Another Choice

When the story of the third chapter of Genesis begins and unfolds in the Word, it comes as a bit of jolt.  It might even be described as a surprise.  Who would think that after such a grand start such a terrible thing would happen?  No one would expect sin to show up with such devastating consequences, but it came creeping into the Garden to forever change the face of humanity's experience with its Creator God.  Traditional Biblical scholarship speaks of it as a kind of dark plague that infects the heart of every one born to breathe this earth's air.     

Original Sin is the first theological framework put around it sometime in the fifth century.  Since then ts has been a major plank in the church's doctrinal position.  This idea of human depravity had such a pervasive hold that at one time new born children were baptized quickly just in case they died soon after birth.  And while infants are no longer baptized because they might die in their sin, it remains a dominant doctrine within the traditional church.    

One of the verses in the New Testament which is used to support the total depravity of all of us is found in Romans 5:12 where the Words says, Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, so death spread to all because all have sinned."  With this word sin came to be understood as a deadly infection of the soul passed from one generation to another as surely as physical characteristics are passed genetically.  Another choice might be to say that sin came into the world because humanity chose to experience the horrible choice given to by the love of God, the choice of spurning the love of God and the choice of making love our absolute response to Him and His goodness.  To look closely at the story of the Garden couple and our own story makes such a viable explanation for the way sin has such a hold on the life of each one of us.