This is the doctrine which dictates that all human beings are born into sin. Growing up in the Episcopal Church my idea was that OS meant simply that children were born into a world of wrongdoing and would inevitably do wrong, or sin, themselves once they reached the age that they were able to make reasoned choices.
On that level the doctrine seems harmless enough because it's true. The trouble is that more evangelical faiths have what seems to me a more sinister interpretation - that we are all born sinners and thus never have a true period of innocence. I think it is this view that is consistent with crackpot notions of God's wrath brought to bear on tens if not hundreds of thousands of children in the recent Indian Ocean tsunami, or any other disaster for that matter.
The Catholics have a kinder, gentler view unless I'm mistaken (and I could be): I think they see OS as something like the first of what will be many stains on one's soul, a stain inherited from Adam and Eve. I read the article on their website but it seems to ramble and never really gives one a sense of just what the doctrine is.
My questions are these: what is original sin, why is it a necessary belief to the Chritian experience and is it, like other sins, washed away by the blood of Jesus? Further, if it is washed away by the blood of Jesus, why is it brought up in the first place? Once a child is old enough to ask Jesus for forgiveness wouldn't the original sin then be washed away?
If this topic is promoted my suggestion would be the 'Faith & Belief' Forum.
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