Infused, confused. You've been misinformed. The Bible does not teach that you and I have to take the rap for someone else's misdeeds, and we would be justified in trashing it if it did. This was a bit of mischievous medieval mumbo-jumbo designed for brainwashing.
Actually, that is what it teaches. Perhaps you simply don't appreciate the rewording. Though you may participate here in describing Original Sin in a way that doesn't make it so; but simple denial without explanation won't suffice.
Like civil and criminal law everywhere, the Bible teaches that we are each responsible for our own words and actions. But it also says that we all fall short of the required moral standard. Again, if we disagree with that, we can bin the Bible.
Don't patronise other seekers.
What actions, for example, did I specifically commit to be burdened with Original Sin?
And, if we ALL fall short of the 'moral standard', it's then neither, is it? It is not moral, because it is bar set higher than can actually be achieved; and, it's not standard, as nobody is capable of achieving it and thus breaks the definition.
So the Bible tells us.
The Bible says that, too. So why is 'Jesus arrives' not dogmatist stuff, too? Let's try not to make bigotry too obvious, eh?
I wasn't intending to tackle the question of an actual historical Jesus in this thread. I am speaking with the subject as-read out of courtesy.
'Adam' is very properly translated 'me'. Whoever you are, male, female or undecided. Now if you say, "Jesus does nothing for me, I'm just the same," you have to ask why that is. Why did Jesus' birth achieve diddly squat, for you? Why did Jesus' death not kill off your wicked ways? Why did Jesus' resurrection not lift the burden of a guilty conscience, for you? Presumably you have one of those, if you're reading this far?
No, I have no guilty conscience as Im a part of a faith that is based on honor, and not shame [that's an actual academic distinction, and not my own, so try and reign in any offense you feel], so I possess no guilt for my actions. I make up for them in this life and need no forgiveness. By that's another subject..
Well, I ask you the question first, in the OP: indeed why didn't Jesus' birth fix this grievous problem? It was sort of his responsibility, wasn't it?
Why are 'we' still made guilty?
It's because you, adam, didn't agree that Jesus' death paid for your 'errors'— or evils, to be more honest. You admit that you have done and said and written and thought evil things, but you refuse to accept the verdict of 'innocent' generously handed down by the court. Why do you do that? Because if you agree that you have done evil that deserves eternal punishment, and that you owe your eternal happiness to Jesus despite that, you are morally bound to accept his standards in your life. And that is more than you are willing to do. God's free gift has a catch.
Oh no, it's not that I didn't agree. I was never given the opportunity to agree or disagree, when the issue was important and could be changed. It was already decided, the instant I was conceived, and therein lies the issue you cannot address and would thus rather turn the guilt or choice back on me.
I can comfortably assert that faced with the same choice, I would have obeyed. Yet, I am burdened because someone else didn't. The court does the opposite of what you patronizingly claim. In fact, essentially I am born in prison and took no part in the crime, or the trial.
No need to lie.
And, btw, a 'free gift' with 'a catch' isn't free.
So, while Jesus for the love of everyone paid for the sins of everyone, past, present, future, and by so doing gave everyone equal chance to accept that payment, any who refuse that payment on their own account must pay up themselves. God forces his will on no-one.
But as we both appear to agree, he didn't actually pay.
The point also is I shouldn't have to agree.
The illusion of 'choice' and 'pay' that you emphasize shows the true moral failure of this premise; you simply want to be able to vilify me, for any time you mention choice here it's framed as 'the wrong choice', and its obvious that you gleefully envision my having to pay for that wrong choice in some spiritual realm I am immune to [alas for you]. But I already knew this. Hence my continued underlining that it shouldn't be my choice, or indeed your choice, in the first place.
By the way,
He won't be able to process this idea, because it removes the ability to blame a man for his own misery.
I essentially predicted this type of response, QED
