From: mdw@sitar.hr.att.com (Mark Wuest)
Subject: Re: The doctrine of Original Sin
Organization: AT&T
Lines: 53

In article <May.11.02.38.56.1993.28319@athos.rutgers.edu> Eugene.Bigelow@ebay.sun.com writes:

>>Eugene Bigelow writes:

>>>Doesn't the Bible say that God is a fair god [sic]?  If this is true,
>>how can >this possibly be fair to the infants?

>Andrew Byler writes:

>>[What do you mean fair?  God is just, giving to everyone what they
>>deserve. As all infants are in sin from the time of conception (cf
>>Romans 5.12, Psalm 1.7), they cannot possibly merit heaven, and as
>>purgatory is for the purging of temporal punishment and venial sins, it
>>is impossible that origianl sin can be forgiven....

>Why is it fair to punish you, me and the rest of humanity because of
>what Adam and Eve did? Suppose your parents committed some crime before
>you were born and one day the cops come to your door and throw you in
>jail for it. Would you really think that is fair? I know I wouldn't.

Well, suppose your mother was a crack addict and crack user/abuser while
she was pregnant? Suppose your husband gave you some SDT (this recently
happened to a close friend of my wife and mine)?

OFTEN, the consequences of our sin are at least partially inflicted on
innocent people. Several times in the OT, this is pointed out, even
saying that descendants would suffer consequences for a person's sin
for several generations. Even today, we see multi-generational (to
coin a phrase) effects from alcoholism, child abuse, and spousal
abuse just to name three.

So, God's definition of fair and ours differ.

Some points of perspective:

Though the predisposition towards sinning is now inbred (see Webster's
first definition of inbred) thanks to Adam, it is arrogant and foolish
for any of us to think we would have done any different if we were in
their shoes. I know myself pretty well, and I'm just not that good. Take
God's word for it, neither are you. "There is no one righteous..."

More important, when a person decides to be a disciple of Jesus, God
promises supernatural help in overcoming our physical self's sinful
tendency. We can, of course, choose to ignore this help. (Rom 7,8)

"...God made mankind upright, but men have gone in search of many
schemes." -Eccl

Mark
-- 
Mark Wuest                              |     *MY* opinions, not AT&T's!!
mdw@violin.hr.att.com (Sun Mailtool Ok) |
mdw@trumpet.hr.att.com (NeXT Mail)      |
