Original sin – this is a term the church often throws
around. I’m not a scholar on it… but in
our VLI class this summer we talked about Augustine’s view of original sin
versus Pelagius (who was a British monk living in Rome).
It was interesting to see that Augustine’s view centered on
the fact that sin was genetic (ie. each person was born a sinner from
birth). This is a view I have heard
before…only coupled with ‘an age of accountability’ to get around sending the
embarrassing part of having young children go to hell.
Pelagius, who was kicked out of the church, view was that
sin was social transmitted. In other words, humans where not born with sin, but
because we live in a sinful word, we all end up sinning. The problem the Church had with this view is
that logical one could say that a person could, if they were good enough, be
sinless. Of course, this view does get
rid of the problem of sending young kids to hell…but it also opens up others.
Note: I am over simplifying Augustine and Pelagius’ views as
I have not studied them in detail. Nor have I done a Systematic Theology study
on original sin – yet. =)
I posting this because I thought it was an interesting argument
about sin – genetic vs. social. They
each have the limits (like, if sin is genetic, how is Jesus sinless as He had
human DNA. Or, if sin is social, does a hermit sin? What about our sin ‘nature’?),
but then they both have their points. I
will have to study further on this topic. =)
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What about spiritual DNA? There are deffinitely blessings and curses etc. that are passed down the family.
Are they attached to some physical DNA trait?Do they pass down thru the generations by gender? ie, thru the mother or father? (I think not)Is there some sort of spiritual DNA that is part of our makeup? (ignoreing the fact that we are born ‘spiritually dead’. )
hmm
I seem to recall mention somewhere (can’t remember the reference at the moment) of sin being passed on by the father.
Thus Jesus had no sin nature because he had no earthly father.
Can’t remember if that was based on verses or not though.
Something else for you to look up.
Good point Brass. The Spiritual DNA is one thing that more disscusions forget about. Yet, it is a very real part of the world.
Techiem2 – the reference you are refering to about the sin being passed down via the father is based on Augustine’s view. Otherwise, if sin was genetic and Jesus had human DNA, he would be a sinner. You get around that by saying that ‘sin’ is passed down via the father. Since Jesus had no earthly father, he becomes sinless.