Our betrayals have left us all as sinners

The doctrine of “original sin” has always been a mystery to me. As I understand Genesis, God commanded Adam and Eve not to eat the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Then along comes a talking snake and convinces Eve to eat the fruit. Eve then convinces Adam to eat the fruit.

As a result of their disobedience to God, we have the fall from grace of all mankind in perpetuity as popularized by Augustine of Hippo. Although there have been revisions to “original sin” most Christians, but not all, believe that mankind’s fall from grace originated with Adam and Eve.

If you do not believe in the “talking snake” theory of inheritable sin, you might want to consider Darwin’s theory of evolution. Human beings evolved over billions of years. There was no Adam and Eve who came into this world as fully formed adults and immediately committed the “original sin.” There was no fall from grace and therefore no reason for Jesus Christ to descend to earth to save us from our sins. We are all sinners, not because we have betrayed God, but because we have betrayed ourselves and each other.

Erskine P. Mabee, Signal Mountain