Have some grape juice with those figs.

The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, "What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying:
<The fathers have eaten sour grapes,
and the children's teeth are set on edge?> 
As I live, says the Lord GOD, you shall no longer have any reason to use this proverb in Israel. Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine:
The soul that sinneth, it shall die."                                    Ezekiel 18:1-4

The augustinian formula for "Original Sin" needs to be examined and shown to be inadequate for expressing the truth that the Bible teaches about sin.  Adam and Eve sinned and inflicted death upon all of mankind.  I am not personally responsible for Adam's sin and he is not at all responsible for mine.  My dad's sour grapes were his own and I am not a sinner because he enjoyed them at different times in his life.  The only reason my dad can be mentioned as a component part of my sin is because I did not exist untlil he and mom participated in the procreative process.  If I didn't exist, I would not be a sinner.  When my parents were biologically disabled from bringing children into the world, they deprived unactualized brothers and sisters of mine from becoming sinners.  The rest of us went down like 10 pins (even though there were only 7 of us).

The problem with the augustinian/calvinist system is that it never factors in the truth of God's creative ability to make contingent beings come on the scene without them having existed eternally.  Using a low grade of logic that refuses to work through contradictions, the augustinian/calvinist starts with the notion that God knows everything and winds up with a deterministic universe that somehow is still free for something to happen.  Meanwhile, they ignore the painful reality that points to the fact that, once upon a time, they did not exist.  They have no answer for this objection...

Meanwhile, we all choose sour grapes.  Not because we are pre-destined to do so, but because we are deceived into thinking that they really are sweet.  (Interesting that the calvinists don't factor the devil and evil into the cosmic equation since they have the magic formula of chosen saved versus chosen reprobates.)  Once we find ourselves without protection in the realm of the original sinner (that would be Satan...1 John 3:10), then we immediately understand our need for a Savior.  This knowledge comes to us because the GIFT of the figs eaten by our original parents is the knowledge of good and evil.  Knowing evil, we know that we need Jesus.  Knowing the same thing, the devil offers substitutes.

Accept no substitute!

Come to Jesus!

Come to the Cross.