Original Sin or Original Blessing?
After spending time exploring Celtic Spirituality, reading through The New Spiritual Exercises: In the Spirit of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin by Louis M. Savary and Original Blessing: Putting Sin in Its Rightful Place, by Danielle Shroyer, I’ve organized my thoughts on original sin and original blessing and invite you to consider which concept resonates with your soul.
The Bible includes two different creation stories. Genesis 1 tells the story of the seven days of creation…”and God saw all that had been made and declared that it was very good.” This original blessing is good news, indeed!
The second story from Genesis 3 tells the story of Adam, Eve, a snake and a piece of fruit. This is sometimes referred to as humanity’s ‘fall’ from grace, though the actual words do not cast the story in this negative light. Some theologians teach that all humans are depraved from the moment of conception. My mom believed that looking at an infant was all the proof needed to believe in a good and loving God. If you’ve ever held a newborn baby in your arms, it is impossible to accept the concept of original sin. The self-loathing that flows from that teaching may well be the original sin!
The doctrine of original sin completely overrides God’s pronouncement that creation is very good.
Original Sin Versus Original Blessing
The essential differences between these two can be summarized as:
Sinful nature versus Human nature bearing the image of God
Sin versus Mercy
Retribution versus Restoration
Separation from versus Connection with God
Shame versus Compassion
Consider these points:
God is not surprised that we make mistakes, choosing to separate rather than stay aligned.
God knows how we are because God created us.
God created us as humans bearing the image of God and gave us free will - opening the possibility that sometimes we will choose good and sometimes we will choose evil.
Jesus is not mortified that we make mistakes.
Jesus was interested in returning the person to the community, spiritually unencumbered and free to be loving and productive and be about the work of God.
For Jesus, each of us has important work to do for God and we need to have inner freedom to do the work.
Original blessing asserts that while we are not perfect, we are loved, and God’s love has the power to transform even our shadows into light.
Far more than just being made in God’s image, original blessing claims we are steadfastly held in relationship with God.
It reminds us that God calls us good and beloved before we are anything else.
This never stopped being true because this is who God is.
It has nothing to do with our specialness.
We are blessed because we are human.
And, because we don’t have to earn it, we cannot lose it!
God keeps showing up, even when we don’t, even in the middle of our brokenness and sin.
Deeper than any wrong in us is the light of God, the light that no darkness has been able to overcome.
The doctrine of original sin is a declaration that human nature is predisposed toward sin. This doctrine claims that the image of God in humanity was totally erased by Adam’s fall. Some Christian denominations claim that humankind is wholly defiled in all parts and faculties of the soul and body… utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite to all good, wholly inclined to evil.
But hear me out: to reject the doctrine of original sin is not to reject the existence of sin in the world.
It is to recognize that we are human and humanity carries the potential for both good and evil.
Do not confuse the presence of sin in the world with a sinful nature.
Sin is not the primary thing that is true about us.
Pay attention to the difference between shame and guilt. According to Brené Brown, guilt is feeling bad for some act we have done, while shame is feeling bad because of who we are.
Sin is an act or omission we have done or failed to do,
Sin nature is who we are, according to the doctrine of original sin.
I see many problems with this doctrine:
It damages our view of self and our relationship with God.
It sets us against God, our relationship described in negative terms, assuming that God is judging you, or seeing yourself as a failure, which keeps us from seeing the good in others and in ourselves.
It devalues humanity because we see others and self as inherently flawed compared with seeing all others as blessed bearers of God’s image, inherently worthy of dignity. I wonder how we would treat others if we saw others as worthy of dignity?
The doctrine demotes Jesus, making his life and teachings and healings irrelevant; as if the only thing Jesus is needed for is his blood; it portrays Jesus only as our ticket out of trouble rather than our example to follow to live in union with God.
The doctrine of original sin makes no room for God’s mercy. And we don’t want to ignore that attribute of God! When I first started working with a spiritual director, I was frustrated that I kept repeating some particular sins, and I was beating myself up for them. She compassionately reminded me that my sins showed me my need for God’s mercy, and it was my awareness of my sins that brought me back into relationship with God.
Know that God’s mercy and grace are bigger than anyone’s sin. God will always give you another chance.
Let’s take a closer look at what really is in Genesis 3? We’ve heard the story so many times, frequently interpreted with unhelpful preaching, that we tend to fill in details that aren’t actually there.
There are no words about a “fall.”
There is no reference to an “apple;” scripture just says “fruit.”
The snake is not Satan; there is no negative spin implied. It could be either crafty or cunning, or as used in Proverbs, with a positive spin: prudent or sensible.
The Garden of Eden was not a “perfect” place; it’s better to think of it as a harmonious or whole place.
There is no support that this chapter introduced death into the world. There are no words to suggest that Adam and Eve were immortal.
God does not remove the blessing from Adam and Eve. God does not say: “Now you it will be difficult to have a relationship with me because you have a sin nature that will block you from me.” Life will be more difficult but our blessing was not removed.
God gives man and woman clothing made of soft and warm leather to replace their scratchy fig leaves: God’s kindness remains, God still cares for them.
They weren’t “banished” but rather were “sent forth in peace” as that word is translated in the rest of the Bible.
What if this chapter was read as a “coming-of-age” story, as Shroyer suggests? What if Adam and Eve were supposed to leave the garden all along? Can we see this story as one involving individuation and growing up?
In the 2nd century, before St. Augustine wrote the doctrine of original sin, St. Irenaeus taught that the Garden of Eden provided a happy childhood-like existence for Adam and Eve, with God doing all the heavy lifting.
After they ate the fruit of the forbidden tree, their eyes were opened, they grew up, and then had to leave the garden to begin adulting - which we all know is hard work.
Leaving home inevitably includes some form of becoming your own individual self, pushing away from your parents, maybe even rejecting all they taught you, choosing your own path…before you can find your own way back into adult relationship with them.
Maybe this story is the beginning of adulthood for Adam and Eve, and freely choosing to live in harmony with God.
To become wise adults, we need to take responsibility to choose well.
Faithfulness is a choice. God chooses over and over again to be faithful to us. And God has freely given us the choice of whether to be faithful to God.
Good news! Exercising our FREE WILL does not change God’s view of us!
Why did God give us free will?
So that we are free to choose life or death.
So that we choose God in a world of competing loyalties.
Because God wants us to want to return God’s love, not because we have to!
“God does not see us as evil villains but wayward children. We do not have a sin nature but a human nature which includes both intimacy and isolation, communion and rebellion. We come to realize God has mercy on us because we are not yet finished and there is hope for us yet…We learn that we are capable of good and evil, and that we often do not know the difference. But more importantly, we learn in the garden that we are loved, that we are clothed and sent away in peace, and that God is waiting for us” to return home (Shroyer, 79).
Consider these gifts from my favorite parable, the Prodigal Son, which is actually about God’s prodigal love for us. Sometimes, we turn away from God, but God never turns away from us.
The prodigal father restores sonship before the younger son asks for forgiveness.
It is God who calls us back to life, waiting and watching for our return.
It is God who makes a way for us to return.
It is God who always welcomes us back without judgment or condemnation.
Remember that God’s law is written on your heart (Romans 2:14-16); this is based on your original goodness! Pay attention to your inner wisdom - your intuition - it comes from the God spark deep in your soul.
Similarly, prioritize your conscience. It helps us decide for ourselves what is sin. The Bible and church teachings guide our formation of conscience, but they do not replace it. Test your conclusions by checking their alignment with Jesus’ teachings.
How does the Doctrine of Original Sin land in your soul? Which concept do you find more life-giving and soul-enhancing? Let me know in the comments!