Sermons
This video and the text below are from September 15, 2019. The video is also on our ChatsworthUCC Facebook page, where you can see previous sermons.
“Christianity 101 - Part 2:
Original Sin or Original Goodness”
Rev. William S. Freeman
September 15, 2019
The Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank you all for coming here today. It's good that we're all here, because if we weren’t, God would be in this church all alone.
The homeless must feel all alone sometimes. Probably because lots of people don't want the homeless around. They're the NIMBY people. The Not In My Back Yard people. It seems like there were a lot of NIMBY people who showed up for a Chatsworth Neighborhood Council meeting the other night. Maybe not everyone who opposed a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth were NIMBY people. But about 100 people were there. Maybe 95 were against a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth. Perhaps five of us supported that project or at least supported finding someplace for the homeless to live in Chatsworth. The Council voted unanimously to oppose the project. The LA Daily News quoted me as saying, “If not here, where?” I should have added: If not now, when?
I care about the homeless, because Jesus cared about the homeless. Heck, Jesus himself was homeless. Remember? Jesus says in Matthew and Luke, "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And Jesus says in Matthew, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
I think of all the people who are homeless now in the Bahamas. Not to mention all the people who died in the Bahamas in Hurricane Dorian. I've vacationed in the Bahamas a couple times. It's heaven on earth. Now, for many people in the Bahamas, I imagine it's hell on earth.
Some televangelists (who give Christianity a bad name), have said in the past that hurricanes are God's punishment for one particular “sin” or another. Have you ever noticed that God punishes the behavior that those televangelists think is “sin?” They said the same thing after the 9/11 attacks, which happened 18 years ago last Wednesday. Some televangelists said God “allowed" 9/11 to happen, because of what they called "sin.” Of course, those televangelists never say God allowed 9/11 to happen or hurricanes to happen because of what I would call the "sin" of some televangelists: Like bilking little old ladies out of their life savings, like flying around in their $60 million private jets, or like living in their $10 million mansions. Although some people would say: Now that’s sin.
You were born in sin! At least you were, according to the concept of Original Sin. Although sin just means missing the mark, making a mistake, or committing an error, many Christians see sin as more…sinister than that. Apparently equal to evil.
Although the words Original Sin do not appear in the Bible, Original Sin is based on the second story of Creation, found in Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3. After God had created the heavens and the earth, God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. Then God tried to create a helpmate for Adam. God apparently said: Let's see, an alligator won't work, since the alligator will try to eat Adam; a shark won't work either, for the same reason; and a laughing hyena won't work either, Adam will think his helpmate is laughing at him all the time. So then God created a woman, Eve, for Adam. And now women only laugh at men some of the time.
God had told Adam that he could eat anything in the Garden of Eden that he wanted to, but he couldn't eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or he would surely die. When Eve came along Adam passed that on to her. Then along came the serpent, who tempted Eve with fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don't know what that fruit was. So think of your favorite fruit. Mine is blueberries. Maybe yours is oranges. Well, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must've been a hundred times more tempting than blueberries or oranges. Personally, I don't think I would be tempted by fruit, but if the tree had chocolate ice cream cones hanging from it, then maybe I’d be tempted by that. Whatever the forbidden fruit was, Eve gave into temptation and ate it. Then she gave it to Adam and he ate it too. Now they have the knowledge of good and evil. So when God went walking through the Garden of Eden, looking for Adam and Eve, they hid from God. God said, "Why did you hide?” They said, "Because we didn't want you to see us naked." God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" They confessed that they did. In other words they disobeyed God, they committed a sin, they committed the Original Sin. So God threw them out of the Garden of Eden, because they committed the Original Sin.
Original Sin was a term coined by St. Augustine. St. Augustine knew a thing or two about sin. He was quite the ladies man before he became a priest. His famous or infamous prayer was: God make me chaste, but not yet. So now, every child born is born in sin, according to Original Sin. We see sin all around us. Although it’s not very original. It’s the sin of killing people in schools and synagogues. It’s the sin of Bernie Madoff, who made off with people’s life savings. Jonathan Edwards, a preacher from a couple hundred years ago, preached a sermon entitled, "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God." He said human beings are nothing but worthless worms, who should be dumped in the garbage. So as I say: You were born in sin!
You were born in goodness! At least you were, according to the relatively new concept of Original Goodness. I read about Original Goodness recently in the book, "The Universal Christ,” by Catholic Monk Richard Rohr.
Like the words Original Sin, the words Original Goodness do not appear in the Bible either, but they’re based on the first story of Creation found in Genesis, Chapter 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In just five days the Bible tells us God created the sun and the moon and the stars, God created the fish in the sea and the birds in the air, and God created animal, vegetable, and mineral. And God saw that it was “good.” Then on the sixth day, “God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God God created them, male and female God created them." And, "God blessed them." Then the Bible says, "God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good." Not just good, but very good. So God created you in Original Goodness, they say, not in Original Sin.
We see Original Goodness all around us. A baby boy being fed by his mother. A young girl being shown how to throw a baseball by her father. A young couple walking hand in hand on the beach. An elderly couple sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons. A nurse in the hospital tending to the needs of a man suffering from diabetes. A doctor in the hospital tending to the needs of a woman suffering from a heart attack. An employer giving a job to a chronically unemployed man. A worker doing her best to make sure a product is safe. A firefighter rescuing a child from a burning building. A police officer directing traffic around an accident scene on the highway. A soldier in a distant land keeping the peace. A sailor on a ship at sea standing watch for liberty. A journalist ferreting out the truth. And an elected official seeking justice for the poor and the middle class, for the widow and the orphan, and for the outcast and the forgotten.
What does it mean to be good? Well, Jesus tells us that in the 25th Chapter of Matthew. "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Jesus adds, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." And that's what it means to be good.
What else could God create other than goodness? God doesn't create evil. God doesn't create sin. And God doesn't create junk. God created you. So when God saw you, God didn't say, “You were born in sin!” When God saw you, God didn’t say, “Go away from me, you sinner!” And when God saw you, God didn’t say, “very bad!” When God saw you, God said “You were made in my image.” When God saw you, God said, “I love you.” And when God saw you, God said, “very good.” You were born in goodness.
