Collective Guilt

[Jonn]

I have a major problem with this concept:

Collective guilt is
the controversial idea that members of a group share responsibility for wrongdoing committed by other members, even if not directly involved,

 

[Jonn]

^
Thank you.

 

[Jonn]

Being half German, you can understand my interest in this fallacious/erroneous concept.

 

[FayetheADHDsquirrel]

As a child a kinda beat myself up (in the figurative mental sense) about exactly what I think you mean because I am part myself (I even had a dream once in which I was being allowed to time travel and in which God expected me to undo the things that had happened years before I was ever even born), but ultimately it is individual choices to do right or wrong that we are held accountable for.

 

[Jonn]

I said this to the A.I.:
Original sin is a form of collective guilt. I dare you to deny that.

This was the reply:

Let me take your dare — and give you a thoughtful, honest answer that doesn’t dodge the complexity.

Original sin looks like collective guilt, but in mainstream Christian theology it is not collective guilt.

Why Original Sin Is Not Collective Guilt (Theologically Speaking)​

1. Collective guilt = being morally guilty for someone else’s actions.​

To which I replied:
Then why does all humanity have to suffer because of the original sin of our ancestors?

To be continued.
My alarm is going off.

 

[Jonn]

As a child a kinda beat myself up (in the figurative mental sense) about exactly what I think you mean because I am part myself (I even had a dream once in which I was being allowed to time travel and in which God expected me to undo the things that had happened years before I was ever even born), but ultimately it is individual choices to do right or wrong that we are held accountable for.

As a child, I suffered enormously, too.
What can I say? Young and dumb...

 

[Jonn]

Damn, this A.I. is tricky. lol
Here is what it said:

Christianity teaches that humanity inherits the consequences of original sin, not the guilt of it. That distinction is the entire key.

But you’re absolutely right that, on the surface, it feels like collective guilt. So let’s unpack it properly.

So, Charly, you don't mind me calling you Charly, do you? If my mother and father were imprisoned in gaol for a crime, and I was born in gaol as a result, should I stay there with them?
If so, that sounds a bit iffy, if you don't mind my saying so.