The doctrine of inherent sin, or original sin, which is another name for the same phenomena, has been a dark cloud hanging over the heads of Christians for centuries. When un-holy minds attempts to explain holy principles, the results often become the source of tremendous sorrow to others.

Innocent children died without baptism and parents have feared that they were damned. Their own feelings of love and mercy told them that their child aught to be saved in the loving arms of Jesus. Their priests explained that the child was damned in hell, since it was not baptized.

Men are not more merciful than Jesus. Of course, if the masses of men can be filled with feelings of compassion, don’t you think Jesus is capable of saving those little ones?

14 But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven. (Mathew 19:14)

It would have been best if the scriptures were never exclusively written in Latin. Then the masses of people could have had access to the holy words of the Scriptures. The minds of the simple people would have been lit up by the light of Christ, and fallacies about original sin would not have prevailed. Let us look at the true doctrine of original sin, and put the old, painful carcass to rest. Come with me on a doctrinal trip, well worth the time…

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Rom 6:23)

By sinning we are "dead men walking". Likewise, by sinning, we can not live in the presence of God, we are dead as to things partaining to righteousness. And living that perfectly sin-free life is so very hard. It is virtually impossible and only one being ever succeeded with this.

8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. (1John 1:8)

So, by our own actions we are sinners and as such we are committed to death. But we must not forget the promise in Romans 6:23

“...but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord…” You see, the fact that we fail is not a disaster, even though it results in death. In fact, death and the life that we will be given back by Jesus are essential parts of Gods great plan of happiness.

But in the beginning there was a great dilemma… In order for man/woman to be able to choose between good and evil –or - life and death, he/she has to live in a world where death exists, for if death does not exist there, neither does sin, since one is the consequence of the other.

And, of course, God could not create mortal beings, since mortality is the result of sin; therefore, Adam and Eve were created immortal. The Garden of Eden was a place where there was no death; a perfect place for the young couple.

16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die. (Genesis 2:16-17)

We must be open to the possibility that when God invites Adam and Eve to eat freely of the fruit of all the trees, that this is not a lesson in dietary. Instructions like that would not be important to save for the after-world. Or, if it would be, so would it be with the instructions they must have received on how to wash and groom themselves, but it is nowhere to be found.

We should perhaps think that what God is saying to Adam and Eve is, and I paraphrase:

“I give you complete freedom to do whatever you want to do”. Adam and Eve were innocent, and without the influence of Lucifer, free agency would never lead to them committing any sins. But God, in his wisdom, had allowed another kind of tree in the garden, where Lucifer would keep.

So when God commanded our first parents not to partake of the fruit of the tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, he might just as well have said:

“…but do not listen to the words of Lucifer, for I forbid it”. Just by listening to the voice of Lucifer Adam and Eve had already made that transgression. There was no need for further action. Disobedience had already taken place.

When Adam and Eve partook of the fruit of Knowledge of Good and Evil - or the fruit of knowledge of life and death - if you will, they made a choice to leave immortality in order to enter into mortality (“for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die”). Why would anyone in their right mind do something like that? They did so because they were in a big dilemma! And it was God’s doing to put them in it. They had received a commandment from God, in fact their first commandment, to multiply and replenish the earth.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth… (Genesis 1:28)

But this was not possible in the garden. Since there was no death there, there could be no birth either. So, the commandment not to partake of the fruit of the tree was in contradiction to their first, and most important, commandment; Do not eat of the fruit – stay immortal and childless, or, eat of the fruit, become mortal and bare children.

Both choices were right. Both choices were wrong. Which did most mirror the mind of God? Adam and Eve were certain that they made the right decision, and were prepared to take the consequences. As a result of their calculated transgression, to partake of the fruit, Adam and Eve had to be moved out of the beautiful Garden, into the world that we know.

By breaking one commandment they became mortal, and now, as mortals, they could obey the first commandment of the Lord; to bring children into the world.

Their transgression was their own. God intended it to happen. His plan of happiness depended on it. The posterity of Adam and Eve will not be judged by any action of theirs. We will be judged only of our own transgressions.

But there was another dilemma. Every child to be born comes into this world with a clean slate. They are absolutely pure and undefiled. That would place them in the same position in which Adam and Eve was in the Garden of Eden.

Every child  would be born immortal, and that is not according to the great plan of Happiness. This problem was solved by God before the foundation of the world.

God planned for Adam to stand as the transgressor-by-proxy to bring mortality to mankind. You see? Adams transgression and fall was not only a personal, calculated act, but in that moment he stood as the representative for all mankind, opening the door to mortality to all of them. One might say that each child that is born is allowed to borrow the fall of Adam in order to come to this earth.

Do you see the beauty? Adam, as a proxy for all his children, brings us all into mortality, and Jesus, as the innocent sinner-by-proxy for all of Adams children, brings us all out of that mortality, making us His children.

22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. (1 Cor 15:22)

This means that there is no actual inherent sin, since we were all innocent in ourselves at birth. It was Adams gift to us, mortality, or in other words, life itself. Then, during our lives, we forfeit our innocence, deserving death all on our own. Therefore, we need someone else who can deliver us. This is where Jesus comes into the plan.

So, original sin is a momentary blessing, a gift from Adam and Eve, making it possible for us to be born into mortality. As soon as we manage to sin on our own (and unfortunately, it isn't hard), we do not need original sin anymore. So, there is no sorrow in original sin, only in our own sins that we don’t repent of.