Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: for until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. (Romans 5:12-14)

Yesterday I wrote a little about original sin.
Sin is sort of odd. Why does God allow it, what’s it for? And if that’s not weird enough, why is there such a thing as original sin? Why do we all have to start on the wrong side of the law?
Let us clear one nonsense out of the way right away. God was not surprised by sin. Satan did not blindside Him by suckering Adam into eating the apple. It was foreseen and planned for. In fact in some way I can’t understand, it might even be part of the plan. Lewis Sperry Chafer lists seven reasons for God’s permitting of sin:
— It is a recognition of man’s free will
— It allows man to gain through experience what God knows by His nature
— It provides God with a means to demonstrate His hatred of evil
— It provides for the punishment of evil
— It allows God to show his grace
— It serves for the education of angels
— God places great value on redeemed souls
Every one of those reasons needs analysis and explanation. To be honest, I’m not sure I understand them all. But then I don’t need to, do I? It’s part of God’s plan, and He’ll teach me all I need to know? In summary, I think there is what you might call an eighth reason. In some way, the very existence of sin shows God’s limitless love for us.
So much for “why sin?”. But why in the world is there such a thing as original sin — and why would I call it a mercy?
Let us accept Dr. Chafer’s reasoning. Sin is, even if we don’t fully understand why, a necessary part of God’s plan. Then we must all sin. It follows that we must sin because we have each chosen to be sinful, or for some other reason. So here’s the mercy. We are all born on a level playing field. We each are born with the handicap of original sin — not one of us chooses a sin nature. After that, of course, we do have to take responsibility. We can choose Jesus as our Savior, Lord, and Master, and start to work on overcoming our sin nature … or we can choose the other way.