original sin and vicarious atonement: did Christ die for our sins?

The idea that we are all born with original sin but that Jesus' sacrifice saved us is one of the basic ideas associated with Christianity. What do you think about it?

 

Not much.

I think original sin in the Biblical, Adam and Eve sense is a man-made idea, invented by an ancient and geographically-isolated culture in an attempt to explain the presence of good and evil in mankind.

When Christianity, through the Roman church, became a state religion in the fourth century, salvation from original sin through the atoning death of Christ became one of the foundational tools of its power. This salvation was dispensed exclusively through the Roman church until the protestant reformation.

The protestant reformation cleared away the gross power abuses of the Roman church, but the essential doctrines of Christianity, including original sin and a direct, one-on-one version of salvation through atonement, remained and persist to this day.

 

my opinion is that the story of christ is a figurative representation of the original fruit of knowledge. in eden, the fruit hangs from the tree. at cavalry, jesus(or his wisdom) is the fruit that hangs from the tree (cross).

i personally see 'original sin' as a guilt trip designed to instill fear in the followers. they've created this story about how christ is the answer to original sin. it's an archetype that occurs in a lot of myth and religous text.

budda, for example, sat under the bo tree. in this way, he (his wisdom) is the fruit of the tree, and the tree is the representation of truth.

 

I like this interpretation

Jesus attained His Christ Conciousness in order to liberate
us from material desire and attachment, which must have been
translated as sin.
Same idea, really.

 

i agree, unfortunately, this is one of christ's most important teachings that many christians forget.

 

i believe that the Adam and Eve story is symbolic, and that Christ died so that we may enter heaven, not because of origional sin.

 

Dave, off topic, you live in Towamencin, PA?
Do you go to Pennfield? Or North Penn?

 

I never really agreed with the idea of Jesus sacrificing himself for us, as I am not Christian. I do however think that Jesus was a beautiful and enlightened person, similar to Buddah. Quoting Be Here Now...

"Jesus said I am the way
It is the SAME WAY!"
I view the teaching of Jesus as one path to liberation.
As far as his daeth, I believe that it was Jesus's surrender to possibility, to conciousness, to whatever one interprets god as
I can't really explain this view, but its one of those things that came to me reading Be Here Now
Near the beginning it talks about possibility it says something like
"most of you have sensed possibility but you can't quite.....
SURRENDER

It was all about really giving up the ego

 

I feel that Jesus did actually forsee how he
was going to die, and why his death would
be the inevitable and proper course of events.
The mind is a very advanced unit of receptability,
and works very much like a radio, or television.
Not many people have tuned into the proper
frequencies though.
But it appears that tv and radio and internet are
simply reflections of our own minds, and in due time
it will most likely be common knowledge to live with
the state of advanced perception as Jesus did.

Anywho, yea I think Jesus died, and allowed what
happened to happen.
Does it matter that Christianity is now, well, mostly
a bad thing to this world?
No, because there are always that certain peoples
who truly follow the path that the Christ laid out
for us.
If he had simply died naturally and not been rememberd,
I feel that a lot of people would have of course, taken
many more lifetimes to advance in their soul union (yoga)
with God.
But, this is my belief, I dont wish to argue about reincarnation,
this is just an accepted point of view of mine when I post
on this subject. -

 

yes! i agree! however, there is a lack of historical evidence outside the bible to prove that jesus was actually crucified. there's a good possiblity that jesus died in another way than the bible tells us and the crucifixion and resurrection was a fabrication. not trying to say you're wrong, but i mean, it's possible that the story of crucifixion isn't true.

actually, now that im typing this here, i can see how valuable the story of the crucifixion may have been, because even though i don't agree with a lot of the modern 'christian' practices and beliefs, i've seen many people moved in a spiritual sense by the story of the crucifixion.