Here’s an interesting contrast between the dogma of Western Christianity (Roman Catholic & Protestantism) and Eastern Christianity (Orthodox).
In Western Christianity, Adam and Eve committed a horrible sin in the Garden of Eden, by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil…even though they could not comprehend good and evil until after they had eaten from the tree. Yet God became so enraged at their misbehavior that he not only made life hard and painful, made eternal hell the “default” destination of every human who would ever live from then on.
In Eastern Christianity, the story of Adam & Eve in the garden is a metaphor about the pain of the loss of innocence. When we humans (either individually, or humankind as a whole) attains a certain level of emotional and spiritual maturation, we realize that life is hard and painful, and we comprehend that one day we will die. Ignorance is bliss, but awareness is painful. We realize we are naked and vulnerable. “Original sin” is not a punishment all of us are born with; it’s the agony that is simply a consequence of being human.