Expert: Messianic Rabbi Yochanan Levine - 1/25/2012

Question
Christianity preaches the concept of original sin. Sin
beginning with Adam and Eve which is transfered to us,
that is human beings.  Yet the Ten Commandments articulate
that the children are not punished for the inquities of the
fathers. It seems that original sin is not a Torah concept.
How would you explain this possible contradiction.

Answer
Shalom Ted,

I agree with your findings.

As authentic Messianic Jews we believe this doctrine of original sin contradicts not only the Bible but the entire reason for our existence.

Humans were created with and still have two basic impulses:

Yetzer tov: The inclination towards goodness
Yetzer ra: the inclination towards the negative.

The purpose of life is for us to choose between the impulses and to hopefully bring glory to HaShem (God) by our choices.

Adam and Eve chose to rebel (yetzer ra) and as a result the human race moved towards the negative end of the spectrum. The rabbis speak of the founding generations, which is to say, starting from a point when these impulses were in balance (at the creation) when each of the early human progenitors (down to the generation of Noah) made their choices their alignments had a profound influence on future generation. Today each of us face the same choice as Adam and Eve, however now the fallen nature of the species (since our forebears generally embraced the negative), we are more likely to do the same. The result of this ongoing process would be the eventual destruction of all life on the planet, HOWEVER as the Jewish Y'shua stated:

Matthew 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake [i.e. to save the Jews] those days shall be shortened.

This understanding is in complete harmony with the Bible.

Hope this helps,

Peace, Love and Light

~ Rabbi Yochanan Levine
http://yeshivabethhashem.org