in their heart they are. If
people - in our case billions of Bible believers over the
centuries - believe that this story is true, then they believe
that mankind is "FALLEN" and ACCURSED by its Creator at the very
beginning, and so they truly become accursed! I am afraid we
cannot ever imagine the enormous negative implications for
humankind due to this DECEPTION...
Personally I dismiss the myth of the "original sin" as pure
fiction, in which I have difficulty finding any edifying, even
far-fetched, allegory. Please think about it: In that story, the
"serpent", i.e. the symbol of Satan, i.e. the "fallen" Archangel
Lucifer, tempted Eve to eat of the forbidden fruit, by deceiving
her. After their alleged disobedience, Adam and Eve acquired the
knowledge of "good" and "evil" and consequently they were
"cursed" by God and pushed out of Paradise! According to the
Scriptures, in order to rectify this, i.e. to "pay" (whom?) for
our sins, God had to later sacrifice His "only begotten Son",
i.e. Christ, who is, supposedly, equal and inseparable to God -
a form of suicide!
Let us now assume that Adam and Eve had not disobeyed God by
eating of the fruit of knowledge of good and evil. What would
then have been the state of mankind? What would humans be like
without being able to recognize good and evil? The answer is
simple: pure idiots. Was this, peradventure, the plan of God for
humans? Did the Creator want man to be without consciousness?
And if He did, was Satan stronger and cleverer than the Almighty
to thwart His master plan for mankind right from the beginning?
All this to me is not only absurd but also a blasphemy against
God and an outright belittlement of our CREATOR! The ability of
distinguishing between good and evil is, in my opinion, the
alpha and the omega of consciousness, and I cannot imagine that
the purpose of our Creator was for humans not to have
consciousness!
Now, as I do not want to be accused of misinterpreting
scripture, I shall quote here the relevant verses from Genesis.
What did the serpent say to Eve?
"For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened,
and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." Gen 3:5
And what did God say after Adam and Eve's disobedience?
"Then the LORD God said, 'Behold, the man has become like one
of us in knowing good and evil...' " Gen 3:22
So, God confirms here that what was supposed to be the
serpent's lie actually it was the truth! There is no room for
misunderstanding what Moses says here. Nor could we be convinced
that "knowing" means "committing" in the above verses, because
if we take this interpretation of the verb "know" then we
conclude that God also sins by "knowing", i.e. committing, "good
and evil"!
But remember: NO ORIGINAL SIN, NO CURSE, NO need for REDEMPTION
(by the blood of Jesus) from the curse! In others words, without
"original sin" and without "curse", the foundation of
Christianity is crumbling! No wonder Christians hold so fast to
this myth...
Let us now, without any preconceived ideas, try to define, or
re-define, what is "Sin" or "error" or wrong" or "mistake" or
whatever other name one may choose to give it. My definition of
"SIN" is: The intentional or unintentional, conscious or
unconscious, violation of the unwritten laws of Creation that
govern our lives and our relationship with other humans and
mother Nature.
I imply that there are certain "specifications" or "laws" that
govern our nature. If we step out of these "specifications",
knowingly or unknowingly, intentionally or unintentionally, this
causes disharmony and there will be negative consequences for
the "transgressor" and others, in the here and now. These
negative consequences are what theologians would have us
consider as God's "punishment" for our disobedience!
In my opinion, in order to make sense when we are talking about
"sin" or error, we must first get rid of the old idea of
"disobedience" of a God separate from us, and we must also get
rid of the idea of "punishment". First of all, though, if
humanity is to survive self-destruction, we must learn about our
"specifications". Moreover, we must get rid of the idea of a
separate God out there who requires us to obey His commandments
or else... We must also get rid of the fear of punishment, grow
into adulthood and get on with our main job: learn about the
unwritten laws that govern our nature, i.e. our
"specifications", and "tune" into them. If, however, people
insist on having a religion, I believe this should be The
Religion of the future: to teach people about our
"specifications", always in relation to fellow humans and
Nature. E.g. why is anger a "sin"? Because it is not good for
one's health; because when one is angry, the gall bladder reacts
in an abnormal way, producing so and so harmful chemicals, etc.
(doctors must come into it).
Some say that a person could commit an act that is objectively
wrong or illegal, but this might still not be a 'sin'. They
believe that it is the subjective aspect of the act that can
make it a sin. In other words, it is the knowing and the
intention that will classify a certain act as sin or not.
Although there is truth in this, I won't elaborate, as my
intention is not to indulge in the old conventional "morality"
and concept of "sin" and "punishment" - whether by God or human
courts - but in a the concept of cause and effect.
So, then, why killing even accidentally is a "sin", even if
Justice pleads someone innocent? Because even a child might find
it difficult to wipe out of his/her imagination and forget the
accidental killing he/she committed; one might even be unable to
forgive oneself for cutting short another person's life, causing
immense grief to the victim's relatives, etc. And even if
consciously the child might not be able to evaluate the action
itself, how little do we know about what might be going on in
the child's subconscious mind, and what the implications will be
for his/her future? And how little do we know about the
suffering of a soul that was separated from its body in a
violent way...
If someone was unaware of the danger and jumped down from the
second floor of a building, the same has committed a "sin"
against himself. There will be negative consequences. Ignorance
of the sovereign law of gravity will not diminish the damage.
But even for inanimate objects the law of cause and effect is
true: If the specification of a certain car's engine is to run
on petrol and the owner puts accidentally diesel in it, then the
engine will suffer damage.
So then, the law of cause and effect is merciless. The violation
of our "specifications" has always negative consequences. And,
of course, we should stop trying to define those consequences -
the effect of our actions - in terms of punishment either by God
or by human courts.
And some more food for thought: If we assume that the entire
Creation is inseparable from God, i.e. that the Universe is,
most probably, the manifestation of an evolving "God", then when
a little part of the Whole suffers, the entire Body suffers. The
difference is only in the degree of suffering...