What have we done to be born in sin?
The point as I understood it was that a damage was done by Adam that affected all of mankind. We down the line didn’t play any part in it. Jesus’ act didn’t affect all of mankind in the same way, it just offered an opportunity at redemption, it didn’t correct the problem and put us back into grace. So we down the line aren’t passive recipients as we are with the damage.
Original sin is
not an “actual” sin! It is not itself punishable
as such; no one is going to be positively punished for having been born in original sin* or even being in
the state or condition of original sin. Original sin is a state or condition: it just means not-having or not-being in the state of justice and holiness: it is a deprivation, like being born blind. That is indeed its own punishment, so to speak, though no guilt arises on account of it; and moreover it is affected by ignorance, because we do not realize exactly what it is we lost and don’t have anymore. That itself might be a mercy: the person who was raised in a wealthy royal household and suddenly plunged into slavery and made to suffer the worst indignities might find that life almost unbearable. We can think of the depression that ex-celebrities are noted for or those who have seen their day and how sometimes sadly they slip into nostalgia and are consequently unhappy or somewhat deluded.
*Now you can argue that someone could merit punishment by deliberately choosing to remain in such a state; and perhaps the punishment would simply be just to so remain in that condition.
Eternal
life -life in the fullest as even we in this fallen state know it or can be aware of it - is not our due. We are creatures: we do not have life
of ourselves, we are through and through generated and caused and sustained.
Now the classical philosophers would probably be aware that -even if their is an intrinsically and necessarily immortal quality about the soul, such that it “naturally” continues living even after death (i.e. it would require God to intervene to prevent the soul’s continued existence)
still he (the classic pagan philosopher) would tell you that such a state or existence is
a vastly reduced one.
For example, anyone who has experienced a long lucid dream knows that after a while you start to want to experience objective reality again and the novelty of the wonderland you have created for yourself -with all of its fun possibilities, like the fun of being able to fly around like superman - starts to wear out and off: you start to crave again a word where relationship is possible. Oddly, you start to crave “the real world” exactly because it isn’t a product of your whim and has its own intrinsic existence; I mean, it’s the very difficulties and frustrations - more like challenges really - that objective reality offers that you start to desire: it’s in part the fact that usually annoys us about the real world, that it doesn’t coform to our expectations and anticipations, that makes it strangely desirable or interesting and a more or less worthy object of our intellect. So the ancient philosophers were not far off when they began to realize later that there’s something about the human soul that craves bodily existence and hence developed theories based on the idea of reincarnation (Plato).
Now, with the ressurection we can and will experience an after life that will be bodily though, of course, we can’t really imagine what this will be like mostly because our bodily state or existence will be radically different from what it is now; no doubt, however, this will still be better than the reduced state the soul would be in of its own accord, which no doubt without the interference of God would become, we imagine, quite miserable or unhappy indeed: at the very least there would be a constant craving for return to bodily life and existence without any hope or knowledge of this even being possible.
Original sin by its nature is a deprivation that is a consequence of the loss of original justice and holiness, one; two, it admits of a death that, if left to itself, would be most unhappy - not simply the fear of absolute non-existence, but even a continued existence that would - if it lasted for eternity - only be a further and constant cause of misery. But those souls that “rest in hope” would be much happier, at least because they can hope to return to something like the state they desire or one that is at least more desirable than the present one. And it is the redemption of Christ -of the Messiah and the Saviour- who opens up this possibility and gives us this hope. Thus it is truly good news - especially if you are dead lol, so no doubt they rejoiced in hades - in hell, as the Creed says - in the limbo of the fathers at the proclamation of the Gospel.
