The doctrine of original sin says you were born bad to the bone and hostile to God. You inherited Adam’s rebellious and sinful nature and your kids are going to hell.
Contrary to what you may have heard, original sin is not Biblical. This manmade teaching comes straight out of Judaism and was introduced into the church by Tertullian and Augustine. It has been preached by just about everyone (including me).
In my last article I looked at several Old Testament scriptures which are used to support original sin. In this article, I will briefly survey those New Testament scriptures which are (mis)used for the same purpose.
Every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. (Matthew 7:17)
Here Jesus is teaching us how to recognize false prophets. “By their fruit you will recognize them.” Good fruit means a good tree; bad fruit means a bad tree. But what makes a tree good or bad in the first place?
Augustine would say all trees are…
