Doctrine of Original Sin
Most Christians who profess to believe in the Doctrine of Original Sin are ignorant of much of its teachings and/or have applied little logic or reason to the concept. They are not aware that the concept evolved, that it had its roots in pagan philosophy, and that it did not exist, even in its elementary stages, until about the third century A.D. After that, it did not become a generally accepted Doctrine until the 5th century A.D. It was made a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church through the influence of the church father, St. Augustine. Most people are also unaware of the fact that the Bible passages used as proof-texts for this Doctrine have been taken out of context and tortured into a teaching that is unsupported either by the Bible or by logical reasoning.
This article addresses the issues involved in the Doctrine of Original Sin as if from within Christianity.
The Doctrine
The Doctrine of Original Sin is that:
For believers, the stigma of original sin is only removed through belief in the divinity of Jesus, Jesus' sacrifice, and baptism. Baptism is performed to wash away original sin and to restore the individual to an innocent state, although even after baptism a tendency to sin remains as a result of original sin. The participation of a priest or minister in this redemptive ceremony increases the power of the priesthood in the lives of the faithful.
Are humans born sinners? The answer to this question affects our attitudes toward sin and, ultimately, our conduct as well. The Christian who believes he/she is born with a sinful nature and sins unavoidably because of that nature is not likely to view his/her sins as seriously as one who does not share this belief.
History of the Doctrine
Original Sin is a relic of pagan philosophy, and was foisted upon Christianity by St. Augustine. A simple reading of church history records that both the early practices and doctrines of Christianity were influenced in an ever-increasing way by pagan superstitions and morality. There was gross licentiousness on the one hand and extreme asceticism on the other; veneration and worship of saints, relics, images, and pictures; the development of a priesthood with rituals and ceremonies; magical and spiritual powers ascribed to water, sacred words and signs; water baptism for the remission of sins; and the baptism of infants. The pagan mythology that gods were strong and could save humans from their weaknesses was introduced into the Hebraic concepts through Middle Eastern mythology and was later given a Christian form. Other pagan concepts of a purgatory, limbo, or other "holding place" for dead humans was accepted, with its developed doctrines of the purging of sins in the afterlife and the saying of masses and prayers for the dead.
Many of the theologians during these first centuries were converts from paganism, who wedded their pagan philosophical concepts to Christianity. It was these early church fathers, particularly from the third century on, who made the first allusions to a Doctrine of Original Sin.
Augustine's doctrine of sin, with his belief in the inherent sinfulness of everything physical, is based on 1) New Testament scripture in Romans and First Corinthians, authored by Paul, and 2) the teachings of the pagan religion Manicheism. Before converting to Christianity, Augustine had been a follower of Manicheism. His ideas that sin is propagated through the marriage union, that sexual desire is sin, and that sexual lust in procreation transmits sin are from Manicheism.
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Doctrine of Original Sin: PAGES (1), 2, 3, 4
