But, if the story of Adam and Eve is fiction, what exactly is “Original Sin”?
There are a lot of good questions being asked in this thread (as well as some not-so-good ones, perhaps) that I’m tempted to try to address, but some anywhere close to doing them justice would require way more time and thought than I have right now.
We do have a backbone - we just don’t make good copy. Westboro Baptist Church gets plenty of coverage, but there are only a few people.
LOTs of Christians out there are doing things in their community, but showing up to a soup kitchen every morning with a truck full of food and a willingness to help doesn’t make the news. If the news DOES come, they talk to the soup kitchen folks about how many more people are looking to help. The news MIGHT keep in the line from the operator thanking all of the churches who coordinate assistance, but that is it.
When I spent time after Katrina rebuilding houses with my church, that did not make the news. Again - not interesting enough.
When my church sponsors a multi-faith service with Rabbis, Priests and Imams - that doesn’t make news much either.
In my case, my church has a minister with doctorate and who spends time every Sunday discussing the context of the Scripture in terms of society at that time, the importance of certain words, and what the idioms of the day were. We then hear the Word, and try to find meaning in it for our modern lives.
There are enough passages in the NT where Jesus broke the rules of fasting, who he ate with, and when he would “work.” Most of these are covered in his debates with the Pharisees - which can often be simplified as “quit being a lawyer about this stuff and just be a good person.”
Well, figure out what does make news. A fundy church group makes a scene at an abortion clinic or funeral-your supposedly larger group makes a larger protest outside of their church during services. A popular preacher spouts hate on the air-you demand(not politely request) equal time and you denounce in no uncertain terms his views instead of just giving yet another namby pamby “Of course The Right Reverend is entitled to his views, but we feel…” response. If Mr. Christian Right says that he speaks for Christians, then nothing less than an official leader of your sect should make a public statement that Mr. Christian Right is wrong, not just of a different opinion that must be respected. Publicly point out that your group is doing good, but also point out where the others are doing bad.
Clean house.
I’ll quote my former pastor, who’s a theistic evolutionist. “Original sin” is the tendency towards deceit and violence that humans have as a result of our evolving from (and still being) predators.
The book as a whole has been shown to be untrustworthy. That much is not in dispute. There may be nuggets question is how you come to a decision on which bits to trust? what is the thought process?
Well to me it reads as I would expect a book of that time and that moral landscape to read. Strict laws, harsh punishments and all. I suspect that a lot was intended to be taken literally.
My faith is not one of making news though. Jesus himself tells me to pray quietly. I will NOT allow myself to have my actions defined by others, or I will spend all of my time simply responding to their actions. Why on earth would I want to debate these people? It is the story of wrestling with the pig.
Edit to add - what makes news in America is being an asshole, or man biting dog. Why should I chase that?
Why don’t YOU, the American public, stop stereotyping people based on a sensationalist news media?
For some reason, I was expecting a link to a youtube video showing Flanders walking into a museum where they show Creationism to the tune of “What a Fool Believes”. 
I’d link to such a video, but I can’t find it.
Why do you allow the stereotypes in the first place? You liken it to wrestling with the pig. Well, sometimes you’ve got to directly grab that pig and put it in it’s place before it runs wild and destroys everything you value. You have no right to complain about how the public perceives Christianity if publicly changing that perception is somehow beneath you.
Edited to add: Jesus may have said to pray quietly, but he also raised a public ruckus by throwing the moneychangers out of the temple.
I’ll tell you how boring that was right after I finish this boring nap caused by the boringness of what you just zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Quoth Algher:
Algher makes a good point. Speaking for myself (as a non-churchgoing “generic” christian), I don’t feel the need to go about justifying my faith to people. There is a time & place for speaking out to be sure, but constantly defending one’s views against noisy fundamentalists is both unnecessary and unproductive…just as it is to constantly join battle with outspoken evangelical athiests. If there is one overarching lessen to be learned from the story of Jesus Christ, it is centered upon the golden rule…“do unto others…” Or, in modern parlance “don’t be an asshole”. The late Ken Kesey (himself a minor messianic figure to some) used to tell his pranksters when facing police or counter-protesters “Never try to out-asshole the assholes”.
That said, I and many other liberal christians do speak out against some of the most egregious abuses of christianity at the hands of fundamentalists. But those who do are usually wise enough to know that direct confrontation, while it may be gratifying, is usually not very effective. Generally it is preferable to attempt to live in an examplary fashion and pick one’s battles.
SS
So you want me to throw the fundies out of their own churches???
Maybe I should have a big sign that says “God Loves Gays?” Oh yeah - done that. (Didn’t even make Fark).
Maybe I should have a protest against large corporations that abuse their workers! Oh yeah, done that too.
Maybe I should join a church that accepts gays and lesbians, ordains women, works with the poor, has a strong environmental movement? Oh yeah, done that one as well.
Stereotypes come from ignorance, I fight it locally (and sometimes on the Dope).
Czarcasm: God these potato chips are so bad for me.
Fundies: Here, have some more potato chips.
Czarcasm: So unhealthy… but so tasty!
Algher: My rice crisps are better for you
Czarcasm: Then dammit why are you letting that guy give me potato chips?
Quoted for truth. I’m an ex-Christian, but my last pastor has done pretty much everything you mention there. (The whole church is a buncha hippies, if you ask me, but I love them anyway. 
) At least one sermon in six there is about the need for liberal, non-gay-hating, ordaining-women Christians to show the world that Pat Robertson does not speak for them.
I trust then that he didn’t think Jesus is necessary to save us from the sin that God indirectly put into us?
That was why I tried to be specific, and called out Catholics and others rather than all Christians. Here is why I bring it up:
[
](http://archive.catholic.com/library/Infant_Baptism.asp)
The clear implication is that original sin has tainted the baby and must be removed. But if there was no apple, then what is original sin?
That is all well and good. But that means that you do not find the Bible authoritative, merely inspirational. Or perhaps you have decided to find parts of it authoritative. Either way, you are looking to something outside the Bible to decide what is right within the Bible.
Of course. And that comes from what book of the Bible? Or did he (or possibly one of his pastors or teachers) take something from another source and then remold the meaning of the Bible to fit?
ETA:
How is that in any way indirectly? It seems completely direct to me.
And furthermore, was Mary, whose conception was immaculate and unstained by original sin in possession of pointy teeth? Or perhaps was she a ruminant?
Imagine your random person, not a genius and not one who like complex moral debates, who wonders how to live his life and who wants direction. If he swings Christian, he has two choices. One is the pastor who tells him the answers are right in the Bible, and all he has to do is to believe and follow those directions and he is fine.
The other pastor says that the question is very complicated, that some of the answer is in the Bible but he can’t say where, that some of the Bible shouldn’t be believed, and that though God says this he also says the contradictory that and …
Our convert is out the door heading for church number 1. And you can hardly blame him.
Yes liberal Christians are charitable, but so are fundamentalist ones. They don’t spend all their time bombing abortion clinics or picketing funerals after all. (That’s a joke, people.)
In Christ and Moses Lenny Bruce talked about “Reformed Jews. So reformed they’re ashamed they’re Jewish.”
If the heart of Christianity is Jesus giving up his life to save us from our sins, it seems that liberal Christians are so liberal they are ashamed they are Christian. That position seems very sensible and moral to me - just not very Christian.