photo credit: Lawrence OP O Clavis David via photopin (license)
A depiction of Christ saving Adam and Eve.
A depiction of Christ saving Adam and Eve.
I'm continuing in my series of deconstructing the doctrines of The Salvation Army. Please refer to my previous blogs for context if you are reading this post for the first time.
I love Star Trek. Despite the science fiction aspect of it, the shows tend to have an optimistic portrayal of humanity and the future. I recall a storyline where the Klingon character, Worf, is forced to answer for the supposed crimes of his father. His father had been accused of treason. Since he was dead, Worf had to answer for his father's crimes. This seemed to be a gross injustice. It made absolutely no sense. Why should anyone stand in judgment for the crimes of their parents? The whole storyline dealt with this injustice and how this character needed to prove his own innocence and the innocence of his parents.
Which is why I have so many problems with the Fifth Doctrine of The Salvation Army.
We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
This doctrine attempts to tell why we are all facing bad things in life. The long and short of it: It's our parents' fault. Because Adam and Eve sinned, we are all doomed and "totally depraved."
The language of this doctrine is also just cumbersome. I will give the author credit: At least he said "first parents" and not Adam and Eve. However, using the patriarchal inclusive words of "all men have become sinners," leaves out anyone who is not male. At the same time, I can imagine most women and gender non-conforming people are quite happy that they are not included in this declaration.
The concept introduced in this doctrine is "Original Sin." Simply stated: Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, we are all sinners by birth. We already have a strike against us because of what our parents did. We are already damned for eternity, not because of what we did, but because of Adam and Eve. Some Christians even go so far as to say that because of their sin, disease, pestilence, etc. entered into this world. These people say that because of the sin of our parents, anything and everything that is evil in this world is their fault.
Hogwash.
That is not justice at all. This also certainly doesn't reflect the loving nature of God. Granted, one could find scriptural support for this concept. (One could find scriptural support for just about anything.) People often turn to Paul's discourse in Romans 5 as support that we are all born evil. However, I would rather turn to Jesus.
Jesus and his disciples once encountered a blind man. His disciples, curious of course, wanted to know why this man had been born blind. It is a common enough question. So many people are born into situations we don't understand and which are patently not fair. It's the question whose answer we are seldom satisfied with: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" So the disciples asked Jesus: "Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?" (John 9:2 CEB)
It's a legitimate question. Why did this bad thing happen to me? Why do I have this disease? Why was my child born with Down's Syndrome? Why did I have a miscarriage? Why did my father beat my mother up? Why was I abused?
Jesus had an answer in this case: "Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God's mighty works might be displayed in him. While it's daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world," (John 9:3-5 CEB).
This answer, albeit somewhat cryptic, makes something clear: this wrong done to this person was not his fault, nor was it his parents' fault.
The bad things that happen to us in this world are often not our fault; however, it is our duty to make things right again.
Because of this, I reject this doctrine outright. In fact, I find it somewhat interesting that The Salvation Army has no problem adopting a petal of Calvinism here: Total Depravity. This is the idea that because of the sin of Adam and Eve, all humans are incapable of doing good and are born in a sinful nature.
I tend to stand more behind the idea of Pelagianism, a doctrine in direct opposition to Augustine of Hippo, which states we are not born in a state of sin, but we can through our own efforts still do good. This caused a bit of controversy back during Pelagius' day. To some people it seemed that if one thought this way, one doesn't need God at all. The teachings of Pelagius were declared a heresy and most of his writings were destroyed.
However, I tend to agree with Pelagius. We are not born bad. We are born good. If God has declared the universe and us good, who are we to argue?
This whole idea of Original Sin is something I can understand. It's trying to give an answer as to why so many things in this world are messed up. Why is there disease? Why is there war? Why are people born in poverty while some are born in wealth? It is important to wrestle with these questions; however, I don't believe the answer lies with Original Sin.
While attending college, I visited a synagogue as part of a class on Worship I was taking. It was a reformed Jewish synagogue in Lexington. In speaking with the rabbi after the service, I suddenly discovered something: Jews do not believe in Original Sin, either! They had the same stories that we do. They know the story of Adam and Eve, but they came to a different conclusion. I remember asking the rabbi, "It doesn't seem that you think it was a bad thing that Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." He replied, "No, because before that there was no sex!"
Well, that certainly has my vote for discounting the concept of Original Sin!
Perhaps it's not quite that simple. Perhaps we are born good. When God created us, God proclaimed that we are good. That is nothing anyone can take away but we ourselves. The deeds of our parents cannot make us evil or sinful.
If I were to rework this doctrine, I might say something like this:
I believe that we humans were created in a state of innocency. We are all born with the capability of doing good or evil. We are responsible for our own actions and it is our duty to right the wrongs of our ancestors.
