Original Sin?

It took a while but it finally happened! 

I have finally arrived at a place in life in which I can no longer affirm the doctrine of Original Sin as the defining characteristic of my humanity. It has been a long winding journey but one I am so grateful to have made.

I no longer believe in Original Sin as traditionally taught and understood.

Yet:

I still believe in the reality of Sin. In a world determined on self-destruction who can honestly dismiss the reality of Sin?

I still believe that there is something fundamentally wrong with human nature that compels us to do the horrific things to one another.

I still believe that Jesus’ death on the cross has meaning and significance for all of creation, particularly when it comes to scapegoating and playing the blame game. I do not believe that the cross presupposes Original Sin.

I no longer believe that God punished Jesus because of our sin.

I still believe that sin ultimately leads to death and destruction.

I just don’t believe in Original Sin.

I can longer believe that Adam and Eve were two literal human beings who ate some forbidden fruit that resulted in the total corruption of the human race.

I can no longer believe that each and every baby born since is irreparably corrupt and totally depraved. What a way to begin the good life God has given to us.

I no longer believe in the horrible Calvinistic doctrine of Total Depravity; a doctrine that teaches that there is absolutely nothing good to be found in any of us—nada, nothing, zilch.

I no longer believe in such a doctrine that in reality insults the very goodness of God’s original creation let alone His Original Blessing.

I do believe in Original Blessing however. 

I believe that our story ought to begin in the right place: With the creation. I believe we should frame our own story beginning with Genesis 1-2 and not with Genesis 3. 

Genesis 3 does not and should not define us as human beings. Rather Genesis 1-2 should be the framing narrative of our story; the launching pad for our own story.

God created us, we are told, in his image. 

God stepped back from his creation and declared: “It is good!” Divine blessing!

We are invited from the beginning to dance with God in this creative Divine-human relationship of father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

From the outset we were created as image bearers of our Creator. This ought to be our primary frame of reference in the telling of our story as humans created by a good and generous God.

More importantly this ought to be the starting point of our own self-understanding!

You see when we begin our story with Sin (Genesis 3) everything goes downhill from there. Our story is framed with shame and guilt; a plotline that plagues us throughout our lives.

God did not create us to live in shame and guilt but rather to live in union with Him as our blessed Creator. To live in creative harmony with the Trinity. Our story begins with Original Blessing and not Original Sin! A Divine dance as it were.

God loves each and every human in ways more generous than we can calculate. He has created us all to be a blessing to the world around us. He has created us to bear His image to each other and to the world.

Yes we misstep. Yes we make mistakes. Yes we sin. We sometimes treat each other miserably and we often become complicit in all kinds of injustices. We impart violence upon others. We become complicit in systemic violence. Sin is a powerful negation of the goodness in which we were created. 

But we should never allow Sin to define us as human beings. That’s getting the cart before the ox. That’s setting ourselves up for untold guilt and shame for the rest of our lives.

What is salvation if it isn’t the invitation to  to step into the Original Blessing in which we were created. God invites us all to honor the creation by reflecting His wonderful image into the world.

Our Christian story must always begin with the Original Blessing and not Original Sin. When we get that right we will discover that Sin no longer defines us as humans; it is no longer the controlling marker of our identity.

I was not born a corrupt sinner but a child blessed by a life-giving, loving, and image-making God. We did not inherit some transmittable sin disease because our original parents literally ate some forbidden fruit. 

My story no longer begins with Sin but rather with Divine Blessing. 

I'm dancing!

What an awesome beginning!