There was no “original sin,” a concept that never occurred in Judaism but was invented by the authors of the New Testament, along with “hell,” which was never once mentioned in bible passages covering 4,000 years from Adam and Eve to the last Old Testament prophets.
Before I explain why there was no “original sin” let me mention what the bible says about forgiveness…
FORGIVENESS: SACRIFICE OR MERCY?
Seven Hebrew prophets said god did not want bloody sacrifices: Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah, Samuel and King David. Jesus quoted three of them — Hosea, Isaiah and Jeremiah — giving them his stamp of approval.
- Hosea 6:6: “For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.”
- Matthew 9:13: “But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’” Jesus was quoting Hosea. It would be hypocritical for a god who desires mercy rather than sacrifice to demand the sacrifice of his son rather than showing mercy unconditionally, as good parents would for their erring children.
- Psalm 40:6-8: “In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear. Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required.”
- Isaiah 1:11: “To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord: I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats.”
- Jeremiah 7:22: God told the people of Judah to stop offering sacrifices because he didn’t want them. More on this momentarily.
- Amos 5:25: “Did you [indeed] bring me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?” More on this in relation to Jeremiah, below.
- 1 Samuel 15:22: “To obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
- Micah 6:1-8: “… the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. … Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?”
The prophet Jeremiah denied that god ordained animal sacrifices during the Exodus, when the Ten Commandments were given to Moses:
Thus saith Yahweh of hosts, god of Israel: “Add your burnt-offerings to your sacrifices, and eat the flesh. For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt-offerings and sacrifices.. (Jeremiah 7:22)
What Jeremiah said blatantly contradicts the idea that god demanded the purported “sacrifice” of Jesus.
Jeremiah directly accused the Levite scribes of changing the bible:
How do ye say, “We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain.” (Jeremiah 8:8 KJV)
The NIV translates the same accusation more accurately:
How can you say, “We are wise, for we have the law of the LORD,” when actually the lying pen of the scribes has handled it falsely? (Jeremiah 8:8 NIV)
The prophet Amos agreed with Jeremiah that the deceitful Levite scribes had changed the Bible to demand animal sacrifices, which allowed them to eat the best cuts of meat without working like everyone else. Amos asks ironically and rhetorically:
“Did you [indeed] bring me sacrifices and offerings the forty years in the wilderness, O house of Israel?” (Amos 5:25)
Amos also said god despised the festivals at which animals were slaughtered and burnt as “sacrifices,” not to god, but to feed the Levites: “I hate, I reject your feasts, and I will not smell your meat-offerings in your general assemblies.”
Amos completely rejected the idea that burnt offerings were a “sweet savor” to god.
The prophet Micah also denied the need for sacrifices, including that of firstborns, which would include Jesus not being a sacrifice:
1 Hear ye now what the Lord saith; Arise, contend thou before the mountains, and let the hills hear thy voice. 2 Hear ye, O mountains, the Lord’s controversy, and ye strong foundations of the earth: for the Lord hath a controversy with his people, and he will plead with Israel. 3 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. … Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before the high God? shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves of a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? 8 He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:1-8)
The prophet Isaiah also denied that god had ever desired the flesh and blood of animals.
“But whoever sacrifices a bull is like one who kills a person,
and whoever offers a lamb is like one who breaks a dog’s neck;
whoever makes a grain offering is like one who presents pig’s blood,
and whoever burns memorial incense is like one who worships an idol.
They have chosen their own ways, and they delight in their abominations.” (Isaiah 66:3)
Isaiah equates sacrifices with murder, idolatry and offering something unclean (pig’s blood) to god!
“What are all your sacrifices to Me?” asks the Lord. “I have had enough of burnt offerings and rams and the fat of well-fed cattle; I have no desire for the blood of bulls, lambs, or male goats. (Isaiah 1:11 HCSB)
Long before the time of Jesus, King David believed in salvation by grace, claiming that God did not require sacrifice and could simply choose not to impute sin. (Psalm 32:1-2)
1 Samuel 15:22 says that “to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.”
The prophets were pointing out that “sacrifices” were not the commandment of god, but rather were to benefit the Levites, who had changed the Bible to enrich themselves. And the same is true of Christian churches that reap enormous profits by peddling the “sacrifice” of Jesus to the gullible.
Furthermore, the bible says no one should die for another’s sin. Would you kill one child because another erred, or would you forgive the child who erred without bloodshed?
GOD CAN SAVE WITHOUT SACRIFICES
The bible says god can save without sacrifices. According to the bible, animal sacrifices were instituted during the Exodus, by Moses. But the prophet Jeremiah denied this, saying Moses did not command animal sacrifices. Jeremiah accused the Levites of cooking the books. Why? Because they got the best cuts of meat from animal sacrifices and didn’t have to work to eat like everyone else.
