So: Everyone is familiar with the Faustian bargain. Sell your soul to the forces of darkness or to the Devil himself in exchange for some sort of transitory earthly reward.
There's a TV show called "Reaper" however, where the parents of the main character sell their unborn child's soul to old splitfoot.
Metaphysically, how is that possible?
I see two major flaws with that notion, right off the bat. Firstly, God created man with free will. It's kinda hard to be bound by a contract when you don't even exist to consider it prior to its inception. Although, one could argue that my unborn children's unborn children are bound by our national debt and make for an example of an earthly rebuttal. Except for the fact that free choice exists for those children 30 years from now and they do have options to escape the bondage of that debt.
Secondly, even if man wasn't created with free will and "original sin" gives the Devil the power to lay claim to a soul by proxy of another's word... Christ died for our sins and freed us of that original sin.
Can anyone come up with a good metaphysical argument that allows someone to sell someone else's soul?
(I find the whole concept of it disturbing... not just on the metaphysical realm but also consternating for this lifetime. After all, if a soul can be sold by proxy, then it seems that a natural right can also be eliminated or transferred.)
