Original sin is not an optional doctrine. Christianity presupposes sin and sinners. Christ came to save sinners. He knew who He was dealing with before He came to the world and He knew for whom He was dying while He hung on the cross.
John 2:24-25
But Jesus did not commit himself unto them, because he knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for he knew what was in man.
More than anyone else, Jesus knew what was in a man. While Jesus never knew what it was like to have sin inside Him, He knew what was on the inside of everyone else. Men may know their sins, but they know them only in part. They do not see the depths of their own depravity. The presence of some kinds of sins keep you from seeing others at all or from seeing some as badly as they are. But Christ did not have any sin of His own, so He could see our imperfections perfectly. He saw His fellow man the same way the Holy Spirit did.
Romans 3:10-12
As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable;
there is none that doeth good, no, not one.
A good man knows that he is bad. A bad man thinks that he is good. A good man understands the depth of his badness in trying and failing to be good. The bad man misunderstands what he imagines to be his goodness because it goes untested. It is good enough for him, which is why is wicked before God.
Jesus did not come to die for people who were good enough. He did not come to be killed for people who just needed a pep talk. He took on flesh in order to be put to death for people who deserve to die. He knew what was in a man and yet He treated men better than anyone else. He presupposed their evil and healed their diseases. He knew their depravity and sunk down to Hades for them.
This is a core belief of Christianity. It is a rotten core, but it is essential. Remove it and you have a different religion entirely.
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