Original Sin | "It Was The Precious!"

If you know me, you know that I’m a huge Lord of the Rings buff.  LOTR isn’t just a movie trilogy; it’s a way of life.  Listening to LOTR music warms my heart in a way that no other musical score can.  I love it.

THE BLAME GAME

If you aren’t familiar with LOTR, there is a character named Gollum who has been obsessed with The One Ring for centuries.  Since he first possessed it, The Ring has consumed his entire being, to the point where he is physically deformed.  The main characters, Frodo and Sam, run into Gollum, and use him as a guide to the land of Mordor (to destroy The Ring).

Throughout their adventure, Gollum plots on how he can take The Ring from Frodo.  Several times he actually tries to murder Frodo and Sam!  One time in particular, however, Gollum blames his actions on The Ring, which he calls the Precious.

“It was the Precious – the Precious made us do it.”

-Gollum, The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (2003)

Although Gollum literally tried to choke Frodo to death, he blames it on the Precious.  He says it isn’t his fault, but the Precious made him do it.  He doesn’t take responsibility for his own actions.  I know I do that a lot, how about you?

COME OFF THE CROSS

I was having a conversation with somebody about original sin.  They had suggested that although we consciously commit sins, it is ultimately because we have been stained with original sin, which we didn’t choose.  Essentially, he was saying that we don’t deserve to be punished for sinning when we were born with a condition that automatically makes us sin.

I’ve heard this before, and it’s definitely a puzzling thing to deal with.  However this way of thinking lends itself to say that salvation is, at least in theory, unnecessary, as we are undeserving of the punishment we are saved from.

This line of thought, however, is incorrect.  I will say that it is definitely something to wrestle with, but I think there is a better perspective here.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

“We are who we choose to be.”

-Green Goblin, Spiderman (2002)

It’s like an alcoholic blaming his alcoholism on his parents.  If someone were to grow up in this type of environment, they would be more likely to become an alcoholic than someone who did not grow up in this environment.  That is to say, they would have a predisposition towards alcoholism.

However, we know that ultimately one is still responsible for one’s own actions.  Even if someone has a predisposition towards alcohol, drinking alcohol is a conscious decision this person has made.

I’m not saying this decision is as “easy as one-two-three,” or anything like that.  This is a big deal, and this person might not have had any positive role model in their life to show them how to live a life away from alcohol.  But regardless of their upbringing, even if they are predisposed towards alcohol, it would still be their own conscious decision to give in to it (if you have lived in an alcoholic environment, I do not mean to offend you or belittle your experiences in any way).

MY MISTAKE

Basically, we’re not allowed to play the “blame-game” when it comes to our sin.  Just like Gollum wanted to blame the Ring for his actions, we cannot blame original sin, our upbringing, or anything else as an excuse or say it was a mistake.  Jesus didn’t die for our mistakes; He died for our sins.  Sin is a conscious, deliberate act (or sometimes lack of action).  A sin is drastically different than a mistake.  We must call it what it is.

Here’s the thing: although we didn’t choose to be born with “original sin,” the fact of the matter is that we have all made a conscious decision to sin.  If we were in the Garden of Eden, we would have done the exact same thing as Adam and Eve.  Blaming it on original sin actually negates the need for Jesus: if sinning isn’t “our fault,” or our responsibility, then really we don’t need a savior.  If we don’t deserve to be punished, then it follows that we don’t actually have to be saved.

HOW ABOUT THAT BIG BOOK?

This is completely opposite of Jesus’ teaching.  He constantly criticized the Pharisees for their belief that they didn’t need a Savior.  From the Bible, we see that all have sinned (Romans 3:23), we all deserve death due to our sin (Romans 6:23), but Jesus paid the price for our sin (Romans 5:8), we can now receive salvation through Jesus (Romans 10:9-10, 13) and have peace with God (Romans 5:1; 8:1, 38-39).

IN CONCLUSION…

So we’ve looked at the idea of “original sin,” and the seemingly natural logic that because we didn’t choose original sin, we basically don’t deserve to be punished for our sins.  We saw how this is the wrong perspective, and that although we do have a predisposition towards sin, ultimately it is still our choice to engage in it.

With this knowledge, Jesus willingly paid the price for our sin anyway.  God’s love for us just that great!  Even though we still consciously choose to sin against God, He has provided a way to save us from the penalty of our sins.

The older I get, the more I realize what a sinner I am, and how undeserving I am of God’s grace.  This knowledge should energize us to live a holy life pleasing to God (Romans 12:1-2; 6:14; Ephesians 4:1; Hebrews 10:22).

A cool quote I heard once on Christians and the struggle of sin:

We have been saved from the penalty of sin,

We are being saved from the power of sin,
We will be saved from the presence of sin.