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Hi Bob,
The best we can do is speculate.
In answering your question I've chosen paragraphs from the Catechism that
I thought would be helpful:
In Brief
416 By his sin Adam, as the first man, lost the original holiness and justice
he had received from God, not only for himself but for all human beings.
417 Adam and Eve transmitted to their descendants human nature wounded
by their own first sin and hence deprived of original holiness and justice;
this deprivation is called "original sin".
418 As a result of original sin, human nature is weakened in its powers,
subject to ignorance, suffering and the domination of death, and inclined
to sin (this inclination is called "concupiscence"). |
Scripture also tells us: After creating man and woman He blessed them
and says:
"Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it."
Genesis
1:28
You said:
- What if Adam and Eve had not sinned?
I don't mean to sound inappropriate or crass, but the only thing I can
deduce is that [sex| procreation] would have been far
greater then it is
now.
For two reasons:
- Because Adam and Eve would have been whole, complete people with
original holiness and justice, and
- all men and women proceeding from their being fertile would see, with further revelation, the Trinitarian nature of being fertile and multiplying, instead of just seeing the other as a sex object to be used as this current sex-saturated culture does.
- What do I mean by the Trinitarian nature of being fertile and multiplying?
In the same way the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, so the children proceed from the love of the husband and his wife having been bonded for life in Holy Matrimony.
Adam and Eve were originally immaculate, just like Our Blessed Mother,
and destined to be immaculate, when they were asked to: Be fertile and multiply.
You said:
- Would their time on earth have been limited?
I know of no place in Scripture or Tradition that would support any such
limitation. Since the domination of death was one of the results
of original sin, I see no reason why they, and their offspring, would not
have lived forever in God's friendship here on earth.
You said:
- How would it have played out?
Again, we can only speculate on the what, why, and how of Our Lord's Plan.
That's the best the Church can do.
Hope it helps,
Mike
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