I like your question and your insight.

I think you really hit the nail on the head when you say that the story was not meant to be taken literally.

Just for the sake of argument, I would like to say that I believe that it is possible that some of the fantastic things spoken of in the Bible and other religious texts quite possibly happened. I certainly don’t believe it would be beyond God’s power to do such things. Whether literal or not, however, I believe that there is a message concealed in each story that transcends the actual events.

I see stories such as genesis to be the type of stories that help us to understand the language of God. There are subtle hints and clues for those who are willing to look, that provide insight into other religious texts.

For instance, in the story, God tells Adam and Eve that by eating the fruit they would die, and yet they did not. Was God a liar? I seriously doubt it. So we see that the words life and death often have a symbolic reference in many of the books of the Bible. Interestingly enough, we like to imagine that they have a very literal interpretation. Christ, at one point, says, “Let the dead, bury their dead”. Obviously he is not talking about actual dead people, but instead, spiritually dead people. That’s one reason I find it funny that so many people are waiting for the “dead to rise from their graves” in a literal sense when Christ returns. Any person of insight can see that the dead are rising from their graves right now.

As for original sin, I personally believe that from one point of view, we all have original sin, but this existed long before Adam. If you look at sin as being imperfection, then all human beings are imperfect in the light of God. If God’s justice were not tempered with His grace, mercy and forgiveness, I doubt there would even be a humanity, let alone a creation.

As for Christ dying for our sins, I have a much different perspective on that than the prevailing thought.

To me, the significance of Christ’s death is this.

It is clear that Christ led a life devoted to helping others. It is clear that Christ was decent and honest. It is clear that Christ was not crazy. It seems clear to me that Christ was not “pretending” to be man’s savior just so he could reap some sort of personal rewards. It is clear that Christ knew what his end would be. It is clear that his end was not just.

This is the miracle that affirms to all, whether they were there or not that Christ was who he said he was. I won’t say that there aren’t other men who were righteous, who were devoted to helping others, who were decent and honest, wise and helpful that did not also end up being unjustly persecuted, but none of them made any claims to being the mouthpiece of God.

I seriously don’t believe a man like that would claim to be such a person unless he actually was.

I’m not the only one.

Because of this, the message of Christ was spread and delivered. It is because of this that mankind was made aware of God’s message and truth. Christ taught man how to see sin as not only an outward reality, but as an inward one as well. Christ helped man to see that what he thinks precedes what he does and is indicative of who he is. Armed with this knowledge, mankind was now able to wage war on imperfection from a new front. Their own mind. In addition, Christ armed man with a new understanding of the power they had been given over sin. He showed man that by simply asking God for forgiveness and turning to Him that the mistakes they had made in the past were truly, “in the past.” Don’t get me wrong, I believe that there are still and always will be consequences for various actions. Forgiveness, however, is about unconditional love. It is about seeing seeing sins for exactly what they are, mistakes to learn from. In this way, Christ delivered mankind from sin.

Does it mean that man no longer has sin. LOL. no. It only means that just because we have sinned in the past, we are not bound to repeat the sin in the future. We are not “sinners”, but rather, God’s children who, coincidentally, happen to sin.

Unfortunately, many of the things that Christ has taught have been lost to form. People go through the motions without even knowing why, and worse yet, without even asking.

I believe that faith is a good thing, but to me, “blind” faith is faith without justice, and that is not a good thing.

I hope to talk to you again soon.