Kevin
wrote:
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Hi, guys —
- I would like to know why the Catholic
Church and most Protestant sects teach
the idea of Original or hereditary sin?
When reading the Scriptures, I see in Romans
2:6 that we will be judged according to what
we (ourselves) have done, not our parents,
friends, or co-workers.
Also Ezekiel 18:20 clearly states that we
don't bear the iniquities of our fathers.
Thank you,
Kevin
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{
Contrary to the Scriptures, why does the Church and most Protestant groups teach Original sin? }
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Mary
Ann replied:
Kevin,
Original Sin is a state that we are born
in, not a personal sin. It is a state
of alienation, of lacking a communion
with God. This lacking makes us error-prone,
weak of will, and prone to commit
sin.
Because our nature is meant to be
united to God, being out of order
with Him makes our inner selves disordered,
with all of our aspects of ourselves
in conflict and disorder. For instance, we don't
have control of our appetites or
emotions . We lean more
toward evil, though we are good in
our being.
Mary Ann
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John
replied:
Kevin,
It sounds like you may be coming
at this from an Eastern Orthodox
perspective.
As Mary Ann explained, there is no
guilt involved, but simply an inability
to respond to God because of a lack
of grace. The Orthodox and even Eastern
Rite Catholics, might call this original
death or something similar. In the
end, we mean the same thing. We know
Baptism is the normative cure for
the condition, no matter how you
diagnose it.
In the West, we tend to look at salvation
in a juridical paradigm. This started
with St. Augustine. Not that it's
wrong; it's just different.
In the East, the perspective surrounds
Eternal Life, the Life of God, being
transformed into the image of God
as we enter into the Mystery and
Life of the Blessed Trinity. These
two approaches are complementary,
not contradictory.
All that said, let me defend our
approach. While we don't bear the
guilt of our original parent's (Adam and Eve) sin,
we certainly pay the consequences.
Adam was thrown out of the garden.
We don't start out the same as Adam did . . .
in the garden, until we mess up.
We live under the same curse and
the same cursed Earth. We have
to deal with mortality, sickness,
heartache, all those things Adam
did not know until he sinned.
In the Old Testament, it says, the
sins of the father are passed on
to the son and on to their third
and fourth generations. (Exodus 34:7; Numbers 14:18)
- What is God saying in those verses?
He is saying that the consequences
of our sin just don't affect us.
Well, Original Sin works the same
way. We don't inherit guilt but we
inherit the inability to reach communion
with God and we inherit the desire
to sin.
I hope that helps,
John
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Paul
replied:
Dear Kevin,
I, too, concur with Mary Ann and
John but I'd like to approach it
from a different viewpoint.
It seems that, in an analogous way,
we all share in the guilt of Adam.
It's not a personal guilt but a corporate
guilt, which is washed away with
Baptism. The temporal effects of
the sin on each individual remain
after Baptism, as they do with the
individual after the sacrament of
Confession, but the eternal effect,
which is union with God, the state
of grace and Eternal Life, is restored.
This is administered on the individual
at Baptism.
Humanity's Sin Through Adam.
12 Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned — 13 for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law. 14 But death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even
over those who did not sin after
the pattern of the trespass of
Adam, who is the type of the one
who was to come.
Grace and Life Through Christ.
15 But the
gift is not like the transgression.
For if by that one person's transgression
the many died, how much more did
the grace of God and the gracious
gift of the one person Jesus Christ
overflow for the many. 16 And the gift is not like the result
of the one person's sinning. For
after one sin there was the judgment
that brought condemnation; but
the gift, after many transgressions,
brought acquittal. 17 For if, by the transgression of one person,
death came to reign through that
one, how much more will those
who receive the abundance of grace
and of the gift of justification
come to reign in life through
the one person Jesus Christ. 18 In
conclusion, just as through one
transgression condemnation came
upon all, so through one righteous
act acquittal and life came to
all. 19 For just as through
the disobedience of one person
the many were made sinners, so
through the obedience of one the
many will be made righteous.
Romans 5:12-19 |
The word Adam in
the biblical Hebrew is the common
noun for mankind as well as the proper
name for the individual. Since Adam,
as a proper noun, is the father of
the human race, we are eventually
begotten of him as humanity unfolds.
