What exactly would original sin be a metaphor for?
The fact that there is something inherently and inescapably wicked about human nature, that we all experience from our earliest moments of consciousness, and that we can try to combat but can never entirely eradicate (at least, in a religious perspective, not without God's grace).
Interesting. I've always thought the concept to be one of my least favourite in theology, because it makes every single human essentially irredeemable without relying on an external agent. Even if I did think there was a great maliciousness hidden within every human (i dont) I've always been of the belief that we ourselves can overcome it, not the machinations of a deity.
For Christians who believe in evolution, I'm slightly curious. Do all humans possess that original sin that Christ sacrifices himself to repent on her behalf? Where did we get it if not from the apple?
The Catholic position (and that held by many Protestants as well) is that Adam and Eve were real people and the first human beings, and that Adam and Eve's temptation by the serpent and subsequent death-causing sin are absolutely real events, even though Adam and Eve's bodies were formed through evolution (even though their souls were created by God, unique to humankind). This is my position, though I attend a congregation which leans more on the young-Earth creationist side, a position I no longer hold.
so (and I'm not being a sarcastic euphoric antitheist here, just genuinely curious) were Adam and Eve two arbitrary early Homo sapiens granted souls and entry into Eden by the benevolence of God, and after being cast out had relations with other early humans ensuring that all descendants (and therefore all modern humans) both had souls and the taint of original sin?
