(vectissian;61184)
Hello - I am new here.I was bought up in a Methodist manse and attended church regularly - until a couple of years ago.I am still a Christian, but I am finding it increasingly hard to accept the concept of Original Sin. I cannot accept that we are all born impregnated with guilt which arises from some primitive myth in the Garden of Eden. As a grandfather I look at my newborn grandchildren and cannot believe any God would be so cruel as to burden them with sin for nothing they have done. So if they die they are damned? I am now in my old age and facing illness. I have tried to live a good life and cannot believe I have performed any mortal sin. If I accept that Jesus died to redeem mankind of original sin - then why hasn't that redemption been applied?I yearn to believe but find this concept of Original Sin an impossible block to faith. In my darker moments I even wonder if it the concept is a man made device to instil fear and guilt to gain power over us.Please help.
vectissian, Your's is a good question, but it is a question that is explained very clearly in the Holy Scriptures. Please meditate a little and see if you are able to understand. God made man perfect and gave him everything he couls ever ask for. God even made a woman perfect, just for Adam. The term CONCURSUS, means that God would protect and guide Adam as long as he obeyed God's laws. Adam would still be alive today if he had just obeyed God's law about the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Bad. God had loveingly provided Adam with everything, so it was not a very hard prohibition that God gave. The fact is, it was just a way for Adam to show that he wanted to obey God. All God asked of Adam was not to eat of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Bad. When Adam decided to disobey God it showed that Adam did not appreciate what God had done for him. Adam became rebellious, also a thief. Adam showed that he would rather have Satan as his God than THe Almighty God Jehovah,who had created him. Once Adam decided to disobey he became imperfect, so when he had offspring, that imperfection was passed on to his children, Rom 5:12, Ps 51:5. Since Adam and Eve wanted to have Satan for their God, The Almighty God decided to allow them enough time to prove to themselves that mankind cannot rule himself, because his knowledge is too limited, Jere 10:23. God determined that time to straighten out things would be through His Kingdom, which Jesus told his disciples to pray for, in the Lord's Prayer, Matt 6:9-13. There are many scriptures that prove that we are NOW living in the time when Jesus will start ruling this earth, Matt 24, Mark, 13, Luke 21, 2Tim 3:1-5, 2Tim 4:2-5,,2Pet 3:1-4. There are 39 separate signs that we are living in the Last Days of this system of things. This number is a Mathematically impossible number to think of as a coinsidence. The Kingdom will do away with all things that bring unrighteousness, and bring in the Paradise that Jesus promised the evildoer that died beside Jesus, Luke 23:43, Rev 21:1-5. Jesus gave his life for all who would have faith is his Ransom Sacrifice. Christians today do not die because of the sin they commit today, but because of imperfection from the inherited sin of Adam. Because Jesus died for all who have faith in his name and Sacrifice, the great majority of those who have died will be brought back in a resurrection to enjoy a paradise earth, with the chance to live forever in it, John 5:28,29, Ps 37:29, Isa 45:18, 55:11, Gal 2:16, 2Cor 5:14,15. The term Covenant Theology, explains that all those who have faith in Jesus will receive the exact same promised that Adam could have received if he had obey God.