A sin simply means "missing the mark" - aiming above it, below it or to its side. As such, identifying oneself with a body, finite and imperfect, is to miss one's divinity, thus a sin.

Regardless whether Adam existed or otherwise, the punishment for this sin is mentioned in Genesis 3:16-19. Since bodies have to eat and procreate, if one is to identify with them, then one has to suffer their pains of labour (both meanings of the word).

Dear david f,

As said, I agree that Warfield should not have used - and today probably would not use (he died in 1921!) - the politically incorrect (“blasphemous” to secularists?) word “heathen”. And that Sellick probably should not have published here a sermon that only Christians can understand (whether or not they share his views), to whom the symbol of Original Sin is non-controversial, not associated with personal guilt, and “we are all sinners” stands more or less for the secular “nobody is perfect”.

David f,
Of course the figures of Adam and Eve are not historical figures. If that were the case then your criticism would be appropriate. Rather, the second creation story, like the first is a fictional narrative that is designed to express theological truth. It is thus not that the first couple transferred their sin to us but that the narrative tells us something about us and god: that we reach after the things of God (religion) and thus transgress the boundary between the creator and the created.

These narratives are central to Christian theology. They are full of irony and pathos and tell us who we are. We are the creature, that through arrogance have been cast into the world to find our food among thistles and who are destined to death. The mood is existential rather than causal.

Your positivism of history is a barrier to you listening to the text. This is not history, it is legend, saga.

Dear Sells,

You make it sound as though the scriptures were purposely put together to teach us how to live, and they carry lessons for life. Theologians treat them that way. However, in my view the reason there are two creation stories is that scripture contains a patchwork of legends. One creation story has Adam and Eve created together, and the other creation story has Eve made from Adam's rib.

Apparently the second creation story is related to Sumerian legend.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve

Ninhursag charged Enki, her lover and half brother, with controlling the wild animals and tending the garden, but Enki became curious about the garden, and his assistant, Adapa, selected seven plants (eight in some version) and offered them to Enki, who ate them. This enraged Ninhursag, and she caused Enki to fall ill. Enki felt pain in his rib, which is a pun in Sumerian, as the word "ti" means both "rib" and "life".

The words for rib and life are different in Hebrew but having Eve made from a rib keeps part of the story.

There is no fixed meaning in these stories but those who find allegories see in them what they want to see. Christian theologians may see the snake as a manifestation of Satan, the tempter. However, Jewish theologians see the snake as tempter but not related to Satan.

I find all this stuff fascinating but see no more reason to give the biblical accounts precedence over Norse, Sumerian, Greek or other legends or scriptures in other religions.

David
Scripture is a patchwork. It's aim is not necessarily to tell us how to live but it is rather a map of the human heart. It is the original form of humanities, it humanises us.

Dear Sells,

Scripture humanises us? Parts of Scripture inculcate hatred and prejudice. The Book of Joshua describes genocide ordered by God. The statement by Jesus in the New Testament claiming that only through him can one enter the Kingdom of Heaven is horrible. It doesn't matter how good a life you have lived or what a decent person you are. Only by subscribing to a certain belief can you enter the kingdom of heaven.

Scripture advocates death as a penalty for a person who violates the sabbath.

It is not possible to live a moral life which to me means being a decent person and acting with consideration to other human beings and also take scripture seriously as a guide to behaviour.