ECCLESIOLOGICAL ETCHING
November 13, 2021
Most Christians have heard of the idea: Original Sin. Many people believe it is rooted in scripture, but it is not. It started with a guy named St. Augustine in the 4th Century, but it really didn’t take shape until centuries later. At its core, it suggests that we are sinful at our core. Faith is more than just changing one’s behavior, but finding an outside source of redemption for something that is beyond our control. I think this idea was birthed out of some unresolved unhealthiness within Augustine and some other early church leaders… basically some stuff that did not need a savior, but a good therapist. I, along with many others, speak of Original Blessing or Original Goodness. This is rooted in scripture, specifically with Genesis and the first Creation Story. With every step of creation, God sees how it is good, and in the end, it is all very good. How do we go, in just a few chapters, from being declared good by God to being bad inside and out? Maybe it’s because we allowed some early theologians to teach us something that did not necessarily exist in the first place. And because Christianity taught it over and over again, people began to read all of scripture through that lens. It is really quite transformative to read the Bible through a different set of lenses, through the idea of Original Goodness. Suddenly we begin to see things we had not seen before and find a healthier understanding of our humanity. Are we always going to make good choices? Absolutely not! But if we are told over and over again how rotten we are at our core, I think we might begin to believe it and act upon it… almost using it as an excuse. Children who grow-up hearing about their Original goodness, and how amazingly sacred they are, will almost always think more positively about themselves and others.
Holy Creator, when the world around me or even some good people in the church want to tell me how I am condemned by some original mistake, please whisper into my heart of hearts what you have spoken to creation over and over again, “You are good!” And in my hearing, may I speak it to others. Amen.
