Original Sin

The Biblical story of Adam and Eve tells of how God gave them 'free will' to make choices of their own. God also gave them some good advice but also instructed them to not eat any of the fruit of the Tree of knowledge of 'Good and Evil'. But, led on by the Devil, they chose to be independent of God and did as they had been forbidden. This choice of theirs is what is referred to as the 'Original Sin'. From that time on mankind has decided for itself what is 'good or bad' and this independence of God has led to much suffering.

Reader, whether you believe this story or not, you can’t deny your own occasions of misbehaviour. When we honestly examine our own lives we see clearly that we have each done, and continue to do, wrong things. We are each another Adam or Eve. As the prophet wrote long ago - 'We - every one of us - have strayed away like lost sheep! We ,who left God's paths to follow our own'(Isaiah Ch 53:6) . And although there is plenty of good about in our world, we can still see all around us many examples of selfishness and an animal like ‘survival of the fittest' mentality that is still prevailing in our current times.

St Paul wrote about this in a letter he wrote to those Christians who lived in Galatia at that time. 'For we naturally love to do evil things that are just the opposite from the things that the Holy Spirit tells us to do; and the good things we want to do when the Spirit has his way with us are just the opposite of our natural desires. These two forces within us are constantly fighting each other to win control over us, and our wishes are never free from their pressures. When you are guided by the Holy Spirit, you need no longer force yourself to obey Jewish laws.' (Galatians Ch 5 Verse 17, Living Bible)

The last sentence in the above quote reminds me of the help that is available from God's Holy Spirit to all those who welcome his presence into their lives.

So, Original Sin is something that we have each inherited from Adam and Eve and its effect in our day to day lives is as if we have a 'good guy' and a 'bad guy' living in our hearts fighting for control with the 'bad guy' having the victory more often than most of us would like.

This problem is also sometimes referred to as our 'fallen nature'. The expression - 'well I'm only human', often quoted after we make mistakes, is not quite correct. The expression should really be 'well, I'm only another imperfect human' There is only one truly human being that has ever walked our earth and that is Jesus Christ. Our basic task in life is, with the help from the Holy Spirit, is to become more and more like him, day by day.

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