This Adam not only represented us
as the head but as mankind, we are in Adam
as he sinned; and we are all condemned
by God by the rescinding of grace
and being kicked out of paradise. The result is the head of the human race and rest of the body of men and women to follow are conceived and born
in a world of concupiscence, suffering,
death, and injustice.
Christ came to restore:
- the Adam of
humanity to a state of grace, and
- the destiny to share Eternal Life
in the ultimate paradise of Heaven
but He didn't come to take away the
effects of sin in this world, but
rather to grant us the grace to overcome
them. We, individual Adams, are judged
by how we respond to the grace won
for us by the Second Adam or
Head of Humanity, Jesus Christ.
Peace,
Paul
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Kevin
replied:
Hi guys,
Thanks for the clarification.
- So we don't inherit the sins
of our ancestors?
That is what I believe the Bible
teaches too.
- Are you saying that Original Sin does
not mean we inherit Adam's
sin?
- If so, OK, but what about babies?
I believe they are innocent until
they sin against God. It's sin that
separates us from God,
(Isaiah 59:2), not being born into
the world.
- Isn't that what Jesus is saying
in Matthew 19:14 and Mark 10:14?
- Doesn't he say that children
are of the kingdom of God?
(not a sinful being because
they have not sinned yet.)
Kevin
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Paul
replied:
Kevin,
I do believe we inherit the sin of
Adam, in our nature. Our human nature
is tainted; we are conceived and
born with imperfect bodies, a darkened
mind and a weakened will, and something
called concupiscence which is an
internal disorder (a desire to sin).
All of this imperfection and more
is the inheritance of original sin.
Baptism washes away the corporate
guilt of mankind being in Adam as he sinned, restoring the individual
to a state of grace and friendship
with God.
As for the sins of our ancestors,
we don't inherit their guilt. They
do not represent us, as Adam did, but
we may experience some of the effects
of their sins. For example, if my
grandparents divorced and remarried
others I, as a grandchild, do not
have the opportunity to have my extended
family intact, having grandparents married to
other people and not to each other.
If my parents had an abortion, I
will never know my brother or sister
that should have accompanied me through
my life in some familial way. There
are many ways we can think of, that
our ancestors' sins may affect us
now, but we are not guilty of any
of them.
As for babies, we have to say they're
conceived and born alienated from
God as being children of Adam. As
Christians, they are also children
of God when baptized allowing restoration
of union with God.
- But what about those that die
before or without Baptism?
God has not revealed to us what happens
to them. With Pope St. John Paul II we can hope
in the Mercy of God for their
souls. (Also see Mary
Ann's answer which follows.)
- Can God dispense baptismal grace
without the physical channel of
Baptism to a personally innocent
child that still has the corporate
guilt of alienation from Him?
If this is not a logical contradiction,
He can.
Peace,
Paul
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Mary
Ann replied:
Kevin,
The Church speaks of original sin
as a state that we inherit, not a
guilt we inherit.
As for unbaptized children, they
are in the same state as any innocent
or just life who died before Christ — they
have their hope in Christ, and can
be saved through the faith of others,
just as children are baptized through
the faith of others.
Jesus said, Whoever accepts
a little child, accepts me, (Luke
9:48) so He identifies with children.
Pope St. John Paul II originally said that unbaptized children are living
in the Lord until some Vatican
bureaucrat changed the words of Evangelium Vitae, paragraph 99.
I would now like to say a special
word to women who have had an
abortion. The Church is aware of the many
factors which may have influenced
your decision, and she does not
doubt that in many cases it was
a painful and even shattering
decision. The wound in your heart
may not yet have healed. Certainly
what happened was and remains
terribly wrong. But do not give
in to discouragement and do not
lose hope. Try rather to understand
what happened and face it honestly. If you have not already done so,
give yourselves over with humility
and trust to repentance. The
Father of mercies is ready to
give you his forgiveness and his
peace in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. You will come to understand that
nothing is definitively lost and
you will also be able to ask forgiveness
from your child, who is now living
in the Lord. With the friendly
and expert help and advice of
other people, and as a result
of your own painful experience,
you can be among the most eloquent
defenders of everyone's right
to life. Through your commitment
to life, whether by accepting
the birth of other children or
by welcoming and caring for those
most in need of someone to be
close to them, you will become
promoters of a new way of looking
at human life.
Evangelium Vitae, paragraph 99 |
In any case, God is just and merciful, so there
is no worry.
Mary Ann
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