Original Sin

Jehovah's Witnesses accept that Adam's sin in the Garden of Eden resulted in the inheritance of death and imperfection (sin) by all of Adam's descendants. Romans 5:12 ('through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death spread to all men') is foundational to their understanding of the human condition. Because all humans inherit imperfection from Adam, all face death and are in need of the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

However, JW teaching on original sin differs from the Augustinian Catholic formulation in important ways: they do not emphasize the inherited guilt of Adam's specific act in the same forensic manner; rather, they focus on the inherited tendency toward sin and the resulting mortality. The remedy is not baptismal regeneration (in the sacramental sense) but acceptance of Christ's ransom, dedication and baptism as an expression of that faith, and living in harmony with Jehovah's principles. Infants who die are expected to be resurrected and given the opportunity for life in the paradise earth.