I think you're completely wrong in your assessment of individual human motivation being displeasing to God. I think God would much rather see us do good deeds because WE WANT TO, than because we fear His divine retribution, or because we have been ordered to by our religious beliefs and doctrines.
I like the story even though it doesn't reflect how I understand a relationship with God. Neither of the characters had any hope of reconciliation with God in the story because neither of them were intimate to begin with. God doesn't punish us because we sin, but because we are sinners.
I think your assessment is correct except in one point. Original sin has nothing to do with motivation. Original sin is not doing something wrong, but in holding God in low esteem.
Israel wasn't condemned for doing wrong stuff. But for doing stuff they thought was right, that they wanted to do. They ignored God's will, and by doing so made themselves to be his peer.
Jud 17:6 In those days there was no king in Israel, but every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Jud 21:25 In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
Over in this thread
show me... the first lines retell Gen 1 from the perspective of sensus plenior.
God dwelt in darkness/love which could be expressed because of his triune nature. There was no expression of light/holiness because there was nothing to express separation from. As soon as he created, there was something that was separate.
By his nature before creation he was light/holy, but it was not expressible. It was hidden in his name. Elohim has a pun Alo Khoom, meaning 'not dark' or Light. So as soon as there was a creation, it was in darkness/love so that it wouldn't be destroyed. But his first revelation of himself to his creation was that he was Holy (separate, different).
His next 'task' was to reveal himself as holy, so he said, "Let there be Light". Creation is receiving love already, but doesn't know God as Holy. As John says, we are in the darkness and love the darkness and hate the Light.
Intimacy with God is not possible if we treat him as a peer. It is that way with any authority. If the private doesn't recognize the general's authority there can be nothing but trouble. But when he does, a private may become a great personal friend to a general. In parenting, if children have no respect for the authority of parents there is great chaos. But when there is respect, there can be great intimacy.
It is God's desire to dwell with men, therefore men must learn to acknowledge God as God. Only then can we have intimacy.
But you are correct. Once we are in a proper relationship, he would prefer that we do stuff out of love, rather than fear or obligation. But even fear and obligation are better than not acknowledging him to start with.
Original sin violates the Holiness of God. It says that I am equal to God and can make my own choices. Original sin says "me first" even when it serves others, because I have chosen what is good and that I should do what I want to do. Love says God first and then others because of God. It puts the self in third position.
If I choose because I want to, I am still in first position, and cannot have intimacy with God. Now here's the bigger problem. We don't even want intimacy with God.
We don't call people crazy for praying to God, but for hearing his response. We mock the very intimacy that God desires for us, because the carnal mind is enmity with God.
Oh... and God doesn't NEED us to do stuff. He is capable of doing stuff all on his own. This is why the work itself can mean nothing to God, and the relationship is of pre-eminent importance to him.
So to the characters in the story I would say that their sin was the result of their fallen nature, but their determination that there was nothing that they could do about what God would do was an exercise in the same original sin. They created their own God rather than draw near to the God of their fathers.
David was an adulterer AND a murderer, yet he was reconciled to God. Why a Rabbi would decide that reconciliation was out of his reach can only be attributed to the very same original sin that tells him that he knows better than God.
I suspect that even the greatest of Christians stumbles on this from time to time. Paul cried out, "Who will save me from the body of sin and death" because we all get dragged back into instinctive living. We may have the greatest faith in Christ, and yet one may tithe out of obligation, and another doesn't steal because of fear.
But the greatest gift is when we recognize that we have done something out of love that we could not have done in our own strength. These graces confirm our faith.
It is a grace of love that doesn't even take offense when someone sins against us, because we recognize that all sin is against God, and that taking offense makes us equal to him and treats him as a peer. It is a grace that absorbs sin, because if I do not take offense, then there is nothing to forgive. If I give you my stereo you cannot steal it. Your heart condition is between you and God and not for me to judge.
But you are right. Who wants a relationship where you are in constant fear and obligation?
I believe the Bible is very much like a work of art. Made by men, for men. So that's how I read it. Whether I'm right, or I'm wrong, God will do what God will do, regardless. But in any case, I will have done what was in my true nature to do, and what I believed to be right, as best I could. And NOT just because I was told to do it, by others, who were presuming that their religion was a true representation of God, and is speaking for God. And not just so I could be rewarded for it in heaven.
I think you make the same error as the characters. You make your own God and determine what he will and won't do. You present a false dilemma. These are not the only two choices. The third choice is to become intimate with God. Yep, become a crazy person and learn to actually hear him.
I am not talking about some warm and fuzzy feeling. I am talking about a way that you can not only hear him, but it can be validated that you have heard him. It is not some subjective mumbo jumbo. You can hear him the same way the apostles did.
I will probably receive more abuse from Christians for that statement than I will from non-believers.
