The sins of the fathers

A short blurb on original sin and cause and effect

Dear H,

Thomas Paine once wrote about the laws of Moses in The Age of Reason,

They contain some good moral precepts such as any man qualified to be a lawgiver or a legislator could produce himself, without having recourse to supernatural intervention. It is, however, necessary to except the declamation which says that God ‘visits the sins of the fathers upon the children’. This is contrary to every principle of moral justice.

But this is unfair to God. Physics visits the sins of the fathers on the children for generations. There is nothing you do at work that doesn’t affect strangers sitting at home miles away. Every thought that becomes a word, and every word that turns into a deed, launches a chain of effects that you won’t only not see, but that you won’t even be able to comprehend. The tiniest sins, like the tiniest blessings, affect even the unborn. Every day we inherit the entirety of history. And every day we fashion the future in our own image.

We never had the chance to act “for ourselves.” There is nothing in the world that was ever just “your business.” We are acting for everything we ever touch, everything within sight, everything within earshot. People say they don’t believe in Original Sin or guilt by association, but children always pay for the sins of their fathers. Always. Maybe not for all of them, but definitely for some of them.

And it is never fair.

Yours,

-J