Original Sin

[shazeep]

ah ok well you likely have a personal doctrine; however, there is an official doctrine of OS--namely that we are all sinners because Adam sinned--which the "Developed World" has operated on since the 2nd (spurious) Council of Nicea. Now, whether we are all sinners because Adam sinned, or we are all sinners because we sin after Adam is truly irrelevant to the doctrine, which insists upon the former as a starting point for our religion.

"The question then becomes, when were we made sinners? I believe
we were made (became) sinners when we sinned, because of the Law.

Next question: when were we made righteous? I believe we were made
righteous when we received the free gift because of the sacrifice."

The doctrine of OS warps the former, and ignores the latter; and it shows up in a thousand subtle ways in our culture. As i said earlier, the doctrine might be seen as just a convenient way for pastors to explain something that is demonstrably pointless to inquirers--who after all, have all sinned at that point--but it goes deeper than this. Really, nobody cares, or is edified about, the hair splitting--practically speaking, you are a sinner because you sinned; and you sinned because you have, or had, a sin nature. Sin comes naturally to us, because Adam sinned, and we as humans naturally copy our parents. As i'm sure you know, the phrase "Original Sin" is not in the Bible.