Terry Sampson
Well-Known Member
Continued from my #80.
The B. Shabat and B. Yevamot readings cited in my last message intrigued me for the following reason:
The B. Shabat and B. Yevamot readings cited in my last message intrigued me for the following reason:
- Connecting dots, rightly or wrongly, I see a non-Christian Jewish tradition according to which the Serpent seduces and defiles Eve, and that "pollution" is passed from Mother Eve to her descendants until Israel stands at Mt. Sinai. Gentiles, of course, who did not themselves stand at Mt. Sinai nor have anyone to stand there on their behalf, continue to inherit and pass on the pollution inherited from Mother Eve, unless and until they join themselves to Israel (through conversion).
- Today, Jews reject the Doctrine of Original Sin. After all, why wouldn't they? Their ancestors were cleansed ot it at Mt. Sinai.
- Gentiles who converted to Christianity, after the earliest Jewish Christians became few and far between, inherited an early oral tradition according to which Mother Eve was seduced and defiled, and passed on her pollution, a pollution from which a righteous Jew, i.e. Jesus of Nazareth, who not only was born without the Original Sin, but also continued be righteous till his death and resurrection, came along and offered two-fold salvation: from Original Sin and as a zaddik himself, earned merit which is now imputed to those who believe on and follow him.