The beauty of having religious freedom is: You can decide theological questions for yourself. Your soul does not belong to any pope, priest, or preacher. Your soul belongs to you. (And God, of course.) So if, after weighing all the evidence, you decide to believe in Original Sin, then you can believe in Original Sin, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Sin. Likewise, if, after weighing all the evidence, you believe in Original Goodness, then you can believe in Original Goodness, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Goodness.
I'm not real comfortable talking about sin. In fact, I don't know very many progressive Protestant preachers who are real comfortable talking about sin. It's not that we're blind to sin. It's just that we don't focus so much on individual sin. We know that we all sin, we know that we all miss the mark, we know that we all make mistakes, and we know that we all commit errors. But we're more focused on the sins of society. The sin of paying women less than men for doing the same work. The sin of trying to prevent people of color from voting in elections. And the sin of locking up children in cages. But we know that many Christians, including many Christian preachers, don't focus on society’s sins, they focus on individual sins.
I heard a radio preacher once say that he could prove that children are born in sin. He said: Take a two-year-old, put them on the floor in the middle of a room, and tell them not to move. Then leave the room. When you come back, if the child has moved, you've proven that the child disobeyed you, just like Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and you’ve proven that the child was born in sin. Maybe it's just me, but I think you've proven that a child is not a little adult, I think you’ve proven that a two-year-old was born to move around and not sit still, and I think you've proven that that radio preacher doesn't understand children very well. And perhaps, without realizing it, that radio preacher has disproven Original Sin, because Adam and Eve were probably not much more mature than that two-year-old when they disobeyed God.
But it's up to you to decide for yourself whether you believe in Original Sin or in Original Goodness.
As for me, I was in the delivery room when my baby was born. My baby is now 27 years old. The moment she was born, the first words she heard were mine, saying, "Hi Erin, Daddy loves you and Mommy loves you.” Then I got to hold my daughter. And when I looked into her eyes, I saw sweetness, innocence, and love. I saw a bundle of joy, not a jumble of sin. So I believe that she and you were not born in Original Sin. I believe that she and you were born in Original Goodness. Just as God created you to be.
(This sermon was delivered without manuscript or notes,
and was based on the words in this text.)
Bill Freeman12:08 PM (2 hours ago)
to me
“Christianity 101 - Part 2:
Original Sin or Original Goodness”
Rev. William S. Freeman
September 15, 2019
The Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank you all for coming here today. It's good that we're all here, because if we weren’t, God would be in this church all alone.
The homeless must feel all alone sometimes. Probably because lots of people don't want the homeless around. They're the NIMBY people. The Not In My Back Yard people. It seems like there were a lot of NIMBY people who showed up for a Chatsworth Neighborhood Council meeting the other night. Maybe not everyone who opposed a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth were NIMBY people. But about 100 people were there. Maybe 95 were against a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth. Perhaps five of us supported that project or at least supported finding someplace for the homeless to live in Chatsworth. The Council voted unanimously to oppose the project. The LA Daily News quoted me as saying, “If not here, where?” I should have added: If not now, when?
I care about the homeless, because Jesus cared about the homeless. Heck, Jesus himself was homeless. Remember? Jesus says in Matthew and Luke, "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And Jesus says in Matthew, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
I think of all the people who are homeless now in the Bahamas. Not to mention all the people who died in the Bahamas in Hurricane Dorian. I've vacationed in the Bahamas a couple times. It's heaven on earth. Now, for many people in the Bahamas, I imagine it's hell on earth.
Some televangelists (who give Christianity a bad name), have said in the past that hurricanes are God's punishment for one particular “sin” or another. Have you ever noticed that God punishes the behavior that those televangelists think is “sin?” They said the same thing after the 9/11 attacks, which happened 18 years ago last Wednesday. Some televangelists said God “allowed" 9/11 to happen, because of what they called "sin.” Of course, those televangelists never say God allowed 9/11 to happen or hurricanes to happen because of what I would call the "sin" of some televangelists: Like bilking little old ladies out of their life savings, like flying around in their $60 million private jets, or like living in their $10 million mansions. Although some people would say: Now that’s sin.
You were born in sin! At least you were, according to the concept of Original Sin. Although sin just means missing the mark, making a mistake, or committing an error, many Christians see sin as more…sinister than that. Apparently equal to evil.
Although the words Original Sin do not appear in the Bible, Original Sin is based on the second story of Creation, found in Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3. After God had created the heavens and the earth, God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. Then God tried to create a helpmate for Adam. God apparently said: Let's see, an alligator won't work, since the alligator will try to eat Adam; a shark won't work either, for the same reason; and a laughing hyena won't work either, Adam will think his helpmate is laughing at him all the time. So then God created a woman, Eve, for Adam. And now women only laugh at men some of the time.
God had told Adam that he could eat anything in the Garden of Eden that he wanted to, but he couldn't eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or he would surely die. When Eve came along Adam passed that on to her. Then along came the serpent, who tempted Eve with fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don't know what that fruit was. So think of your favorite fruit. Mine is blueberries. Maybe yours is oranges. Well, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must've been a hundred times more tempting than blueberries or oranges. Personally, I don't think I would be tempted by fruit, but if the tree had chocolate ice cream cones hanging from it, then maybe I’d be tempted by that. Whatever the forbidden fruit was, Eve gave into temptation and ate it. Then she gave it to Adam and he ate it too. Now they have the knowledge of good and evil. So when God went walking through the Garden of Eden, looking for Adam and Eve, they hid from God. God said, "Why did you hide?” They said, "Because we didn't want you to see us naked." God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" They confessed that they did. In other words they disobeyed God, they committed a sin, they committed the Original Sin. So God threw them out of the Garden of Eden, because they committed the Original Sin.
Original Sin was a term coined by St. Augustine. St. Augustine knew a thing or two about sin. He was quite the ladies man before he became a priest. His famous or infamous prayer was: God make me chaste, but not yet. So now, every child born is born in sin, according to Original Sin. We see sin all around us. Although it’s not very original. It’s the sin of killing people in schools and synagogues. It’s the sin of Bernie Madoff, who made off with people’s life savings. Jonathan Edwards, a preacher from a couple hundred years ago, preached a sermon entitled, "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God." He said human beings are nothing but worthless worms, who should be dumped in the garbage. So as I say: You were born in sin!
