Curious Pilgrim — Part 1
A Reflection on Sin, Choice, and the Journey of Becoming
Introduction
All my life, I have lived with a quiet tension.
The tension between what I was taught…
and what I have experienced.
Between Scripture, tradition, reason, and the life I have actually lived.
I remember sitting in Systematic Theology classes, listening to explanations of how sin was passed down from Adam and Eve—how their choice became my condition.
And I remember thinking, even then:
That doesn’t make sense.
How can I be guilty for a choice I did not make?
The World I Was Given
I do not deny that something is broken.
I have seen too much of life to deny that.
I have lived through violence, loss, injustice, and the weight of human choices—both my own and those made long before I arrived.
But what I have come to believe is this:
We are not born guilty.
We are born into a world already wounded.
And that is not the same thing.
The Breath of Life
The Scriptures tell us that God breathed life into humanity.
And another voice in Scripture declares:
God is love.
If that is true, then what we receive at the beginning of life is not condemnation—but breath… and love… and possibility.
Yes, we are shaped by others.
Yes, we inherit systems we did not choose.
Yes, we suffer because of what came before us.
But we are not without agency.
We choose.
We respond.
We become.
Rethinking Sin
I no longer see sin as something I inherited like a stain.
I see it as something I learn… and unlearn.
- A failure to love
- A failure to understand
- A stage in the long journey of becoming human
We are not born “dirty and rotten.”
We are born unfinished.
The Forces We Cannot Control
And yet, life is not simple.
We do not live in isolation.
- Political systems
- Religious institutions
- Economic realities
These shape us in ways we cannot always escape.
We are free—but not entirely free.
And so we struggle.
Not because we are doomed from birth—
but because we are human, and the world is complicated.
A Different Way to See It
What I now believe is this:
We do not inherit guilt—
we inherit a world in need of healing,
and a life in which our choices matter.
Within that world, we are given something sacred:
The ability to choose.
- To love or not to love
- To heal or to harm
- To grow… or to remain as we are
The Curious Pilgrim’s Conclusion
Maybe the story is not about fallen creatures trying to earn their way back.
Maybe it is about human beings—
formed in love—
learning, slowly and imperfectly,
how to live in that love.
Not condemned at birth.
But invited to become.
— Roy | The Curious Pilgrim
🌄 About the Curious Pilgrim Series
Curious Pilgrim is an ongoing journey of faith, questions, and becoming—where I explore how Scripture, tradition, reason, and experience shape the life we are living.
The Curious Pilgrim 
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