Hi Shawn,

Thanks for the easy question.

You said:

• If this is true, how does Christianity even hold together?

Jesus Christ holds it together. : ) . . . even when we do dumb things like read from sources that are hostile to Christianity, let alone, the Catholic point of view.

You said:
Without the Fall of our first parents, sin would have not entered the world and there would be no need for Jesus.

You are correct but both Adam and Eve have what all of us have: free will, and God's respects the choices we make with our free will, though He may not be please with them.

Ironically, Adam and Eve's bad choice was our gain. This is why the Early Church, like the Church today, refers to Adam's original sin as our happy fault.

Adam's sin affected all mankind for our spiritual benefit. God the Father laid the trap and that bastard satan took the bait for our spiritual gain.

Mike

Shawn,

We know the Church's essential teaching on original sin is true, for the reason you state. Whether it be through monogenism, polygenism, or any other means not yet thought of, is secondary.

Pope Pius XII in Humani Generis stated that Catholics now do not have the luxury of holding to possibilities that do not allow for the doctrine of original sin. Therefore, unless the Spirit guides the Church to see something it presently does not see, monogenism is what is most reasonable.

What is most plausible according to some contemporary scientists does not mean it must be the case. In Adam, human nature was dis-graced, and the consequences of that disgraced nature was, and is, passed down to all of Adam's progeny.

Paul