What Is the Original Sin?

What is the Original Sin?

The idea of the original sin played a major role in Renaissance Christianity. “In order to understand,” said Chrover, “the idea of the original sin, “it is made explicitly in the book of Genesis” (Chrover 15). In short God took Adam’s hand and after having created man in his own image, took Adam into the Garden of Eden, thus explaining the correlation between the idea of original sin and Christianity. And when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, Adam caused sin to enter the world.

Original sin emerged after Adam’s “fall” from the garden of Eden. Although it is not specified what the nature of Adam’s fall was, Stephan Chorover, author of ‘From Genesis to Genocide’, states that, “the story of the fall was gradually transformed by a long line of Christian theologians into the doctrine of original sin which eventually assumed the status of a primal cosmic fact” (Chorover 16).“Historically the doctrine of original sin was a fundamental article of Christian faith and, as such, was supposed to be a standard object of belief, always, everywhere and by all within Christendom” (Chrover 17). As such, the idea of the original sin, was closely intertwined with Christianity, in which the church’s very existence and survival depended on the fact that man was sinful by nature, as we’ve learned from Adam eating the forbidden fruit.

Coming from a religion other than Christianity, I found Stephan Chorover’s article, ‘From Genesis to Genocide’ quite an interesting read. To learn that the original sin began with Adam’s fall. As well as, the various versions each group has as to how Adam fell. All in all, it’s always good to learn various religious perspectives.