I No Longer Believe in Original Sin and Atonement
It’s all about the Good News and love.
I believe there are two kinds of Christians. The first type obsessively dwells on sin — their own sin and judging the sins of others. The second group primarily focuses on love — loving all others.
Jesus was the latter.
Christian doctrine says that because of Adam and Eve’s sin, Jesus had to live a sinless life and then die as a substitute for the sins of humanity. Thus, humans can be reconciled with God the Father and join Jesus in heaven.
Christian doctrines are, by definition, debatable. Doctrines are not the same as absolute Truth. Gravity is verifiable, perfectly reliable Truth. But doctrines are theological positions created and affirmed by human opinion. Certain well-studied and faithful Christians believe one thing while others do not. And doctrines do not necessarily provide the Truth — no matter how famous the doctrine is.
I am a committed Follower of Jesus and aim to demonstrate my commitment to Him by loving all others. And I don’t believe in original sin and atonement doctrines. But with my whole heart, I believe in Jesus and in His love.
Here’s why I believe what I believe.
Original Sin
Augustine (350–430 C.E.), many centuries after the death of Jesus, is given credit for creating the doctrine of “original sin.” Two components of original sin form its definition: “original guilt” and “original pollution.”
Original guilt is the belief that, because of Adam and Eve’s sin in the garden, all humans are worthy of condemnation and death from the moment of the person’s birth.
Original pollution maintains that humans were given a sinful nature (again, due to Adam and Eve) that makes it impossible for them to do what God regards as good.
Do these two concepts seem accurate? Assuming the biblical account of Adam and Eve is true, does it seem fair for a perfectly reasonable God to condemn all humans for a bite of a piece of fruit? I mean, all humans? Even more, does it seem to be an appropriate consequence that God takes two people whom He called “good” and then curses the inner nature of all future generations, such that all humans choose evil over good?
Not all people of faith believe in original sin. The traditional Jewish view is that man is “created in the image of God” and therefore is actually good. Furthermore, Jews and some other Christian faiths believe that humans have free will to choose to be righteous or sinful. Thus, any person may decide to do something praiseworthy or evil.
Some Christian doctrine presumes that people are “totally depraved” — incapable of doing something virtuous without the indwelling influence of the Holy Spirit. While this is a popular doctrine, does it pass the “smell test” of credibility? Really — no one does any good deed without the assistance of the Holy Spirit? I am not dismissing the powerful role of the Holy Spirit in the sanctification process of helping people become more loving like Jesus. But I have witnessed countless examples of “non-Spirit-filled” people who have done beautiful acts of love.
Would non-Christians believe they are capable of doing good? Of course, they would! And I would agree with them. One need not be a Christian to do an act of genuine love. Maybe that is one of the reasons why so many non-Christians hate Christians — the Christian seems arrogant and superior.
Next, there is the issue of whether God the Father can tolerate being in the presence of sin. According to what I was taught while growing up, Father Yahweh so abhorred sin that any humans who entered into the Father’s presence with a sin were immediately killed. Do we really have two very different Gods: Father Yahweh (intolerant of sin, destructive, and even vindictive) and Jesus (the friend of sinners, building up His Followers, and rescuing humans from harm)?
And then there is the muddy issue of Jesus’s full humanity. If, and it may be so, that Jesus was fully human in every way, then original guilt would mean that Jesus, too, was born into sin. Even more astonishing, Jesus’s nature was corrupt if the original pollution theory was true. On the flip side, if Jesus was never guilty of original sin, then was He truly fully human? I have read several theologians grappling with this issue, only to declare that Jesus was the only human without original sin. That sounds to me to be grasping at straws.
But of course, the Jesus dilemma is resolved if the theory of original sin is wrong. In that case, Jesus is indeed perfectly human and perfectly God.
And since I do not think original sin holds water, do I believe in the corollary doctrine of atonement? Nope.
Atonement
In discussing atonement, I will share ideas from two other articles: Eric Folkerth’s “Confronting Atonement Theology” and my own article, “Jesus Did Not Come to Save Our Sins.” You may enjoy reading both articles — or you may immediately rule them out as heretical trash outside of your Christian Orthodoxy.
Atonement theology (theory) maintains that because of human original sin, Jesus’s death was the necessary “sinless lamb” slaughtered as a sacrifice for humanity’s sins. Furthermore, some Christians believe that without one’s belief in Jesus’s atoning work, one cannot enter heaven. Additionally, some Christians believe that Jesus’s sole human ministry was to die for our sins.
So please allow me to spell this out in simple terms. Those who believe in atonement are prone to believing that God the Father condemned the human race (due to original sin) and that the only reconciliation possible was for the Father to condemn His own Son to die in our stead. Do you really believe the heart of the Father endorses human sacrifice for sins? Me neither. God the Father has always been anti-human sacrifices — and considers them to be evil and loathsome.
