As a Christian, you are taught to believe that from the time you are born, day one, that you are a sinner. That you, in the eyes of the Lord, are dirty and not worth respect (thus the need to be saved). You are taught that even though you may be only one day old, the sin on your soul is so heavy that you cannot atone for it, only Jesus can. It is your recognition of Jesus's death upon the cross that will allow you to be spared from God's wrath (who is also supposed to be so forgiving and loving, I might add).
This is all a lot of superstitious bunk.
Now, of course every Christian refers to the sin of man as being a direct descendant of the original sin as performed by Adam and Eve. As stated before, Adam and Eve are simply myths, so what "sins" are they referring to? If they're referring to the sin against God, they have none -- for as stated elsewhere on this site, the Biblical God is just a myth, too (see the Origins of Religion, Part I-III). Though this may sound incredulous, and maybe even blasphemous to some, one must realize that God, in the Biblical sense, is suppose to be beyond man, yet they give Him human qualities and endow Him with individualism and make him in every respect human. When the Force of Creation is given these qualities, then It has been mythologized and cannot be taken literally, only subjectively and figuratively, and in respect only to the human ego and consciousness. If this be the case, how can we sin against God?
If the Biblical God were the "real" God, how could we sin against Him? The Biblical God would be so great, what could little tiny man do that could possibly irritate Him? It would be insignificant.
Oh, but yes, we were made in His image and likeness, right? Then are we not as God is? And what does God have to be jealous of?
Does God see us as possibly being able to rival Him? Or our creations rival His?
Since the Biblical God is the outgrowth of men's minds, then what about this "sin" that everybody must atone for? Alas, it is but an extension of the mythos, and we, the human race, have paid the price for it for thousands of years: War, distrust, death, and ignorance. These things are truly the ultimate sin.
Unfortunately, the atonement of sin as related to in the Bible is a dastardly development, for it leaves one virtually powerless -- unless you belong to the hierarchy of the Church. The Priesthood is the only group that benefits from this belief, for it gives them a job and a "purpose". For mankind, however, it is stifling. Number One, it automatically affects your self-esteem and belief in yourself and your abilities on a subconscious level. The Church-style sin is the purveyor of guilt, whether that guilt be necessary or not and it can hinder you spiritually without your conscious mind realizing it.
Again, the Church teaches you are born a sinner, while in actuality you were not born a sinner, you were born with the ability to do right or wrong, and the choice is yours and neither of them are sins. Right and wrong viewpoints are determined by the society and peers. It is only when a handful of people get together and claim a certain set of values were "divinely inspired" do they become sins against God. To assume that you are going to automatically choose the wrong choice when making a decision is blasphemy on the Church's part. The Church is being not only presumptuous, but also arrogant and ignorant.
If there is such a thing as sin, and we must atone for it, then it falls upon our own shoulders, too. It is our responsibility. No figure from mythology or history can do it for you. Unfortunately, too many people believe it is out of their hands, but also realize their lives are their responsibility. This is a double-bind and can be psychologically harmful.
The simple feeling of powerlessness alone is a psychic problem and causes pain, and is a challenge for any of us to overcome. Being held responsible for what we are supposedly helpless about is unnerving to say the least. And being condemned on top of that helplessness and responsibility as unconditional wrong-doers (sinners) is just the icing on the cake, so to speak. How happy and healthy can one be when adhering to these precepts?
A Historical Perspective on
Spiritual Downfall
The "downfall" of humanity was a result of mankind's looking away from the "big picture" and focusing upon Himself only.
The "big picture," we can all agree, is the knowledge and understanding that
All of us and everything we see, hear, and touch, is the life and body of the Almighty, for It came from the same source and is driven by the same nature and purpose. In the "beginning," this knowledge would be common. But, unfortunately, since the nature of the divine is change and flux, so even these views had to change.
Through the evolution of our emergence into matter, emotions eventually manifested. Now these emotions provided a new ocean for which all of us could experience as our consciousness delved into its life of expression, experience, and becoming. Though none of this is easy, to put it simply I can only say we eventually became enthralled with the feeling of emotions -- "Let's dabble in emotion," we thought. And so circumstances and events were produced to provide every emotion needed. Thus, it became an addiction, like a bad drug. It is at this point, the separation between us and our divinity began. Of course, this is not all instantaneous, but a series of centuries, maybe even eons. But our preoccupation led us so far as to even separate us from each other, hence the emergence of and reaction of the ego.
From this separation, through Time, has led our minds away from our joint existence with all things and led to those emotions and actions which we deem negative and evil. Of course, such notions are only in relation to our egos, but nonetheless, this is how we operate.
In the beginning, prehistoric man lived in harmony with everything, that's why he even engaged in cannibalism. Though this is striking, he knew that Being One made cannibalism natural and okay. Basically, it did not affect anything because he was still at one with everything He had no personal ego, nor did his peers. Without ego, there is no concept of right or wrong (those are ideas generated by the ego; the ego determining unto the individual self what it does and does not like, hence what is good and what is evil). Ancient man, since he was not separated from all else by ego was truly an innocent who could do no wrong (since right and wrong concepts did not exist). In regards to cannibalism, the taking of someone else's life, or the giving of his own, was not done out of emotion such as greed or jealousy, or hatred, but as a normal way of existence.
Of course, we are not that way today. We still value our individualism and it is certainly barbarous to take another's life against the victim's will. But without ego and fear of individual loss and knowledge that death was not really death, "murder" would be meaningless to both the "killer" and the "victim". Neither would see it as we do today. It would simply be "another day in the life of my soul/spirit."
But alas, as stated before, the onset of emotion and its need to be felt became like a drug, and so complete disregard for the will of the other and all else emerged. This preoccupation for the self's need for emotion is the birth of the ego. Likewise, this is where cannibalism becomes evil, for now the one who gives his life did not do it by conscious choice. There was no conscious "connection" between the victim and the killer -- it was the killer's self preoccupation, or greed. It came to "Do whatever I can to get an emotion." It is at this point separation from divinity begins, for he (mankind) equates that it takes something (like an action of event) outside of himself to be brought into himself to generate the emotion. The more He delved into this ritual, the more he polarized his Mind and Being from the Natural Thing He was, forgetting that He was already Connected to all else, a "feeling" much different than the base emotions he wanted to experience.
Fortunately, we may forget its design, but we cannot live outside its nature and purpose -- evolution. Thanks to evolution, the natural law of existence, both spiritual and physical, we will always be the spiritual beings we were in the beginning, just not as knowledgeable because of what we did and have become. We may have "fallen," but we will always have the power to "get back up."
And it is ideas that lead us to beliefs, beliefs in what's right and what's wrong, and those are perceived in relation to our individual egos, which, by coincidence and paradox, are created by the formation of beliefs and are attached by our emotions. It's a nasty circle, but if we can look away for just a second, we can see it. And we can change.
No. We need to be saved from ourselves, because of what we can to do to one another, based on our egos as dictated by our emotions and ideas.
copyright 1998 by Ra-Harakhte (Ra-Harakhte@webtv.net)
