re: #320 William Barnett-Lewis

Likewise there are a lot of Christians who’s view of the Crucifixion is wholly based on substitutionary atonement that only makes sense if you believe in Original Sin - a dogma that was invented out of whole cloth by Augustine and is totally a-biblical. The twists of freewill vs predestination are similar.

My belief is in universalism and freewill. God saves everyone though you can chose to walk away from that grace given to all.

here is the deal. None of us is perfect. Now, you can view that is as:

-Only God is perfect, and by design he created us imperfect —not complete because (insert dogma).

-None of us is perfect (complete), we are the best that Natural Selection has thus evolved.

Either way, I don’t like the concept of “original sin”. Because, as a child I only heard “you are bad, were born bad and will always be bad”.

I’m not sure many adults have gone beyond that understanding. I think it is terribly destructive.