I love Star Trek. Despite the science fiction aspect of it, the shows tend to have an optimistic portrayal of humanity and the future. I recall a storyline where the Klingon character, Worf, is forced to answer for the supposed crimes of his father. His father had been accused of treason. Since he was dead, Worf had to answer for his father's crimes. This seemed to be a gross injustice. It made absolutely no sense. Why should anyone stand in judgment for the crimes of their parents? The whole storyline dealt with this injustice and how this character needed to prove his own innocence and the innocence of his parents.
Which is why I have so many problems with the Fifth Doctrine of The Salvation Army.
We believe that our first parents were created in a state of innocency, but by their disobedience they lost their purity and happiness, and that in consequence of their fall all men have become sinners, totally depraved, and as such are justly exposed to the wrath of God.
This doctrine attempts to tell why we are all facing bad things in life. The long and short of it: It's our parents' fault. Because Adam and Eve sinned, we are all doomed and "totally depraved."
The language of this doctrine is also just cumbersome. I will give the author credit: At least he said "first parents" and not Adam and Eve. However, using the patriarchal inclusive words of "all men have become sinners," leaves out anyone who is not male. At the same time, I can imagine most women and gender non-conforming people are quite happy that they are not included in this declaration.
The concept introduced in this doctrine is "Original Sin." Simply stated: Because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, we are all sinners by birth. We already have a strike against us because of what our parents did. We are already damned for eternity, not because of what we did, but because of Adam and Eve. Some Christians even go so far as to say that because of their sin, disease, pestilence, etc. entered into this world. These people say that because of the sin of our parents, anything and everything that is evil in this world is their fault.
Hogwash.
That is not justice at all. This also certainly doesn't reflect the loving nature of God. Granted, one could find scriptural support for this concept. (One could find scriptural support for just about anything.) People often turn to Paul's discourse in Romans 5 as support that we are all born evil. However, I would rather turn to Jesus.
Jesus and his disciples once encountered a blind man. His disciples, curious of course, wanted to know why this man had been born blind. It is a common enough question. So many people are born into situations we don't understand and which are patently not fair. It's the question whose answer we are seldom satisfied with: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" So the disciples asked Jesus: "Rabbi, who sinned so that he was born blind, this man or his parents?" (John 9:2 CEB)
It's a legitimate question. Why did this bad thing happen to me? Why do I have this disease? Why was my child born with Down's Syndrome? Why did I have a miscarriage? Why did my father beat my mother up? Why was I abused?
Jesus had an answer in this case: "Neither he nor his parents. This happened so that God's mighty works might be displayed in him. While it's daytime, we must do the works of him who sent me. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world," (John 9:3-5 CEB).
This answer, albeit somewhat cryptic, makes something clear: this wrong done to this person was not his fault, nor was it his parents' fault.
The bad things that happen to us in this world are often not our fault; however, it is our duty to make things right again.
Because of this, I reject this doctrine outright. In fact, I find it somewhat interesting that The Salvation Army has no problem adopting a petal of Calvinism here: Total Depravity. This is the idea that because of the sin of Adam and Eve, all humans are incapable of doing good and are born in a sinful nature.
I tend to stand more behind the idea of Pelagianism, a doctrine in direct opposition to Augustine of Hippo, which states we are not born in a state of sin, but we can through our own efforts still do good. This caused a bit of controversy back during Pelagius' day. To some people it seemed that if one thought this way, one doesn't need God at all. The teachings of Pelagius were declared a heresy and most of his writings were destroyed.
However, I tend to agree with Pelagius. We are not born bad. We are born good. If God has declared the universe and us good, who are we to argue?
This whole idea of Original Sin is something I can understand. It's trying to give an answer as to why so many things in this world are messed up. Why is there disease? Why is there war? Why are people born in poverty while some are born in wealth? It is important to wrestle with these questions; however, I don't believe the answer lies with Original Sin.
While attending college, I visited a synagogue as part of a class on Worship I was taking. It was a reformed Jewish synagogue in Lexington. In speaking with the rabbi after the service, I suddenly discovered something: Jews do not believe in Original Sin, either! They had the same stories that we do. They know the story of Adam and Eve, but they came to a different conclusion. I remember asking the rabbi, "It doesn't seem that you think it was a bad thing that Adam and Eve ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil." He replied, "No, because before that there was no sex!"
Well, that certainly has my vote for discounting the concept of Original Sin!
Perhaps it's not quite that simple. Perhaps we are born good. When God created us, God proclaimed that we are good. That is nothing anyone can take away but we ourselves. The deeds of our parents cannot make us evil or sinful.
If I were to rework this doctrine, I might say something like this:
I believe that we humans were created in a state of innocency. We are all born with the capability of doing good or evil. We are responsible for our own actions and it is our duty to right the wrongs of our ancestors.
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