In Aristotle: The Desire to Know, Jonathan Lear was describing a very basic point about change: for something to be changed it must be in some state other than the state it is changed into. For example, if you are going to change the color of a shirt to red, then the shirt must be some other color besides red. Though this is a basic point, it provides an interesting way to think about original sin.
Every human is in need of being changed by God to be more godly. If God is going to change us to become like Him, then we must currently be unlike Him in some way. So every human is unlike God in some way.
That is original sin: we are unlike God in some way. The way in which we are unlike God is hotly debated among theologians. We have inherited sin-guilt. Everyone is sins at some point in their lives. We are marred or broken. Our lives aren’t oriented on God as our ultimate good. And so on. It is also debate what causes us to be unlike God. But the basic point is that we are unlike God, and God needs to change us.
This isn’t an earth-shattering thought, I just found it to be a different angle to approach the Bible’s teachings on original sin. Exactly how we are unlike God is going hotly debated, and I’m not sure that Christian theologians will ever have consensus about the specifics of original sin. But, nonetheless, I found it an interesting way to begin thinking about original sin.
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