"Original Sin?"

What I have been playing with, the last few days, is the idea of “original sin.”

What exactly is original sin?  

And where did the idea of it come from?

Are human beings born with a sinful, unclean, nature?

Or, my soapbox question:  “Who is able to  properly define sin?”

I am discovering, after all these years, that so much of what we believe as biblical is not.

So yesterday morning I ventured, once again, into the large book on the Greek and Hebrew terms we read in scripture: Theological Dictionary of the New Testament.

It is, to this, day my most reliable source.  

Online sources are subject to so much misinformation.

The first  interesting thing I read is: “No uniform or self-contained concept of sin is present in the Old Testament…Root words “that carry the idea of sin have varied sense “negligence,” “rebelling,” “guilt,” and “error.”

Has the sense of: “missing” e.g., the way.  “going astray”……transgression of custom, or law, or a treaty, or obligation, with guilt that this implies….”

“For the Old Testament as a whole, then, sin is a legal and theological term for what is against the norm.” 

The assumption: 

 “If God’s will is the supreme law of life, apostasy from God has come to expression in error….violation of God’s norm is the substance of the knowledge of sin.”  (p. 44 &45) 

What I am thinking is that for centuries the egoic mind has made multiples assumptions on the subject of sin.  And, multiple assumptions on how the Almighty dealt with, and still deals with, such assumptions.

Assumptions, both theological and secular, are  dangerous.  Not to say misleading.

So what I would like to do here, is to limit all the historical assumptions to only what Jesus came to model and teach. And how Jesus dealt with those who were labeled “sinner,” or "unclean."

I am not saying the the Old Testament is in anyway unimportant to our faith.

What I am saying is that with the first books of the Bible -- the Old Testament -- come with a huge amount of baggage.  Baggage, that in many ways, has misled the world as to God’s character. That part of history is encumbered with egoic traditions, ritual and beliefs that no longer fit into Jesus’ presentation of God.  

As a matter of fact he came to call into question that baggage.

For that reason I am wanting to focus on nothing but the love, and genuine character, of God that Jesus — physical being — bought to attention as he walked upon this earth.

As Cynthia Bourgeault puts it:  “There is no monster out there; only love waiting to set us free.” (p. 107)

When questioned about what commandment was the greatest, Jesus responded:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’ (Matt. 22)

If we just focus on God in Jesus skin — and only that.  We will discover that we will have a much more accurate and precise picture of what is essential in our faith walk.