Generational Inherited Sin

I've spent the day contemplating my new status as a member of a corporation. On the one hand, it means giving up some independence, but on the other hand it means finding an anchor, and fellowship. I miss my brothers at the monastery - they were a true family to me. Maybe it is this longing which drove me to apply.

 

The interview was interesting, even if it took place in a bar. It had been a long time since I felt I had a good discussion on theological matters!

 

I learned about a recent school of thought that says slavery is meant as a penance for sins, a kind of transaction with God. This theory has an obvious difficulty: how can newborn babes have sinned?  And yet, they are born in slavery. To accommodate for this tension, one must believe in the inheritance of sin - like a debt inherited from your parents that you would have to continue repaying. 

 

But then another question arises: if the word of God was never brought to the barbarians, how could they sin against it? Should one not knowingly go against the word of God for it to be a true mortal sin? This is how I would interpret Missions 5:14,

"Which test reveals more of the soul, the test that a man will take to prove his faith, or the test that finds the man who believed his faith already proven? If you know this answer, then you also know which of these challenges bear the greatest penalty for failure. The gates of paradise will open for you one time only; woe to the soul who dares to knock twice."

It is also in the name we give to the taking of slaves: it is not called the Reconciliation (after penance), but the Reclaiming. To reclaim is to bring what fell out of the light and was lost in the dark night of ignorance, back into the fold by bringing to it the word of God, as is stated Book of Reclaiming 4:45,

"So the Lord sent forth the Chosen,
to bring forth the light of faith
And those who embrace his love
Shall be saved by his grace"

Reclaiming is lighting the other's extinguished candle, or giving them one, in the analogy I described for the faith a couple of days ago. That newborn flame requires a lot of care before it can burn brightly on its own, and for that education and training is needed. That is very different from receiving payment.

Gaven Lok'ri of PIE has written about it in a much more eloquent way than I could. For him the idea of generational inherited sin was part of Kernherism. I would argue that more recently and more clearly it can be linked to Sedevacantism.