Comment 19 by xsjadolateralus :

This whole thing IS really, really pathetic and detracts from the real debates on how best to maintain our emergent civilization.

"When Adam sinned, he sinned for us,"Mohler says. "And it's that very> sinfulness that sets up ourunderstanding of our need for a savior.

So, what Adam did was not that wicked after all?

I mean, if it were the only way to be redeemed and the only path to god, then how could it ever be considered a wicked act?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but....... Adam eats the fruit and starts a chain reaction to god's eventual redemption of everyone. Had he NOT eaten the forbidden fruit, no fall, no redemption, no real need for god. God just sits there twiddling his thumbs, watching matter and energy grow and fizzle out.

So, how was Adam's "wicked act" so wicked?

More than that, the bible specifically identifies why eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil earned the gods' wrath. Jealousy. It made man and woman more like them. Also eating of the fruit of life would have made man and woman immortal too. Couldn't have that. Had to punish man and woman with ignorance and suffering.

That's original sin from a strictly literal reading of Genesis.