You were born in goodness! At least you were, according to the relatively new concept of Original Goodness. I read about Original Goodness recently in the book, "The Universal Christ,” by Catholic Monk Richard Rohr.
Like the words Original Sin, the words Original Goodness do not appear in the Bible either, but they’re based on the first story of Creation found in Genesis, Chapter 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In just five days the Bible tells us God created the sun and the moon and the stars, God created the fish in the sea and the birds in the air, and God created animal, vegetable, and mineral. And God saw that it was “good.” Then on the sixth day, “God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God God created them, male and female God created them." And, "God blessed them." Then the Bible says, "God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good." Not just good, but very good. So God created you in Original Goodness, they say, not in Original Sin.
We see Original Goodness all around us. A baby boy being fed by his mother. A young girl being shown how to throw a baseball by her father. A young couple walking hand in hand on the beach. An elderly couple sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons. A nurse in the hospital tending to the needs of a man suffering from diabetes. A doctor in the hospital tending to the needs of a woman suffering from a heart attack. An employer giving a job to a chronically unemployed man. A worker doing her best to make sure a product is safe. A firefighter rescuing a child from a burning building. A police officer directing traffic around an accident scene on the highway. A soldier in a distant land keeping the peace. A sailor on a ship at sea standing watch for liberty. A journalist ferreting out the truth. And an elected official seeking justice for the poor and the middle class, for the widow and the orphan, and for the outcast and the forgotten.
What does it mean to be good? Well, Jesus tells us that in the 25th Chapter of Matthew. "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Jesus adds, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." And that's what it means to be good.
What else could God create other than goodness? God doesn't create evil. God doesn't create sin. And God doesn't create junk. God created you. So when God saw you, God didn't say, “You were born in sin!” When God saw you, God didn’t say, “Go away from me, you sinner!” And when God saw you, God didn’t say, “very bad!” When God saw you, God said “You were made in my image.” When God saw you, God said, “I love you.” And when God saw you, God said, “very good.” You were born in goodness.
The beauty of having religious freedom is: You can decide theological questions for yourself. Your soul does not belong to any pope, priest, or preacher. Your soul belongs to you. (And God, of course.) So if, after weighing all the evidence, you decide to believe in Original Sin, then you can believe in Original Sin, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Sin. Likewise, if, after weighing all the evidence, you believe in Original Goodness, then you can believe in Original Goodness, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Goodness.
I'm not real comfortable talking about sin. In fact, I don't know very many progressive Protestant preachers who are real comfortable talking about sin. It's not that we're blind to sin. It's just that we don't focus so much on individual sin. We know that we all sin, we know that we all miss the mark, we know that we all make mistakes, and we know that we all commit errors. But we're more focused on the sins of society. The sin of paying women less than men for doing the same work. The sin of trying to prevent people of color from voting in elections. And the sin of locking up children in cages. But we know that many Christians, including many Christian preachers, don't focus on society’s sins, they focus on individual sins.
I heard a radio preacher once say that he could prove that children are born in sin. He said: Take a two-year-old, put them on the floor in the middle of a room, and tell them not to move. Then leave the room. When you come back, if the child has moved, you've proven that the child disobeyed you, just like Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and you’ve proven that the child was born in sin. Maybe it's just me, but I think you've proven that a child is not a little adult, I think you’ve proven that a two-year-old was born to move around and not sit still, and I think you've proven that that radio preacher doesn't understand children very well. And perhaps, without realizing it, that radio preacher has disproven Original Sin, because Adam and Eve were probably not much more mature than that two-year-old when they disobeyed God.
But it's up to you to decide for yourself whether you believe in Original Sin or in Original Goodness.
As for me, I was in the delivery room when my baby was born. My baby is now 27 years old. The moment she was born, the first words she heard were mine, saying, "Hi Erin, Daddy loves you and Mommy loves you.” Then I got to hold my daughter. And when I looked into her eyes, I saw sweetness, innocence, and love. I saw a bundle of joy, not a jumble of sin. So I believe that she and you were not born in Original Sin. I believe that she and you were born in Original Goodness. Just as God created you to be.
(This sermon was delivered without manuscript or notes,
and was based on the words in this text.)
Bill Freeman12:08 PM (2 hours ago)
to me
“Christianity 101 - Part 2:
Original Sin or Original Goodness”
Rev. William S. Freeman
September 15, 2019
The Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank you all for coming here today. It's good that we're all here, because if we weren’t, God would be in this church all alone.
The homeless must feel all alone sometimes. Probably because lots of people don't want the homeless around. They're the NIMBY people. The Not In My Back Yard people. It seems like there were a lot of NIMBY people who showed up for a Chatsworth Neighborhood Council meeting the other night. Maybe not everyone who opposed a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth were NIMBY people. But about 100 people were there. Maybe 95 were against a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth. Perhaps five of us supported that project or at least supported finding someplace for the homeless to live in Chatsworth. The Council voted unanimously to oppose the project. The LA Daily News quoted me as saying, “If not here, where?” I should have added: If not now, when?
I care about the homeless, because Jesus cared about the homeless. Heck, Jesus himself was homeless. Remember? Jesus says in Matthew and Luke, "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And Jesus says in Matthew, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
I think of all the people who are homeless now in the Bahamas. Not to mention all the people who died in the Bahamas in Hurricane Dorian. I've vacationed in the Bahamas a couple times. It's heaven on earth. Now, for many people in the Bahamas, I imagine it's hell on earth.
Some televangelists (who give Christianity a bad name), have said in the past that hurricanes are God's punishment for one particular “sin” or another. Have you ever noticed that God punishes the behavior that those televangelists think is “sin?” They said the same thing after the 9/11 attacks, which happened 18 years ago last Wednesday. Some televangelists said God “allowed" 9/11 to happen, because of what they called "sin.” Of course, those televangelists never say God allowed 9/11 to happen or hurricanes to happen because of what I would call the "sin" of some televangelists: Like bilking little old ladies out of their life savings, like flying around in their $60 million private jets, or like living in their $10 million mansions. Although some people would say: Now that’s sin.
You were born in sin! At least you were, according to the concept of Original Sin. Although sin just means missing the mark, making a mistake, or committing an error, many Christians see sin as more…sinister than that. Apparently equal to evil.
