The blame game started in the Garden itself. Who is the one behind The Fall? Was it a push from the outside that caused man to slip and fall? Was it the snake at its seducive best? Was it the apple with its tempting looks?
Someone had suggested a racial (re)reading to the whole drama at the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve must have been white or brown skinned to be so tempted by the shining fruit that they forgot all what God had told and tasted the fruit. Had they been yellow skinned, the fruit would never have been a fatal attraction at all; instead, Eve would have first consumed the serpent itself before it could start off with its tempting words!!!
(Paul doesn't know how to be polite.)
"Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned— for before the law was given, sin was in the world. But sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Nevertheless, death reigned from the time of Adam to the time of Moses, even over those who did not sin by breaking a command, as did Adam, who was a pattern of the one to come". Romans 5.12-14.
He places the whole burden on ONE MAN or MAN.
A few (s)insights
One, the cause of Fall/Sin/Evil or whatever you name it, never came from outside. Look at the Eden case file closely. Everything, I mean every single thing, was created by God and there wasn't anything that existed that God did not create. And God found it GOOD. There is no UFOs or ETs mentioned. The events start off from a friendly chat with the best of females with the best of animals about the best of things; and the talk went wild...The man was more than willing to swallow. It was a story of the best of the things that God created joining up to be/make a mess. Moral, the best of the systems, realtionships, people has a possibility to turn evil, against God, if not focused on the purpose of God.
Two, the aberration has a contagious nature. It affects the whole of humanity. (As to how the mechanism works is still debated. Augustine suggested a biological inheritance of sin. "This is of propagation, not of imitation". The West is almost for it, but the Augustinian position is seriously contested.) But the effect loomes over the whole of humanity. Not because of being biological sinners, but because of the fact that Adam exhausted the possibilty of disobeying God and being in rebellion with the purposes of God. He opened up the way as to how to disobey God and the whole humanity happily continued Adam's way ever after.
Three, dont just blame Adam for everymess, You are the Man. Paul is quick to clarify after indicting Adam for the premiere on sin that we have sinned too. So its not just Adam we have a worthy part in it by being true partners in sinning. We made sure of God's wrath by our own sin. No excuse, anyway.
We are all sinners; not only because of Adam, but also because of our own wicked conduct. On the one hand, we are part of sin-prone humanity. the words of David, ' True, I was born guilty, a sinner, even as my mother conceived me", should mean that sin has marked my life ever since I came into being(not that the biological process of man-woman union and conception is sinful).On the other hand, "we are actively sinners, persons who in the conduct of our lives miss the mark, because of what we do and fail to do".(J.A. Fitzmyer)
That is, we do not FALL into sin just like that, we MAPQUEST/GOOGLE our way into sin.
Hey, dont get crazy, you keep missing the mark, but thats not the end of the story.
For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ. Romans 5.17
In Christ, there is a super abundant life giving effect. And thats the story unfolding through the reading and meditation of the Great Lent. Stay tuned.