Examining the Christian Doctrine of Original Sin – A Question of Guilt vs. Wholeness

“There are two ways of destroying the self: one is to lose it in vice, the other is to surrender it in love.” — Venerable Fulton J. Sheen

Are humans “born bad” as per the Christine doctrine of Original Sin? Are we merely being “conditioned for guilt” so as to find continual solace in going to church services and donating to the Christian cause?

Or we are more than just our physical human veneer and are called by God to something far greater than we can imagine?

I came across this post on social media. It seemingly raised some powerful objections to Christianity.

It sounds well-argued, but this is straw-manning, giving you a false “straw puppet” view of what Christianity is about. Altogether, it misses the larger human journey and its larger picture – God’s challenge to become everything we are called to be.

Who is the ‘Authentic Self’?

We live in an age enamored with the phrase “authentic self.” It is whispered in yoga studios, shouted from social media mountaintops, and written in careful calligraphy across therapeutic journals. “Be true to yourself,” we are told. But the question no one dares ask is: which self?

Is it the self that lashes out when wounded, or the one that prays for its enemies? The self that consumes pleasure to numb despair, or the self that suffers redemptively for a higher joy? Is it the self that is easily flattered—or the self that walks into silence and emerges radiant?

You see, the tragedy of modern man is not that he rejects religion, but that he replaces it with a form of self-worship dressed in the robes of healing.

The Accusation: Christianity Suppresses the “True Self”

There’s a growing chorus today that claims Christianity—especially the doctrine of original sin—teaches people to hate themselves. That we are told we are wretched, broken, and condemned from birth. That self-denial is a form of repression. That holiness is the death of autonomy. That trusting God means distrusting your inner voice. And that religion builds walls where the soul needs room to bloom.

Ah! But what a shallow reading of the faith! Like judging a violin concerto by the first note—played by a child holding the bow upside-down.

Original Sin and Original Glory

Christianity indeed teaches that something is broken. But it also teaches that something deeper is not.

Yes, we inherit original sin—not as divine hatred, but as a fracture in the soul’s architecture. We are born wounded, not worthless. Cracked, but crafted. The doctrine of original sin is not a license for shame; it is an invitation to grace.

Why would a God who made the stars come down into a crib of straw, unless you were worth saving?

It is not the self that God condemns—it is the false self, the one built on pride, illusion, and isolation. The “true self” is not found by inflating the ego, but by dying to it—so that something immortal may rise in its place.

Christianity and the Inner Life

Another error often repeated is that the Christian must fear his own thoughts, deny his intuition, and discard his emotions as dangerous.

No! The Christian is not called to fear the heart, but to discern it.

Modern man misreads Jeremiah’s “The heart is deceitful above all things...” as an eternal verdict. But the Scriptures also proclaim:

“I will give you a new heart, and put a new spirit within you.” (Ezekiel 36:26)

“Create in me a clean heart, O God.” (Psalm 51:10)

The Christian path is not to crush interiority but to baptize it.

The saints were the greatest interior explorers the world has ever known. They walked deep into the caverns of the heart—not to get lost, but to find Christ waiting in the center.

The Misunderstood Art of Self-Denial

They say Christianity asks us to die to ourselves. It does. But what they miss is what rises from that death.

Every great act of love involves some form of self-denial: the mother who wakes at 3 AM for a crying child, the soldier who throws himself on the grenade, the friend who tells the hard truth. To love at all is to give up a piece of yourself—but in doing so, you become more yourself, not less.

Our Lord said, “He who loses his life for My sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:39) The cross is not the end of the story. It is the door.

Powerlessness and Strength

We are not called to be helpless puppets dangling under divine whimsy. No. Christianity calls you to be a saint, which is a warrior of light.

Yes, we confess weakness—but only because that is the soil where grace grows best.

“My power is made perfect in weakness,” the Lord told St. Paul.

And Paul, who once boasted in his strength, now boasts in his need.

Christian dependence on God is not infantilization—it is covenantal maturity. It is knowing that true strength comes not from domination, but from union with the Source of Being.

The True Self Is Not Abandoned—It Is Revealed

The modern world tells you: "You are enough." But Christianity whispers a deeper truth:

You are more than enough—because you were made for glory.

The self that is surrendered to Christ is not erased. It is illumined, like stained glass catching fire from the morning sun.

The Gospel Is Not the End of You—It’s the Beginning

So to the one who has been wounded by a twisted form of religion, I say:

God does not despise your soul. He designed it.

He does not ask you to deny your personality—only your ego.

Not your dreams—only your idols.

Not your feelings—only your illusions.

Not your self—only the false mask that hides your real name.

The love of Christ is not a cage. It is the key.

“The glory of God,” said St. Irenaeus, “is man fully alive.”

If Christianity has seemed to diminish you, perhaps you have not yet met the Christ who came to make all things new—including you.