I don't think there's disagreement that "Original Sin" is something everyone (except possibly "Jesus") is born with.
Of course Robert, you are stating the truth. That is, to be a Christian, one must humble themselves and accept who they are, humans born in fallen flesh and with corruptible passions, sinners choosing their own selfish will above the will of God.
We do not however bear the
guilt of the sin of Adam and Eve. This is not the understanding of the Church from the beginning. This was instead a misunderstanding of St. Augustine, an understandable misread of a Latin translation which read differently from the original Greek. The Greek Fathers however from the beginnings plainly spoke that we are not born with guilt and responsible for the sinful actions of others, including our forebearers Adam and Eve.
In our humility however we see that we are in the end just like all people, born with ancestral sin, in the inherited fallingness of our human nature, a nature corrupted and corruptible and which has tarnished and defaced our entire being. The unfortunate consequence of sin. This is why we must become baptized with water as well as by the Holy Spirit. By this Holy Mystery of the Church, our complete trinitarian being, body, soul and spirit, is reborn and is restored and healed and glorified by the power and life-saving work of the Incarnate Word of God the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. For He has redeemed our race and has shown us the way to divine communion with God for He
is the Way. He
is the Truth. He
is the Light of the world. He is our salvation. And in imitation of Him and to fulfill all righteousness, we
too must become baptized in water in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit and be cleansed from our slavery to sin in order to partake in the divine nature of God as St. Paul taught, and to
put on Christ.
The Holy Tradition of Baptism was initiated by the Holy Forerunner of Christ John the Baptist, the greatest ascetic monk the world has ever known, and established and fulfilled by the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the waters of the Jordan. On that day, when the Holy Trinity was first clearly revealed to Israel (and indeed, the world!), in the Holy Theophany which occurred when our Lord was baptized. Below is an icon of this event,
In this simple and pure revelation of the Holy Trinity, we see how we too find cleansing and restoration through the Incarnate Word of God Jesus Christ, the Son of God revealed by the Father, Who was baptized and instructed His disciples to baptize in water and Spirit in the name of the Holy Trinity, and they have not stopped doing so for the last 2000 consecutive years, in dangerous times and through turbulent days, in order to heed His call to announce the Good News to all nations so that they too can be healed and fulfilled by the grace of our merciful and loving God Who saves us. This is precisely the Great Commission of Christ, and the work has persisted nonstop since the day He commissioned it in the upper room in Jerusalem.
And first of all, before we can even understand the will of God we must follow Christ and become as He, humble and poor in spirit, with meekness and with forgiveness towards our enemies, and in love and mercy for all children of God. For to such is the Kingdom of Heaven and to those is the blessedness of the peace and comfort and joy of God. This is the love we struggle for in this world, in faithful assurance of the treasures promised by Christ Who has overcome the world.