Although the words Original Sin do not appear in the Bible, Original Sin is based on the second story of Creation, found in Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3. After God had created the heavens and the earth, God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. Then God tried to create a helpmate for Adam. God apparently said: Let's see, an alligator won't work, since the alligator will try to eat Adam; a shark won't work either, for the same reason; and a laughing hyena won't work either, Adam will think his helpmate is laughing at him all the time. So then God created a woman, Eve, for Adam. And now women only laugh at men some of the time.
God had told Adam that he could eat anything in the Garden of Eden that he wanted to, but he couldn't eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or he would surely die. When Eve came along Adam passed that on to her. Then along came the serpent, who tempted Eve with fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don't know what that fruit was. So think of your favorite fruit. Mine is blueberries. Maybe yours is oranges. Well, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must've been a hundred times more tempting than blueberries or oranges. Personally, I don't think I would be tempted by fruit, but if the tree had chocolate ice cream cones hanging from it, then maybe I’d be tempted by that. Whatever the forbidden fruit was, Eve gave into temptation and ate it. Then she gave it to Adam and he ate it too. Now they have the knowledge of good and evil. So when God went walking through the Garden of Eden, looking for Adam and Eve, they hid from God. God said, "Why did you hide?” They said, "Because we didn't want you to see us naked." God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" They confessed that they did. In other words they disobeyed God, they committed a sin, they committed the Original Sin. So God threw them out of the Garden of Eden, because they committed the Original Sin.
Original Sin was a term coined by St. Augustine. St. Augustine knew a thing or two about sin. He was quite the ladies man before he became a priest. His famous or infamous prayer was: God make me chaste, but not yet. So now, every child born is born in sin, according to Original Sin. We see sin all around us. Although it’s not very original. It’s the sin of killing people in schools and synagogues. It’s the sin of Bernie Madoff, who made off with people’s life savings. Jonathan Edwards, a preacher from a couple hundred years ago, preached a sermon entitled, "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God." He said human beings are nothing but worthless worms, who should be dumped in the garbage. So as I say: You were born in sin!
You were born in goodness! At least you were, according to the relatively new concept of Original Goodness. I read about Original Goodness recently in the book, "The Universal Christ,” by Catholic Monk Richard Rohr.
Like the words Original Sin, the words Original Goodness do not appear in the Bible either, but they’re based on the first story of Creation found in Genesis, Chapter 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In just five days the Bible tells us God created the sun and the moon and the stars, God created the fish in the sea and the birds in the air, and God created animal, vegetable, and mineral. And God saw that it was “good.” Then on the sixth day, “God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God God created them, male and female God created them." And, "God blessed them." Then the Bible says, "God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good." Not just good, but very good. So God created you in Original Goodness, they say, not in Original Sin.
We see Original Goodness all around us. A baby boy being fed by his mother. A young girl being shown how to throw a baseball by her father. A young couple walking hand in hand on the beach. An elderly couple sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons. A nurse in the hospital tending to the needs of a man suffering from diabetes. A doctor in the hospital tending to the needs of a woman suffering from a heart attack. An employer giving a job to a chronically unemployed man. A worker doing her best to make sure a product is safe. A firefighter rescuing a child from a burning building. A police officer directing traffic around an accident scene on the highway. A soldier in a distant land keeping the peace. A sailor on a ship at sea standing watch for liberty. A journalist ferreting out the truth. And an elected official seeking justice for the poor and the middle class, for the widow and the orphan, and for the outcast and the forgotten.
What does it mean to be good? Well, Jesus tells us that in the 25th Chapter of Matthew. "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Jesus adds, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." And that's what it means to be good.
What else could God create other than goodness? God doesn't create evil. God doesn't create sin. And God doesn't create junk. God created you. So when God saw you, God didn't say, “You were born in sin!” When God saw you, God didn’t say, “Go away from me, you sinner!” And when God saw you, God didn’t say, “very bad!” When God saw you, God said “You were made in my image.” When God saw you, God said, “I love you.” And when God saw you, God said, “very good.” You were born in goodness.
The beauty of having religious freedom is: You can decide theological questions for yourself. Your soul does not belong to any pope, priest, or preacher. Your soul belongs to you. (And God, of course.) So if, after weighing all the evidence, you decide to believe in Original Sin, then you can believe in Original Sin, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Sin. Likewise, if, after weighing all the evidence, you believe in Original Goodness, then you can believe in Original Goodness, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Goodness.
I'm not real comfortable talking about sin. In fact, I don't know very many progressive Protestant preachers who are real comfortable talking about sin. It's not that we're blind to sin. It's just that we don't focus so much on individual sin. We know that we all sin, we know that we all miss the mark, we know that we all make mistakes, and we know that we all commit errors. But we're more focused on the sins of society. The sin of paying women less than men for doing the same work. The sin of trying to prevent people of color from voting in elections. And the sin of locking up children in cages. But we know that many Christians, including many Christian preachers, don't focus on society’s sins, they focus on individual sins.
I heard a radio preacher once say that he could prove that children are born in sin. He said: Take a two-year-old, put them on the floor in the middle of a room, and tell them not to move. Then leave the room. When you come back, if the child has moved, you've proven that the child disobeyed you, just like Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and you’ve proven that the child was born in sin. Maybe it's just me, but I think you've proven that a child is not a little adult, I think you’ve proven that a two-year-old was born to move around and not sit still, and I think you've proven that that radio preacher doesn't understand children very well. And perhaps, without realizing it, that radio preacher has disproven Original Sin, because Adam and Eve were probably not much more mature than that two-year-old when they disobeyed God.
But it's up to you to decide for yourself whether you believe in Original Sin or in Original Goodness.
As for me, I was in the delivery room when my baby was born. My baby is now 27 years old. The moment she was born, the first words she heard were mine, saying, "Hi Erin, Daddy loves you and Mommy loves you.” Then I got to hold my daughter. And when I looked into her eyes, I saw sweetness, innocence, and love. I saw a bundle of joy, not a jumble of sin. So I believe that she and you were not born in Original Sin. I believe that she and you were born in Original Goodness. Just as God created you to be.
(This sermon was delivered without manuscript or notes,
and was based on the words in this text.)
Original Sin or Original Goodness”
Rev. William S. Freeman
September 15, 2019
The Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank you all for coming here today. It's good that we're all here, because if we weren’t, God would be in this church all alone.
