Comments on Fire in the Bones [Biblical, Heterodox Christianity]: Penal Original Sin and Ezekiel 18

I don't get to have these in real life ofte...

2010-01-20T08:26:21.498-08:00
I don't get to have these in real life often because I don't hang around proselytizing evangelicals very often any more.

LOL, that one got my funny bone, Dave!

But you are absolutely right in your interpretation here. Ezekiel's point was a repudiation of the notion of collective and/or inherited culpability. To lift out that one verse to beat people over the head, while it's a time-tested Evangelical tactic, is flat-out wrong.

Sweet Dreams, I would actually disagree with that ...

2010-01-19T06:41:56.016-08:00
Sweet Dreams,
I would actually disagree with that final line as well.

Ezekiel only argues against the _Penal_ interpretation of original sin, the idea that we are punished externally by God for the sin of Adam.

However, the internal damage of that original sin is something completely different. Paul describes it as a spiritual death that allows our selfishness/flesh/ego to dominate us. Since Christ gives us both a renewed heart and [later] a renewed body, this is the blight that is removed through Christ...it just does not have anything to do with external punishment ladled out by a God intent on balancing justice ledgers.

David, I think you are right. I was taught that I ...

2010-01-18T14:27:36.731-08:00
David,
I think you are right. I was taught that I inherited Adam's sin, but Ezek makes it clear that we did not.

Unfortunately Adam opened the door to sin and death and that is what Jesus freed us from not some original sin.

Ezekiel 18 may be my favorite chapter of the whole...

2010-01-16T13:54:02.595-08:00
Ezekiel 18 may be my favorite chapter of the whole Bible. It lays out very plainly the whole concept of repentance and that sin=death and righteousness=life. Not only does it contradict the idea of original sin, but it also contradicts once saved, always saved.