Everybody has heard about the concept of "original sin", the eating of the fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil against God's explicit command which stained all mankind from that moment until the end of days when God wipes sin from the face of the universe with his incredible magic powers. Now, it's important to note that the term "original sin" is not used in the Bible, but it is a very common term amongst the religious and the concept of original sin is very much laid out in the Bible. Unfortunately for believers, original sin is impossible. Let me explain.
The Bible explicitly states that Adam and Eve were naked in the Garden, but they didn't know it because they did not have the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is well established in the Old Testament that looking at a naked person is sinful, and the first thing Adam and Eve did when they realized they were naked was to cover themselves and hide their nudity from God, who, for some reason, is really bad at hide and seek even though he knows where you're hiding...but the things the "omniscient" God doesn't know is the topic for another post.
So how could it be that Adam and Eve were looking at each other naked all this time, but it was not a sin? Any Christian will readily explain to you that this is because they didn't have the knowledge of good and evil. Since they weren't aware that they were looking at each other naked, nor that it was a sin, they were not sinning. This was God's plan. If we never knew about sin we wouldn't be able to sin.
Then comes the strange part. God tells them not to eat from the Tree. He says if they do then they'll die. He then leaves his children with their creepy uncle, who God knew full well couldn't be left alone with children, but he had some shopping to do and didn't want to leave them in the hot car in the parking lot, maybe? I really don't get that part. "I love you so much! I've got a few things I have to do. I'll be back a little later. (Should I mention the murderous asshole who wants to corrupt my children and undo all of my good works, whom I have inexplicably given free reign to roam wherever he chooses, including near my precious children? Nah. I really don't see that causing any problems.) Have a nice time!" Yeah, that makes sense.
So along comes the devil, saying, "Hey, look at THAT tree! That looks pretty good! You should try it!"
But Adam and Eve aren't having any of that. They respond, "Yeah, it does look good, but God told us not to. He said that one will kill us."
To that the devil replies, "Nu uh! It's good for you! Try it! You'll see that I'm right!"
So, Eve tries the fruit, then gives it to Adam. Seeing that she didn't die, he tries it and BOOM! Original sin!
But hold the presses! WHY was it a sin? Because they did what God told them not to, of course! Because they listened to the Devil instead of God, of course! BUT, before eating the fruit they didn't know good from evil. It was, after all, the "Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil". That is the EXACT name of the tree. So if they didn't have knowledge of good and evil, did they even KNOW that God was good and the devil was bad? They certainly wouldn't have understood that the devil was "evil" because they had no concept of evil. Furthermore, without giving them this knowledge God had left them completely unequipped to deal with the concept of a "lie". The devil lied to them, but they didn't know what a lie was. And to take it even further, they didn't know that eating the fruit would be a "sin" since they had no concept of sin. So, if seeing each other naked was not a sin because they had no concept of sin, how could eating the fruit have been a sin, since they had no concept of sin? Since they didn't know the devil was evil, how could they have known that they should not listen to him? Since they didn't have a concept of lying how could they have possibly known the devil might be lying?
Before eating this fruit they had no concept of good or evil. The very name of the tree tells you that it gave them both of these concepts. They could not have known God was good. They could not have known the devil was evil. They could not have known that eating the fruit would be a sin. They could not have understood that it was possible to lie. Since they had no knowledge of evil they would have had NO REASON to suspect the devil of being anything bu EXACTLY as trustworthy as God. They wouldn't have known to be wary of him, they wouldn't have understood that he was "evil" and, most importantly, since they didn't know eating the fruit was a sin, IT WASN'T! After all, they didn't know looking at each other naked was a sin, so IT wasn't. By the very argument which explains away why seeing each other naked was not a sin before they had the knowledge of good and evil it was IMPOSSIBLE for Adam and Eve to sin until AFTER they ate the fruit. Not to mention it was also impossible for them to conceive that the devil might be bad or that he might tell lies, which are both concepts they didn't have before eating the fruit.
So any "original sin" would have had to come AFTER eating the fruit, once they had the knowledge which even allowed them to be capable of sin in the first place.
Of course, this is just a single example of the many, many, many, many, many, many, many things which make the original creation story completely ridiculous to take seriously as in any way factual. And, of course, that doesn't stop people from twisting their minds and way of thinking to such a degree that they can believe it anyway. But just remember, religion is full of examples of one deity or another doing the impossible, but this particular example should make us all proud because it's an example of human beings doing the impossible, and all without the magical help of fairies and lawn gnomes to help us! Yes, we human beings sinned the impossible sin all by ourselves, without any help from magic whatsoever, and we should all be very proud of our ancestry for that. After all, when was the last time you did something which was literally impossible?