The homeless must feel all alone sometimes. Probably because lots of people don't want the homeless around. They're the NIMBY people. The Not In My Back Yard people. It seems like there were a lot of NIMBY people who showed up for a Chatsworth Neighborhood Council meeting the other night. Maybe not everyone who opposed a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth were NIMBY people. But about 100 people were there. Maybe 95 were against a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth. Perhaps five of us supported that project or at least supported finding someplace for the homeless to live in Chatsworth. The Council voted unanimously to oppose the project. The LA Daily News quoted me as saying, “If not here, where?” I should have added: If not now, when?
I care about the homeless, because Jesus cared about the homeless. Heck, Jesus himself was homeless. Remember? Jesus says in Matthew and Luke, "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And Jesus says in Matthew, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
I think of all the people who are homeless now in the Bahamas. Not to mention all the people who died in the Bahamas in Hurricane Dorian. I've vacationed in the Bahamas a couple times. It's heaven on earth. Now, for many people in the Bahamas, I imagine it's hell on earth.
Some televangelists (who give Christianity a bad name), have said in the past that hurricanes are God's punishment for one particular “sin” or another. Have you ever noticed that God punishes the behavior that those televangelists think is “sin?” They said the same thing after the 9/11 attacks, which happened 18 years ago last Wednesday. Some televangelists said God “allowed" 9/11 to happen, because of what they called "sin.” Of course, those televangelists never say God allowed 9/11 to happen or hurricanes to happen because of what I would call the "sin" of some televangelists: Like bilking little old ladies out of their life savings, like flying around in their $60 million private jets, or like living in their $10 million mansions. Although some people would say: Now that’s sin.
You were born in sin! At least you were, according to the concept of Original Sin. Although sin just means missing the mark, making a mistake, or committing an error, many Christians see sin as more…sinister than that. Apparently equal to evil.
Although the words Original Sin do not appear in the Bible, Original Sin is based on the second story of Creation, found in Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3. After God had created the heavens and the earth, God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. Then God tried to create a helpmate for Adam. God apparently said: Let's see, an alligator won't work, since the alligator will try to eat Adam; a shark won't work either, for the same reason; and a laughing hyena won't work either, Adam will think his helpmate is laughing at him all the time. So then God created a woman, Eve, for Adam. And now women only laugh at men some of the time.
God had told Adam that he could eat anything in the Garden of Eden that he wanted to, but he couldn't eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or he would surely die. When Eve came along Adam passed that on to her. Then along came the serpent, who tempted Eve with fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don't know what that fruit was. So think of your favorite fruit. Mine is blueberries. Maybe yours is oranges. Well, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must've been a hundred times more tempting than blueberries or oranges. Personally, I don't think I would be tempted by fruit, but if the tree had chocolate ice cream cones hanging from it, then maybe I’d be tempted by that. Whatever the forbidden fruit was, Eve gave into temptation and ate it. Then she gave it to Adam and he ate it too. Now they have the knowledge of good and evil. So when God went walking through the Garden of Eden, looking for Adam and Eve, they hid from God. God said, "Why did you hide?” They said, "Because we didn't want you to see us naked." God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" They confessed that they did. In other words they disobeyed God, they committed a sin, they committed the Original Sin. So God threw them out of the Garden of Eden, because they committed the Original Sin.
Original Sin was a term coined by St. Augustine. St. Augustine knew a thing or two about sin. He was quite the ladies man before he became a priest. His famous or infamous prayer was: God make me chaste, but not yet. So now, every child born is born in sin, according to Original Sin. We see sin all around us. Although it’s not very original. It’s the sin of killing people in schools and synagogues. It’s the sin of Bernie Madoff, who made off with people’s life savings. Jonathan Edwards, a preacher from a couple hundred years ago, preached a sermon entitled, "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God." He said human beings are nothing but worthless worms, who should be dumped in the garbage. So as I say: You were born in sin!
You were born in goodness! At least you were, according to the relatively new concept of Original Goodness. I read about Original Goodness recently in the book, "The Universal Christ,” by Catholic Monk Richard Rohr.
Like the words Original Sin, the words Original Goodness do not appear in the Bible either, but they’re based on the first story of Creation found in Genesis, Chapter 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In just five days the Bible tells us God created the sun and the moon and the stars, God created the fish in the sea and the birds in the air, and God created animal, vegetable, and mineral. And God saw that it was “good.” Then on the sixth day, “God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God God created them, male and female God created them." And, "God blessed them." Then the Bible says, "God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good." Not just good, but very good. So God created you in Original Goodness, they say, not in Original Sin.
We see Original Goodness all around us. A baby boy being fed by his mother. A young girl being shown how to throw a baseball by her father. A young couple walking hand in hand on the beach. An elderly couple sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons. A nurse in the hospital tending to the needs of a man suffering from diabetes. A doctor in the hospital tending to the needs of a woman suffering from a heart attack. An employer giving a job to a chronically unemployed man. A worker doing her best to make sure a product is safe. A firefighter rescuing a child from a burning building. A police officer directing traffic around an accident scene on the highway. A soldier in a distant land keeping the peace. A sailor on a ship at sea standing watch for liberty. A journalist ferreting out the truth. And an elected official seeking justice for the poor and the middle class, for the widow and the orphan, and for the outcast and the forgotten.
What does it mean to be good? Well, Jesus tells us that in the 25th Chapter of Matthew. "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Jesus adds, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." And that's what it means to be good.
What else could God create other than goodness? God doesn't create evil. God doesn't create sin. And God doesn't create junk. God created you. So when God saw you, God didn't say, “You were born in sin!” When God saw you, God didn’t say, “Go away from me, you sinner!” And when God saw you, God didn’t say, “very bad!” When God saw you, God said “You were made in my image.” When God saw you, God said, “I love you.” And when God saw you, God said, “very good.” You were born in goodness.
The beauty of having religious freedom is: You can decide theological questions for yourself. Your soul does not belong to any pope, priest, or preacher. Your soul belongs to you. (And God, of course.) So if, after weighing all the evidence, you decide to believe in Original Sin, then you can believe in Original Sin, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Sin. Likewise, if, after weighing all the evidence, you believe in Original Goodness, then you can believe in Original Goodness, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Goodness.