If God is to represent the ideal Father, then what “good” Father would kill his own son? Rather, most dads would give up their own lives to save their child, not vice versa. Folkerth asserts that,
“If we really believe that the atoning sacrifice was somehow cosmically necessary, then isn’t the logical conclusion that God wanted not only to kill God’s own child but, even more horrifyingly, to kill God’s self?!!”
Love and the Kingdom of God
My belief is that Jesus’s purpose was not one of atonement. Rather, it was to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God — and then fully confirm that what He was teaching was true. Jesus both taught and provided miracles to demonstrate that His Kingdom was a place of love and healing.
Furthermore, Jesus clarified that God’s Kingdom is unlike what the Jews attributed as the true nature of the Father. The Father was not a raging murderer who wipes out armies and commands genocide. Rather, Jesus teaches us that “If you have seen Me, then you have seen the heart of the Father.”
And Jesus was on a mission to turn the Jews’ expectations topsy-turvey. “Love your enemies.” “Love all others.” Jesus was on a mission of love to show us what love really looks like — and to set the record straight that the Father, too, was fully love.
Jesus not only taught and demonstrated pure love, but He also invited the marginalized to come join Him. Imagine: Jesus hung out with the drunkards, prostitutes, and “sinners” — while eschewing those who believed themselves to be too righteous for others. All who want to be near Jesus are welcome in His Kingdom. But not all decide to align with Jesus.
Jesus’s emphasis was not “sin management.” Nor was it the forgiveness of sins. Rather, He told His followers that the only command they needed to do was to “love others.” Furthermore, Jesus died, providing the perfect example of love. Thus, Jesus completely validated His message that in Jesus’s Kingdom, there is no death — only love. People who align with Jesus experience Jesus’s Kingdom now and in the future.
Freedom to Love
If removal of sin is not the criteria for entering Jesus’s Kingdom, you and I are freed up to focus on the only command that Jesus prioritizes. Jesus repeatedly taught that all commands could be fulfilled if one “loves others as one would like to be treated.” And to add extra emphasis, just hours before Jesus’s execution, Jesus told His disciples one final command: “Love others as I have loved you.”
Freedom! We no longer need to have our sins forgiven to join with Jesus in His Kingdom. Rather, our full attention should be on loving all others rather than sin management or obsessing over past sins. The amazing part of the “love equation” is that when we love others in Jesus’s way, we do not sin! Jesus’s priority command involves relationships with others. We avoid selfish sinning when we aim to love all others in Jesus’s way.
Turn your eyes away from temptations to selfishly sin against others — and look through Jesus’s eyes. Jesus immediately felt compassion for the hurting and marginalized. Then, Jesus provided them some gracious, healing gift. So, the next time we experience a temptation to feel superior to anyone, we would do better to treat that person with dignity and assistance where possible.
Jesus’s Heroism
Jesus is my hero. And He should be everyone’s hero. Jesus foreknew that He would die at Passover — and He knew that His death was going to be horrifically torturous. Yet, Jesus accepted the pain — for you and for me. “There is no greater love than to give up your life for another.”
Jesus also foreknew that He would rise to life again after His crucified death. And, of course, Jesus would know of His power over death — because Jesus resurrected numerous other people in His Kingdom.
Jesus gave the ultimate sacrifice — and accomplished the ultimate miracle — to validate that everything He had been preaching about in the Good News was true!
There is no separation from Jesus for those who align with Him. I am 100% confident that I will be with Jesus for eternity. I will not separate from Jesus — and He will not separate from me. Such can be true for you when you believe in Jesus’s Good News and align with Him.
Rejecting the doctrine of atonement is not the same as rejecting Jesus. Rather, it is a new worldview. We no longer focus on not sinning. Now, we aim for the bullseye — loving all others in Jesus’s way. No longer do we fret over repeated sins. Now, we simply keep our focus on loving all people.
Indeed, Jesus is my hero.
Final Words
This article expresses my current belief regarding original sin and atonement. I easily appreciate that I could be wrong. Doctrines are a funny beast. Churches split over doctrine. Love unites.
I believe that Adam’s sin did not doom the human race. Humans can either sin or provide love — and do not have a nature to only choose sin. Also, I do not believe we have two Gods with different natures — Jesus as the “good cop” and Father Yahweh as the “bad cop.” Instead, I believe we have a Trinity God — each completely in love with the human race.
And I believe that Jesus’s life and death were not an act of atonement. Rather, His life, death, and resurrection were the best possible examples of love — and the complete validation of Jesus’s message about the Kingdom of God.
I do know this for certain: the one thing I will never question is Jesus’s love.
Thank you, Jesus.
Dr. Mike Rosebush (Ph.D., Counseling Psychology; he, him, his;) is the creator and editor of GAYoda, plus a writer for Backyard Church. A short synopsis of Dr. Rosebush’s life can be found at I Lived the Most Unusual Gay Christian Life Ever. He may be contacted at mikerosebush75@gmail.com.
