Since one man’s sin (that of Adam) had been responsible for causing the entire human family to be sinners, the shed blood of another perfect human (in effect, a second Adam), being of corresponding value, could balance the scales of justice.
MrGordon,
The vast majority of humans who had and have absolutely no influence on Adam's rather minor transgression will suffer the consequences.
Is this a the generally held belief? I believe that in days of low literacy rates and when lives were ruled by the religious elite the answer was yes. I doubt that this sort of thinking still holds much traction.
It is this sort of reasoning that made me question religion as a young child. I recall that as a child I wanted to keep harmless snakes. My parents, who were afraid of any snakes, tried to tell me that they (snakes) were evil because they mislead Eve. I remember thinking: rubbish.