I'm not real comfortable talking about sin. In fact, I don't know very many progressive Protestant preachers who are real comfortable talking about sin. It's not that we're blind to sin. It's just that we don't focus so much on individual sin. We know that we all sin, we know that we all miss the mark, we know that we all make mistakes, and we know that we all commit errors. But we're more focused on the sins of society. The sin of paying women less than men for doing the same work. The sin of trying to prevent people of color from voting in elections. And the sin of locking up children in cages. But we know that many Christians, including many Christian preachers, don't focus on society’s sins, they focus on individual sins.
I heard a radio preacher once say that he could prove that children are born in sin. He said: Take a two-year-old, put them on the floor in the middle of a room, and tell them not to move. Then leave the room. When you come back, if the child has moved, you've proven that the child disobeyed you, just like Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and you’ve proven that the child was born in sin. Maybe it's just me, but I think you've proven that a child is not a little adult, I think you’ve proven that a two-year-old was born to move around and not sit still, and I think you've proven that that radio preacher doesn't understand children very well. And perhaps, without realizing it, that radio preacher has disproven Original Sin, because Adam and Eve were probably not much more mature than that two-year-old when they disobeyed God.
But it's up to you to decide for yourself whether you believe in Original Sin or in Original Goodness.
As for me, I was in the delivery room when my baby was born. My baby is now 27 years old. The moment she was born, the first words she heard were mine, saying, "Hi Erin, Daddy loves you and Mommy loves you.” Then I got to hold my daughter. And when I looked into her eyes, I saw sweetness, innocence, and love. I saw a bundle of joy, not a jumble of sin. So I believe that she and you were not born in Original Sin. I believe that she and you were born in Original Goodness. Just as God created you to be.
(This sermon was delivered without manuscript or notes,
and was based on the words in this text.)
Bill Freeman12:08 PM (2 hours ago)
to me
“Christianity 101 - Part 2:
Original Sin or Original Goodness”
Rev. William S. Freeman
September 15, 2019
The Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank you all for coming here today. It's good that we're all here, because if we weren’t, God would be in this church all alone.
The homeless must feel all alone sometimes. Probably because lots of people don't want the homeless around. They're the NIMBY people. The Not In My Back Yard people. It seems like there were a lot of NIMBY people who showed up for a Chatsworth Neighborhood Council meeting the other night. Maybe not everyone who opposed a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth were NIMBY people. But about 100 people were there. Maybe 95 were against a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth. Perhaps five of us supported that project or at least supported finding someplace for the homeless to live in Chatsworth. The Council voted unanimously to oppose the project. The LA Daily News quoted me as saying, “If not here, where?” I should have added: If not now, when?
I care about the homeless, because Jesus cared about the homeless. Heck, Jesus himself was homeless. Remember? Jesus says in Matthew and Luke, "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And Jesus says in Matthew, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
I think of all the people who are homeless now in the Bahamas. Not to mention all the people who died in the Bahamas in Hurricane Dorian. I've vacationed in the Bahamas a couple times. It's heaven on earth. Now, for many people in the Bahamas, I imagine it's hell on earth.
Some televangelists (who give Christianity a bad name), have said in the past that hurricanes are God's punishment for one particular “sin” or another. Have you ever noticed that God punishes the behavior that those televangelists think is “sin?” They said the same thing after the 9/11 attacks, which happened 18 years ago last Wednesday. Some televangelists said God “allowed" 9/11 to happen, because of what they called "sin.” Of course, those televangelists never say God allowed 9/11 to happen or hurricanes to happen because of what I would call the "sin" of some televangelists: Like bilking little old ladies out of their life savings, like flying around in their $60 million private jets, or like living in their $10 million mansions. Although some people would say: Now that’s sin.
You were born in sin! At least you were, according to the concept of Original Sin. Although sin just means missing the mark, making a mistake, or committing an error, many Christians see sin as more…sinister than that. Apparently equal to evil.
Although the words Original Sin do not appear in the Bible, Original Sin is based on the second story of Creation, found in Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3. After God had created the heavens and the earth, God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. Then God tried to create a helpmate for Adam. God apparently said: Let's see, an alligator won't work, since the alligator will try to eat Adam; a shark won't work either, for the same reason; and a laughing hyena won't work either, Adam will think his helpmate is laughing at him all the time. So then God created a woman, Eve, for Adam. And now women only laugh at men some of the time.
God had told Adam that he could eat anything in the Garden of Eden that he wanted to, but he couldn't eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or he would surely die. When Eve came along Adam passed that on to her. Then along came the serpent, who tempted Eve with fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don't know what that fruit was. So think of your favorite fruit. Mine is blueberries. Maybe yours is oranges. Well, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must've been a hundred times more tempting than blueberries or oranges. Personally, I don't think I would be tempted by fruit, but if the tree had chocolate ice cream cones hanging from it, then maybe I’d be tempted by that. Whatever the forbidden fruit was, Eve gave into temptation and ate it. Then she gave it to Adam and he ate it too. Now they have the knowledge of good and evil. So when God went walking through the Garden of Eden, looking for Adam and Eve, they hid from God. God said, "Why did you hide?” They said, "Because we didn't want you to see us naked." God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" They confessed that they did. In other words they disobeyed God, they committed a sin, they committed the Original Sin. So God threw them out of the Garden of Eden, because they committed the Original Sin.
Original Sin was a term coined by St. Augustine. St. Augustine knew a thing or two about sin. He was quite the ladies man before he became a priest. His famous or infamous prayer was: God make me chaste, but not yet. So now, every child born is born in sin, according to Original Sin. We see sin all around us. Although it’s not very original. It’s the sin of killing people in schools and synagogues. It’s the sin of Bernie Madoff, who made off with people’s life savings. Jonathan Edwards, a preacher from a couple hundred years ago, preached a sermon entitled, "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God." He said human beings are nothing but worthless worms, who should be dumped in the garbage. So as I say: You were born in sin!
You were born in goodness! At least you were, according to the relatively new concept of Original Goodness. I read about Original Goodness recently in the book, "The Universal Christ,” by Catholic Monk Richard Rohr.
