G.K.Chesterton believed that “the only part of Christian theology which can really be proved” was original sin. He ran against the currents of his age, which disparaged the whole idea of original sin, by saying that it was obvious: we only had to look around.
He wrote that the doctrine of original sin, “the permanent possibility of selfishness” arising “from the mere fact of having a self” should be the first thing to be believed in. Original sin was really original: “Whatever else humans have believed in, they have all believed that there is something the matter with mankind. This sense of sin has made it impossible to be natural and have no clothes, just as it has made it impossible to be natural and have no laws”[The Everlasting Man].
This might be compared with Buddhist thought, which posits that “I am loved and I am love”, that we are essentially good at our deepest, most spiritual level. But is this a real contrast?
It could be argued that in both cases the real origin of sin is the self, and the path to virtue is to subdue (even eliminate) self. What do you think?
Any theologians around?