[A religious Web site] states that God "is perfect and cannot be around sin," and that, because we are all related distantly to Adam and Eve, we inherently contain some ammount of sin.

So how can any of us reach Heaven? Granted, the Bible states that Jesus died for our sins, to allow us that entry point, but when we die we are still, supposedly, related to Adam and Eve. And thus, even after divine forgiveness, we would still have the taint of sin on our souls.

This, to an atheist such as myself, raises some curiousity. If, when we die, there is even a possibility of entering Heaven, then this tain of sin must have been erased some how. There are two possibilites: the loss of our corporeal bodies results in the loss of sin; or the divine will of God erases that sin. Both options seem to me to go against the teachings of the Bible. But I could be wrong.

If death itself removes us from sin, then God would have no say in who may be in his presence in the after life, because sin would not exist in the after life, and thus Hell could not exist either it seems.

If God removes the taint of sin, then how could sin exist in the world, or in the afterlife? Why would God let there be sin, if he could simply remove it from existance? This leads down a frightening path, in my opinion. It would imply that either God has some point to prove (which, I'm sure, can be shown philosophically as not being good), or that God simply wishes to punish and tormet a good portion of his creation (again, probably not within the definition of infinite good).

In the end, I would have to agree with you: to hold any debate on the topic of religion would require a standard definition of 'good'.

I think the idea is that divine forgiveness is enough to remove the stain of sin. Why is there sin? The classic answer is that without the potential for sin there can be no free will.

A far better question might be: how far must God allow free will to go? Certainly there must have been some way for an infinitely wise, good, and powerful being to prevent the Holocaust (to choose the obvious example) without interfering with anyone's free will? Unless he never interferes in human affairs, that is, and if that's the case there is a lot of unnecessary praying going on.