Like the words Original Sin, the words Original Goodness do not appear in the Bible either, but they’re based on the first story of Creation found in Genesis, Chapter 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In just five days the Bible tells us God created the sun and the moon and the stars, God created the fish in the sea and the birds in the air, and God created animal, vegetable, and mineral. And God saw that it was “good.” Then on the sixth day, “God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God God created them, male and female God created them." And, "God blessed them." Then the Bible says, "God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good." Not just good, but very good. So God created you in Original Goodness, they say, not in Original Sin.
We see Original Goodness all around us. A baby boy being fed by his mother. A young girl being shown how to throw a baseball by her father. A young couple walking hand in hand on the beach. An elderly couple sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons. A nurse in the hospital tending to the needs of a man suffering from diabetes. A doctor in the hospital tending to the needs of a woman suffering from a heart attack. An employer giving a job to a chronically unemployed man. A worker doing her best to make sure a product is safe. A firefighter rescuing a child from a burning building. A police officer directing traffic around an accident scene on the highway. A soldier in a distant land keeping the peace. A sailor on a ship at sea standing watch for liberty. A journalist ferreting out the truth. And an elected official seeking justice for the poor and the middle class, for the widow and the orphan, and for the outcast and the forgotten.
What does it mean to be good? Well, Jesus tells us that in the 25th Chapter of Matthew. "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Jesus adds, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." And that's what it means to be good.
What else could God create other than goodness? God doesn't create evil. God doesn't create sin. And God doesn't create junk. God created you. So when God saw you, God didn't say, “You were born in sin!” When God saw you, God didn’t say, “Go away from me, you sinner!” And when God saw you, God didn’t say, “very bad!” When God saw you, God said “You were made in my image.” When God saw you, God said, “I love you.” And when God saw you, God said, “very good.” You were born in goodness.
The beauty of having religious freedom is: You can decide theological questions for yourself. Your soul does not belong to any pope, priest, or preacher. Your soul belongs to you. (And God, of course.) So if, after weighing all the evidence, you decide to believe in Original Sin, then you can believe in Original Sin, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Sin. Likewise, if, after weighing all the evidence, you believe in Original Goodness, then you can believe in Original Goodness, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Goodness.
I'm not real comfortable talking about sin. In fact, I don't know very many progressive Protestant preachers who are real comfortable talking about sin. It's not that we're blind to sin. It's just that we don't focus so much on individual sin. We know that we all sin, we know that we all miss the mark, we know that we all make mistakes, and we know that we all commit errors. But we're more focused on the sins of society. The sin of paying women less than men for doing the same work. The sin of trying to prevent people of color from voting in elections. And the sin of locking up children in cages. But we know that many Christians, including many Christian preachers, don't focus on society’s sins, they focus on individual sins.
I heard a radio preacher once say that he could prove that children are born in sin. He said: Take a two-year-old, put them on the floor in the middle of a room, and tell them not to move. Then leave the room. When you come back, if the child has moved, you've proven that the child disobeyed you, just like Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and you’ve proven that the child was born in sin. Maybe it's just me, but I think you've proven that a child is not a little adult, I think you’ve proven that a two-year-old was born to move around and not sit still, and I think you've proven that that radio preacher doesn't understand children very well. And perhaps, without realizing it, that radio preacher has disproven Original Sin, because Adam and Eve were probably not much more mature than that two-year-old when they disobeyed God.
But it's up to you to decide for yourself whether you believe in Original Sin or in Original Goodness.
As for me, I was in the delivery room when my baby was born. My baby is now 27 years old. The moment she was born, the first words she heard were mine, saying, "Hi Erin, Daddy loves you and Mommy loves you.” Then I got to hold my daughter. And when I looked into her eyes, I saw sweetness, innocence, and love. I saw a bundle of joy, not a jumble of sin. So I believe that she and you were not born in Original Sin. I believe that she and you were born in Original Goodness. Just as God created you to be.
(This sermon was delivered without manuscript or notes,
and was based on the words in this text.)
Bill Freeman12:08 PM (2 hours ago)
to me
“Christianity 101 - Part 2:
Original Sin or Original Goodness”
Rev. William S. Freeman
September 15, 2019
The Congregational Church of Chatsworth
Before I begin, I want to take a moment to thank you all for coming here today. It's good that we're all here, because if we weren’t, God would be in this church all alone.
The homeless must feel all alone sometimes. Probably because lots of people don't want the homeless around. They're the NIMBY people. The Not In My Back Yard people. It seems like there were a lot of NIMBY people who showed up for a Chatsworth Neighborhood Council meeting the other night. Maybe not everyone who opposed a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth were NIMBY people. But about 100 people were there. Maybe 95 were against a housing project for the homeless in Chatsworth. Perhaps five of us supported that project or at least supported finding someplace for the homeless to live in Chatsworth. The Council voted unanimously to oppose the project. The LA Daily News quoted me as saying, “If not here, where?” I should have added: If not now, when?
I care about the homeless, because Jesus cared about the homeless. Heck, Jesus himself was homeless. Remember? Jesus says in Matthew and Luke, "The Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." And Jesus says in Matthew, "I was a stranger and you welcomed me.”
I think of all the people who are homeless now in the Bahamas. Not to mention all the people who died in the Bahamas in Hurricane Dorian. I've vacationed in the Bahamas a couple times. It's heaven on earth. Now, for many people in the Bahamas, I imagine it's hell on earth.
Some televangelists (who give Christianity a bad name), have said in the past that hurricanes are God's punishment for one particular “sin” or another. Have you ever noticed that God punishes the behavior that those televangelists think is “sin?” They said the same thing after the 9/11 attacks, which happened 18 years ago last Wednesday. Some televangelists said God “allowed" 9/11 to happen, because of what they called "sin.” Of course, those televangelists never say God allowed 9/11 to happen or hurricanes to happen because of what I would call the "sin" of some televangelists: Like bilking little old ladies out of their life savings, like flying around in their $60 million private jets, or like living in their $10 million mansions. Although some people would say: Now that’s sin.
You were born in sin! At least you were, according to the concept of Original Sin. Although sin just means missing the mark, making a mistake, or committing an error, many Christians see sin as more…sinister than that. Apparently equal to evil.
