Stumble it!
The doctrine of original sin was a convenient “truth” for the builders of the empire [Rome 418AD]. They could continue to conquer the world and subdue peoples. And now they could do it with the authority of a divine calling. What the world needed and what the masses throughout the empire required was the truth that they, with their church princes, possessed. Truth was to be distributed from above. It was to be a religion of dependency. And part of the conflict with Pelagius [a well known Celtic Bishop, teacher in Rome and then Palestine] and other teachers in the Celtic mission was that a people who believed they were made in the image of God and were therefore bearers of an ancient wisdom and an unspeakable dignity were not a people that could easily be cowed by power and external authority. The empire and its church chose to neglect the sacred tune at the heart of the human soul. Instead they heard only a disharmony of original sin that had to be denounced and therefore could be dominated.”
From “Christ of the Celts” by J Philip Newell.
What a fascinating quote. So…I wonder…isn’t it fascinating that while the Catholic Church shored up the official opinion on original sin by stamping out the “heretics”, that a whole different breed of believers existed who saw humans as the children of God vested with the divine character. Interesting that perhaps an empire needed to squelch that thought. Does the empire still need to squelch that? Religious empire. Consumer Empire. Political/Military Empire. They need us to be sinners…NOT saints…because the minute that people believe they are OK and that others are OK, then they cease to need to export someone’s brand onto others…
Wow…now that’s interesting.
Filed under: god's dream, theology | Tagged: celtic christianity, Christ of the Celts, creation spirituality, emerging church, healing creation, J. Philip Newell, Jossey-Bass, matthew fox, original sin, pelagius, Roman empire, the empire, the ooze
Sin was always a potential, even though it was not always ‘manifest’.
Did God sin in giving man such potential?
So did he, in Jesus, simply clean up his own mess?
Did God not know that the serpent would persuade Eve to fall?
Dare we lay such a charge upon the one true God?
Dare our arrogance lead us to discern the mind and heart of the most high and find Him to be a fool?
Original sin?
Original perfection?
Original mediocrity?
Origin!
Origin!
He Is!
There is a difference between being holy and being “sinless”.
Holiness is being set apart for the purposes of God. Period.
Sin is living and moving independently.
Period.
‘Thou shall not kill, except for Annanias and Saphira’.
Perhaps that was a moment of regression for the One True, coming of age, God?
Cut the bullshit and repent.
(….fade out with dramatic, manic laughter…maybe with a Caribbean accent.)
Clever edit, B, and yet typical of todays so called chrisitians.
I’m not sure exactly what you’re saying…but here’s the thing…I think that your comment, or at least my perception of your comment, about “origin” is right on.
I think we need to move beyond these conversations of origin. Origin of the species. Origin of the universes. Origin of sin. Origin of blessing. Origin of democracy.
Let’s move into the implications for a daily rhythm. That’s what makes sense to me right now.
BOO!
He is the origin….that’s really all that I’m saying, and that if and when we move apart from him, then we have gone out of the way.
I hope that no one takes offense at ‘bullshit’.
It’s just that I have grown weary of participating in playing God’s psycho analyst.