Foundationally, the Doctrine of Original Sin comes from Adam and Eve’s disobedience of God when they ate the forbidden fruit. This placed humanity into a fallen state (better known as The Fall) that births us into the world as sinners, subsequently needing saved from eternal damnation.
Original sin is a fundamental belief in that we’re born as enemies of God, and that the very nature of our flesh is bent towards the desires of this world, which are antithetical to God’s holy nature. Money, fame, possessions, careers, relationships, and even religion are tools the devil uses to keep our eyes focused on things that do not matter in an eternal sense, and giving us false assurance that we’re ok just the way we are, and do not need anything but what the world offers us to calm and soothe our fleshly desires.
This is an essential doctrine we must wrap our heads around to understand the condition of our souls, and the desperate need for a savior.
There is however, an age of accountability, and parameters for mental awareness, sickness and other aspects of living in a fallen world where God does not hold to the same standard of biblical acceptance and obedience. This does not apply to the bushman in the woods who has never heard the gospel, which is why we’re called to spread the word to the whole world during the great commission. (Matthew 28: 18-20)
Genesis 3 (The Fall of Mankind)
Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made.
He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You[a] shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” 2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, 3 but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” 4 But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise,[b] she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool[c] of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?”[d] 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” 11 He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” 12 The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” 13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 The Lord God said to the serpent,
“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring[e] and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”
16 To the woman he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for[f] your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”
17 And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
19 By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”
20 The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living.[g] 21 And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.
22 Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live forever—” 23 therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. 24 He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.
A life we crave
The core belief that everything we desire from a young age is antithetical to God sheds light on the faulty desires of our hearts and the world’s counterfeit solutions and pleasures to those desires, as provided by Satan.
2 Corinthians 4:4
4 In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
An Unchangeable truth
We must understand that we cannot change our nature as being sinners, as it was destined for us from the beginning of time, and passed down into the very fabric of our created nature.
Romans 5:12
12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men[a] because all sinned—
What hope do we have?
Apart from Christ, there is nothing we can do to please God, and that the reality of our condition can only be made whole by accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, and turning away from our sinful nature. There is not enough good we can do to earn our way into Heaven. Christ is our only hope to experience eternity with Him and not separated from His love and goodness. This also diametrically opposes those who practice works-based righteousness, in where people think they can do good, not believe, and still inherit the kingdom of God. (Ephesians 2:8-9 Grace through faith, and not by works, so that no man can boast.) There is no cure for sin on this earth, but there is a solution in the gospel for reuniting with our creator, king, and savior.