Do We Really Inherit Sin?

Everybody dies because Adam sinned. A sad statement, but according to the Bible we all die because Adam ate of the Tree of Knowledge. Had Adam ate of the Tree of Life as well we would all live forever, but alas he did not.

But is that fair? I wasn't around to say to Adam: "Hey Adam, Eve is only getting you to eat that fruit because a snake told her to. And don't forget what God said about dying. Eat from one of the other trees." See, if I was there I could have changed the whole history of mankind. But I wasn't, so now I have to die because Adam ate some fruit.

Now comes the odd bit. The Bible is really confused about me dying because Adam ate some fruit. Admittedly it doesn't mention me in particular but it does mention fathers, sons, and sons being punished for their fathers sins. Which if you take the really long route leads to me dying because of Adam.

The confusion is  that the Old Testament says one thing and then in the next book says something which contradicts itself:

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" (KJV, Exo 20:5)

"Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation." (KJV, Exo 34:7)

"Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me," (KJV, Deut 5:9)

"The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin." (KJV, Deut 24:16)

"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him." (KJV, Eze 18:20)

"But every one shall die for his own iniquity: every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth shall be set on edge." (KJV, Jer 31:30)

It is an equal split, three for and three against. It doesn't help that two of the conflicting books, Exodus and Deuteronomy, were both written by the same person. So, in theory, depending where you are on the Biblical timeline depends on whether you can inherit punishment, as the son, for the sins of the father. But, basically, no clear answer.

Now to take a look at a guy who was supposedly free of sin - Jesus. Although the Bible only states sons and fathers in inheriting sin surely women are involved somewhere. It is well known the Bible takes a masculine view. Just look at the genealogy throughout - fathers beget sons with little or no mention of the women that gave birth to all these sons.

Supposedly Jesus was born without 'original sin' because he was not conceived in the normal way, but surely just because God was his father does not stop him from inheriting sin from his mother. I know the Catholic religion teaches that Mary was born without 'original sin' also but she would have inherited sin from her mother.

Yes, all the verses about inherited sin, and original sin, mention fathers and sons but Adam was not the only one punished in the Garden of Eden:

"Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." (KJV Gen 3:16)

Eve must have sinned. God would not have punished her unless she had sinned, and she did:

"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat." (KJV, Gen 3:6)

When Cain and Abel were conceived, along with Seth and the others, they would have inherited sin from both Adam and Eve unless there is some unwritten rule that states sons inherit the sins of the father and daughters inherit the sins of the mother. So, in theory, Mary and then Jesus would have inherited sin from their earthly mothers. If the unwritten rule exists (which is highly unlikely) Mary would have inherited sin from her mother and Jesus would be sin free.

But would he? God killed in anger: he wiped out thousands in the great flood purely because the people were not worshiping him. Which, in theory, means God himself was of sin because he committed mass genocide. And if God is free of sin that would mean that the entire Bible is based on rules which work out as one sentence: "Do as I say and not as I do." So for Jesus to be born without 'original sin' the son cannot inherit the sins of the father - which therefore points to the fact that we all die because of Adam and Eve being a false idea unless Jesus only  gets away with it because he is the son of God which would then mean the Bible is guilty of nepotism.

The quick, and short, answer is that we do not inherit sin because if we do then Jesus must also. But Jesus did not so we should not as nobody would follow a religion based on dictatorship, nepotism, and incest.