Why would god slaver for the “sweet savor” of charring animal flesh, like a drunk at a barbeque? That makes no sense. But it makes sense to say that, if you want to eat free steaks and not have to work.
In any case, human beings were saved without the alleged “sacrifice” of Jesus.
Both Elijah and Enoch ascended into heaven. (Genesis 5:24, 2 Kings 2:11)
Amusingly, the error-prone writer of John had obviously not read the Hebrew bible and claimed no one had ever ascended to heaven other than Jesus! (John 3:13)
So much of what christians believe is wrong, because the authors and redactors of the bible made serious mistakes, not being familiar with the entire bible.
ORIGINAL SIN
Jesus didn’t free us from “original sin” because “original sin” is nonsense…
Think about it.
First, according to the bible the penalty for sin was death, so if Jesus paid the penalty for sin with his death, human beings should not longer die.
Furthermore, the bible tries to blame Eve for suffering and death entering an otherwise “perfect” world. Why? Because the primitive men who wrote the bible were male chauvinists. Ancient Greek male chauvinists did the same thing when they blamed Pandora for all the ills of the world.
In the comments it was claimed that the bible doesn’t blame Eve, but it does: “And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner.” (1 Timothy 2:14)
When they see a problem, male chauvinists automatically blame women!
Especially religious men.
But we know trillions of animals suffered and died before human beings existed, making “original sin” complete and utter nonsense.
If there is such a thing as “original sin” the only possible “original sinner” would be the Creator, if such a being exists. If you want to blame suffering and death on anyone, the Creator is your man, or being.
Also, the biblical god was an evil father to Adam and Eve, because he condemned them to an animal existence, running around naked and not knowing good from evil, then murdered them when they sought knowledge. All good parents want their children to seek and gain knowledge and wisdom.
In short, Eve did not “sin” because we should all seek and try to acquire knowledge.
The “original sinner” was the biblical god, who tried to prevent Adam and Eve from acquiring knowledge.
As a matter of fact, in the original Sumerian creation myth that inspired and influenced the biblical Garden of Eden story, it was the male Creator-God who committed the original sin, and we also discover why Eve was created from a rib!
EVE WAS NOT THE FIRST “LADY OF THE RIB”
The biblical account of Eve being created from a rib then eating the “forbidden fruit” goes back to the far more ancient Sumerian myth of Enki and Ninhursag, which takes place in the paradisal garden of Dilmun, the Sumerian version of Eden.
In this more ancient myth the Sumerian creator-god Enki was a brute who seduced his daughters and granddaughters, had sex with them, then abandoned them and left them heartbroken. When trying to seduce his great-granddaughter Uttu, the lecherous Enki brought her gifts of fruit including apples, grapes and cucumbers. This was the original “forbidden fruit” because it was being used for incestual seduction.
Enki was also a glutton who ate forbidden flowers in the paradisal garden rather than letting them grow, and thus became deathly ill. To save her wayward husband’s life the loving and compassionate mother-goddess Ninhursag created a female goddess, Ninti, to heal the dying Enki’s rib. Ninti’s name is a pun on the Sumerian word ti, which means both “rib” and “life” or “to make live.” Ninti’s name translates to both “Lady of the Rib” and “Lady of Life” or “Lady Who Makes Live.”
The biblical creation account was changed for theological reasons to make the male god “perfect” and to have the “Lady of the Rib” and the “Lady of Life” eat the forbidden fruit. In fact, the name Eve means “life.”
Case closed.
Eve was originally a goddess and the compassionate healer of the wayward male Creator!
But of course the male chauvinist authors of the bible got rid of all the better-behaved and more compassionate female goddesses.
However, let it be noted that in the original myth the original sinner was the heartless male creator-god!
And let it also be noted that the biblical god in the Garden of Eden was even more of a brute than Enki because Enkil didn’t murder his children.
PARALLELS OF DILMUN TO EDEN
- Dilmun is the site where creation occurred.
- Dilmun was described as “pure,” “virginal” and “pristine.”
- Dilmun was perfect because “The lion did not slay, the wolf was not carrying off lambs, etc.” Also there were no eye diseases or headaches and no one grew old. There were no sad songs, no laments, no one wailing.
- Dilmun lay at the “mouth of the rivers” said to have been the union of the Tigris and Euphrates at Qurnah. The bible says Eden lay near the headwaters of the same rivers.
- Like the biblical God, Enki, the Creator-God, spoke things into creation: rivers, lakes, precious stones, etc.
- Goddesses gave birth in nine days rather than nine months, making human women seem cursed, as they were said to be in the biblical version.
But in any case there was no “original sin” for Jesus to save us from or free us from.
Credit to original articles posted in Quora. The author is not associated with this site.