Along with the concept of Big Brain Doctrine, where people had a brain boost of Knowledge of good and evil, the idea that sentience thought is that effect. And that the pain in child birth is from big brain box, as is 'working the fields' since thought leads to ambition.
There is also another correlation in that story.
The snake thrown down from the tree, is to say those of big brain, also used to be in trees, before brain boost. Again a comment that original sin was moving people from ape form to thinking feeling sentient form.
I don't follow the beliefs of that doctrine. But much of writings were inspired to say that people should be followers without thought and feeling and are just dumb animals.
Note that much of the writings in Genesis, as they are now, are not an accurate description of the all powerful all loving God, but are a bias entered in by a group that believed in lack of education against people. And that believe people are either less evolved, or should be less evolved.
If you remove the fear of things that have not earned respect by lack of just actions, not paying beer and travel money that is due, or attempts to remove beer and travel money, and since fear of evil is wrong, then you can quickly see the contradiction in the current telling of many stories.
I believe the knowledge of good and evil is claiming to know what is right and wrong with certainty, instead I think people should use thought and feeling on what is right or wrong, knowing a person wont always be correct.
A favorite song.
Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCQTr8ZYdhgJust like the story of Abraham and his son was changed from thinking and feeling to blind followship, most of the recorded history tries to create a wrong impression of events in my view. I believe that story was someone, Micheal in my view, stopping Abraham from doing wrong by blind followship. Why would God need to tell him to do something everyone else was already doing, then stop him. And there is no lesson in that story, since if you believe God will stop you from 'doing wrong' if you do by faith or trust, you are not 'sacrificing' anything anyway, since by the teachings of that story, you would think you would be stopped from doing it anyways. On a side note, I don't think a just and loving God needs sacrifice, but sometimes in struggles in life there are sacrifices made. Not to honor a false God, like in the child sacrifices of old, but because sometimes tough choices lead to some hardships.
Just like I don't think generational punishment for sin is done by a just and loving God. Would you respect someone that threatens your children to get you to do something? I think that is one of the reasons why in the movie Gladiator the false emperor was standing behind a child.
I think Generational sin, is more about the effect of how your actions reflect on how people think of others in your family, not by curse by divinity, but by effect from actions done.
To think God would curse someones children for what someone else had done, or use that as a threat, is not something worthy of respect of followship.
I think the True God of love and kindness, tries to help people learn that there actions effect more then just themselves, but also can create hardship for people around them, if they do things that hurt there reputations or standing in a societal group.