Inheritance of original sin I was reading the answers to How is original sin transmitted?, when it occurred to me: isn't this contrary to scripture? Specifically:

Ezekiel 18:20


  The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.


How does this tie together with the idea of "inheriting" blame from The Fall?
The way I understand it (and the way I've always seen it taught, whether at my Church, or in various other sermons/articles) is:

We inherit a sinful nature, meaning that we have a predilection for sin.  

The evidence is pretty clear from observation.  Nobody has to teach a baby how to be selfish, it's part of our nature.  (Some would call it evolutionary survival instinct).  We don't have to teach our children to lie, to be hurtful, etc.  These traits are all natural, and as parents we spend a great deal of time teaching our children how to behave properly.  Misbehaving, and actions that are considered sinful don't need to be taught, they're simply in us from birth.  

This is what is inherited from Adam's original sin.

Because we are born with that sin nature, every one of us has sinned at least once in our lives, and therefore we are guilty of our own sin.  This is what we are held accountable for.

One such article, as mentioned in the introduction can be found here.

There are other interpretations and disagreements on the concept of Original sin, so the way I understand it is not universal. Theopedia covers it from more angles.