[Avodah] Original Sin

[Zev Sero]

kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
> Cantor Wolberg wrote:

>> What I find interesting is that we don't believe in
>> "original sin" and yet, the cheit eitz hadaas WAS
>> the original, first sin. We all have suffered its
>> consequences until this very day.

> No, we don't give that sin the extreme weight that the Christians do,
> but we're not off scot-free either. It is just one more thing that
> we've inherited from our ancestors, along with various other zechusim
> and negatives.

AIUI, and as I've explained it to Xians, we believe that the Fall
affected only the body and not the soul.  As a result of the Fall, the
body is subject to suffering, decay, and ultimately death; that is
undeniable.  But the "neshama shenatata bi tehora hi"; the neshama is
not Fallen, and comes into the world needing no salvation, other than
whatever private cheshbon it accumulated in previous incarnations.
Therefore we are not born into a sort of spiritual peonage, and have no
need for a Saviour.   *That* is what the Fall means to Xians, and in
that sense we don't believe in it; but the mere fact that it happened
and had permanent consequences, that we do believe.

We also don't believe in Hell, or that as little as one aveira would
be enough to send someone there.  We believe it *is* possible to be
justified by the Law, because aveirot can be a) outweighed by mitzvot;
b) forgiven through teshuvah; c) atoned for by suffering or Purgatory.
Therefore Xians are wrong in supposing that a near-unattainable
perfection is required, and therefore that justification by the Law
is a mug's game.

-- 
Zev Sero                      The trouble with socialism is that you
zev at sero.name                 eventually run out of other people’s money
                                                     - Margaret Thatcher