Dear AHC,

I am so sorry that it has been impossible to find out what your own religion teaches on such an essential matter. Never be afraid to go to your pastor and ask him. Of course, any bookstore will have the Catholic Catechism, and there is YouCat, the Catholic Catechism for Teens.

The effect of Adam and Eve's sin was to cause us to lose our special gift of union with God.
We lost our relationship with Him — a relationship which is exemplified in the Bible by the special Garden and by the fact that God came to visit daily. We were created immortal, but we also had this gift of union with God, by which our minds and wills were in union with truth and goodness and we would be able to live in God's Own Eternal Life after a period of test. We failed the test, so we lost the possibility and the capability of living with God.

Nevertheless, from the first moment, God began the plan of salvation, promising a Redeemer — Someone who could restore the broken relationship. To redeem us, God Himself, in the Person of His Word, His Image from all eternity, one of the three Persons in one Divine Being, became incarnate and became Man. This was Jesus, and He saved us by His Obedience. Where we were proud and disobeyed, He is humble and obedient, following the Father's Way of love no matter what men did to Him. He was obedient even to death because He, as God, was able, through His human will as man, to stay in loving union with God through every evil and through death itself, the greatest weapon of the enemy, and the first of the evil effects of the fall. He was like a New Adam, restoring humanity to union with God. His Risen Body, in glory, is the bridge between God and Man, which is what the word priest (pontifex — bridge maker) means.

We can go back to God and be in union with the God through the humanity of Christ, where the fullness of God dwells. His living Body on Earth is the Church, which imparts to us the real supernatural life of Christ, a share in His Life, which is Divine Life.

We begin our union with God again, with Baptism, we nourish it with Christ Himself in the Eucharist, and it is assisted, directed and empowered by the other sacraments. All of this so that we can walk in Christ's footsteps in the new divine way of living, and enter eternal life when we die.

Mary Ann

Dear AHC,

I just wanted to add a little to what Mary Ann said. Though Baptism removes original sin, the effects of original sin stay with us until we pass to eternal life. These effects of original sin are known as concupiscence, something we all will struggle with until we are six feet in the ground.

In a previous reply, my colleague Paul said:
I have met many Mormons who have been wonderful people who, in my view, by the way they live their lives seem more Catholic than many Catholics.

That said, I don't doubt you have some fine Mormon friends who are good witnesses to their faith.

Nevertheless, what they believe about Jesus Christ is totally different than what mainline Christians believe. Your Mormon friends base their beliefs on visions of Joseph Smith over 1,800 years after Jesus gloriously ascended into Heaven. As Catholics, we base our faith on:

• the God-Man Jesus Christ who is True God and True Man
• the one Church He founded in 33 A.D. (the Catholic Church) and
• the Teachings from that Church that have been safeguarded and clarified at points in history until the end of time.
  

Here are some of the teachings your Mormon friends believe in. I encourage you to share these resources with your friends, as they may have not read or seen these Mormon documents.

• Pearl of Great Price/Abraham, Chapter 3
• Pearl of Great Price/Abraham, Chapter 4
• Facsimile No. 2 from Wikipedia
  

Here are some good Catholic articles from our colleagues at Catholic Answers:

• Distinctive Beliefs of the Mormon Church
• The Gods of the Mormon Church
• Mormon Stumpers

Mike

Hello AHC,

Just to add a tad to what Mike and Mary Ann said.

You said:

• Why has a baby, just by being born, already sinned (with original sin)?

Good question, but we can't really say the baby had sinned, however, we can say he or she shares in the sin of the head of humanity, Adam. The baby didn't choose it so (he or she) is not personally guilty of anything.

Just like a whole team loses when a pitcher throws a bad game, or a country is at war if its head (the president, king, or prime minister) declares war, so too, is the whole team of humanity alienated from God once our head, in Adam, disobeyed Him.

Jesus came to become our New Adam, or Head, to make things right again with God, so that we would be in union with Him as we were in the garden — even though original sin still leaves its natural wounds of internal disorder, suffering and death on human nature that every person inherits upon conception.

Mormons can be very nice people; but nice in itself doesn't save. In order to cooperate with Christ we must know Him, and the most surefire way to know Him is through the Catholic Church which He founded and where the fullness of truth and supernatural life, that God has left humanity, still subsides.

Feel free to continue the conversation with us or ask other questions in the future.

Peace,

Paul