Boy am I uneducated! I took it for granted that ALL Christians believed in “Original Sin”, right?! While talking to a Mormon friend I was explaining baptism (not just for children, but as a whole) and he kept giving me a funny look when I mentioned Original Sin. Finally, I stopped and asked him if the Mormons believe in Original Sin because of the constant funny looks. He asked me what Original Sin was. I was like, “you’ve got to be kiddin’ me, right?”. So I grabbed his Book of Mormon and another book of his and flipped through it, only to find that the Mormon Church doesn’t believe in original sin and that the age that is recognized for knowledge of good and bad is 8 years of age! I was blown away and couldn’t no longer explain baptism. Please keep in mind that we were NOT arguing but simply talking religion because we both are trying our best to raise our young families under Christ’s light. He understood that the explanation was over. But now I’m in need of good reference for original sin, for I do NOT understand why this isn’t a “given” to Christians.
Also Eastern/Orthodox/Byzantine theology has a different understanding of original sin. They stress the new birth and baptize babies for that rather than for the “stain of original sin” idea.
“Thus, the Church baptizes children, not to ‘remit’ their yet non- existent sins, but in order to give them a new and immortal LIFE, which their mortal parents are unable to communicate to them. The opposition between the two Adams is seen in terms not of guilt and forgiveness but of death and life…Communion in the risen body of Christ; participation in divine life; sanctification through the energy of God, which penetrates true humanity and restores it to its ‘natural’ state, rather than justification, or remission of inherited guilt – these are at the center of Byzantine understanding of the Christian Gospel.” (Fr. John Meyendorff, Byzantine Theology, page 145-146)
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But now I’m in need of good reference for original sin, for I do NOT understand why this isn’t a “given” to Christians.