The Original Sin

I spent a better part of the day getting my hair braided (and I must say that I do look good!) at a local braiding shop. There was a woman working there who is from the Bahamas. Somehow, through the course of conversation, it came up that I was once married to a muslim. She assumed I was muslim and started asking me about Islam. I told her that I wasn't muslim, but I did read the Qur'an from cover to cover before I married him, so I was pretty familiar with the religion. She asked me what muslims are saying when they pray in Arabic. I told her that it wasn't much different from Christianity and shared some of the English translations with her as well as the practices of muslims.

She told me that she believed that if you don't believe that Christ is the Son of God, and that acceptance of Christ (including that He died for our sins), that those beliefs where the only way to Heaven. I asked her why? She recited the fundamentalist Christian teachings and then asked me what Islam was all about.

I then shared with her that Judaism, Christianity, and Al-Islam (not to be confused with the Nation of Islam which I think is more of a political party, but that's a whole 'nother discussion) were actually all branches of the same tree...a belief in one God. I told her that I thought religion was created by humans and that only God knew what really matters...what's in each individual's heart. I told her that I didn't know if the Hindus, Buddists, Seiks, Zorastrianists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Methodists, Lutherans, Baptists, or anyone else were going to Heaven or not, but I did know that it really didn't matter. I told her that I do believe that one day each individual is going to have to stand before God and answer for each of our own actions, and on that day I didn't think God was going to care which religion you were.

She persisted in pointing out the differences, saying that we were born with a sinful nature. I asked her what she thought the original sin was? She said it was when Eve first ate the apple. I then shared my philosophy on the original sin (get your Bible out and start reading...and read it carefully).

I told her that if you read Genesis carefully, God created Adam (the male) and later saw that it was not good for him to be alone (which reminds me...the Bible says a man who findeth a wife findeth a good thing...it doesn't say anything about a woman finding a husband, but that's a whole 'nother story). God then made Eve (the female) and brought her to Adam. Before Eve was even created, God told Adam not to eat of the tree of knowledge lest he should surely die. I told her that what God said was true in the sense that he would die spiritually, not physically.

I then went on to explain that when Eve ate the apple, it was only after the serpent (aka the enemy) told her that she would not die...the serpent left out a crucial word, spiritually (but isn't that how the enemy works...a lie of omission is just as bad as a lie of deception [the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth]). So Eve at the apple and thought (N'J's version) "this is pretty good!", and gave it to Adam, her husband. Here's where you've got to really pay attention. Before Adam took a bite, everything was still cool.

When Adam took a bite, both he and Eve realized they were naked, simultaneously. More importantly (for my Puritan friends out there, so they understand this isn't about sex), they realized they were different and proceeded to cover up their differences. After they realized their differences and changed the way they behaved around one another because of that realization, God came looking for Adam.

God asked Adam where he was, and trifling Adam (the original trifling man) hid from the Lord. He told God what was up and God asked him, "Who told you that you were [different]? (N'J's version) Have you done what I told you not to do?" Here's where Adam really showed his trifling qualities when he replied, (N'J's version) "Well the woman You gave to me - she gave it to me and I ate it!" I can only imagine how disappointed God was in this man for not taking responsibility for his actions.

The points I shared with the women in the shop were:

1. Although the man is the head of the house, the woman has a responsibility to guide the future of mankind. We are the bearers of life, the first teachers of children. We choose our husbands, so we need to choose carefully, lest we end up with trifling men. When women stop tolerating trifling behavior and stop hooking up with men who aren't doing right, the world will change. You don't see women out starting wars...it's the men. If we'd stop allowing our sons to go to war, and stop letting war monger men to come home to us, it won't take long for that foolishness to end.
2. My philosophy is that The Original Sin was in not doing what God created us to do which is to not see our differences. Humans have created race, religion, ethnic groups, languages, etc., to define ourselves as different. If we focus on our similarities instead, then the differences won't matter as much.

In the immortal words of Donna Brown (a local Catty Y'at), "If we leave it up to the children, they'll get it right." Think about it, children don't see those differences until adults point them out.

I always go back to what Shakespeare wrote,"If you prick us, do we not bleed? if you tickle us, do we not laugh? if you poison us, do we not die?" The key here is we're all more alike than we think, and we'd see that if we'd stop thinking about how different we are...which is The Original Sin.