Although the words Original Sin do not appear in the Bible, Original Sin is based on the second story of Creation, found in Genesis, Chapters 2 and 3. After God had created the heavens and the earth, God created Adam out of the dust of the earth. Then God tried to create a helpmate for Adam. God apparently said: Let's see, an alligator won't work, since the alligator will try to eat Adam; a shark won't work either, for the same reason; and a laughing hyena won't work either, Adam will think his helpmate is laughing at him all the time. So then God created a woman, Eve, for Adam. And now women only laugh at men some of the time.
God had told Adam that he could eat anything in the Garden of Eden that he wanted to, but he couldn't eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, or he would surely die. When Eve came along Adam passed that on to her. Then along came the serpent, who tempted Eve with fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. We don't know what that fruit was. So think of your favorite fruit. Mine is blueberries. Maybe yours is oranges. Well, the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil must've been a hundred times more tempting than blueberries or oranges. Personally, I don't think I would be tempted by fruit, but if the tree had chocolate ice cream cones hanging from it, then maybe I’d be tempted by that. Whatever the forbidden fruit was, Eve gave into temptation and ate it. Then she gave it to Adam and he ate it too. Now they have the knowledge of good and evil. So when God went walking through the Garden of Eden, looking for Adam and Eve, they hid from God. God said, "Why did you hide?” They said, "Because we didn't want you to see us naked." God said, "Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?" They confessed that they did. In other words they disobeyed God, they committed a sin, they committed the Original Sin. So God threw them out of the Garden of Eden, because they committed the Original Sin.
Original Sin was a term coined by St. Augustine. St. Augustine knew a thing or two about sin. He was quite the ladies man before he became a priest. His famous or infamous prayer was: God make me chaste, but not yet. So now, every child born is born in sin, according to Original Sin. We see sin all around us. Although it’s not very original. It’s the sin of killing people in schools and synagogues. It’s the sin of Bernie Madoff, who made off with people’s life savings. Jonathan Edwards, a preacher from a couple hundred years ago, preached a sermon entitled, "Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God." He said human beings are nothing but worthless worms, who should be dumped in the garbage. So as I say: You were born in sin!
You were born in goodness! At least you were, according to the relatively new concept of Original Goodness. I read about Original Goodness recently in the book, "The Universal Christ,” by Catholic Monk Richard Rohr.
Like the words Original Sin, the words Original Goodness do not appear in the Bible either, but they’re based on the first story of Creation found in Genesis, Chapter 1. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. In just five days the Bible tells us God created the sun and the moon and the stars, God created the fish in the sea and the birds in the air, and God created animal, vegetable, and mineral. And God saw that it was “good.” Then on the sixth day, “God created humankind in God’s image, in the image of God God created them, male and female God created them." And, "God blessed them." Then the Bible says, "God saw everything that God had made, and indeed, it was very good." Not just good, but very good. So God created you in Original Goodness, they say, not in Original Sin.
We see Original Goodness all around us. A baby boy being fed by his mother. A young girl being shown how to throw a baseball by her father. A young couple walking hand in hand on the beach. An elderly couple sitting on a park bench feeding the pigeons. A nurse in the hospital tending to the needs of a man suffering from diabetes. A doctor in the hospital tending to the needs of a woman suffering from a heart attack. An employer giving a job to a chronically unemployed man. A worker doing her best to make sure a product is safe. A firefighter rescuing a child from a burning building. A police officer directing traffic around an accident scene on the highway. A soldier in a distant land keeping the peace. A sailor on a ship at sea standing watch for liberty. A journalist ferreting out the truth. And an elected official seeking justice for the poor and the middle class, for the widow and the orphan, and for the outcast and the forgotten.
What does it mean to be good? Well, Jesus tells us that in the 25th Chapter of Matthew. "I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me." Jesus adds, "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." And that's what it means to be good.
What else could God create other than goodness? God doesn't create evil. God doesn't create sin. And God doesn't create junk. God created you. So when God saw you, God didn't say, “You were born in sin!” When God saw you, God didn’t say, “Go away from me, you sinner!” And when God saw you, God didn’t say, “very bad!” When God saw you, God said “You were made in my image.” When God saw you, God said, “I love you.” And when God saw you, God said, “very good.” You were born in goodness.
The beauty of having religious freedom is: You can decide theological questions for yourself. Your soul does not belong to any pope, priest, or preacher. Your soul belongs to you. (And God, of course.) So if, after weighing all the evidence, you decide to believe in Original Sin, then you can believe in Original Sin, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Sin. Likewise, if, after weighing all the evidence, you believe in Original Goodness, then you can believe in Original Goodness, and no one can tell you that you can't believe in Original Goodness.
I'm not real comfortable talking about sin. In fact, I don't know very many progressive Protestant preachers who are real comfortable talking about sin. It's not that we're blind to sin. It's just that we don't focus so much on individual sin. We know that we all sin, we know that we all miss the mark, we know that we all make mistakes, and we know that we all commit errors. But we're more focused on the sins of society. The sin of paying women less than men for doing the same work. The sin of trying to prevent people of color from voting in elections. And the sin of locking up children in cages. But we know that many Christians, including many Christian preachers, don't focus on society’s sins, they focus on individual sins.
I heard a radio preacher once say that he could prove that children are born in sin. He said: Take a two-year-old, put them on the floor in the middle of a room, and tell them not to move. Then leave the room. When you come back, if the child has moved, you've proven that the child disobeyed you, just like Adam and Eve disobeyed God, and you’ve proven that the child was born in sin. Maybe it's just me, but I think you've proven that a child is not a little adult, I think you’ve proven that a two-year-old was born to move around and not sit still, and I think you've proven that that radio preacher doesn't understand children very well. And perhaps, without realizing it, that radio preacher has disproven Original Sin, because Adam and Eve were probably not much more mature than that two-year-old when they disobeyed God.
But it's up to you to decide for yourself whether you believe in Original Sin or in Original Goodness.
As for me, I was in the delivery room when my baby was born. My baby is now 27 years old. The moment she was born, the first words she heard were mine, saying, "Hi Erin, Daddy loves you and Mommy loves you.” Then I got to hold my daughter. And when I looked into her eyes, I saw sweetness, innocence, and love. I saw a bundle of joy, not a jumble of sin. So I believe that she and you were not born in Original Sin. I believe that she and you were born in Original Goodness. Just as God created you to be.
(This sermon was delivered without manuscript or notes,
and was based on the words in this text.)