Could the Fall have included corruption of Adam's body is some respects?

[Quack]

Is it compatible with the Catholic Faith to say the following?

1. The Fall included the corruption of Adam’s DNA.
2. Because of this, we can never through science discover than Adam and Eve are the two parents of all of mankind. This is something known through revelation.

This corruption of the body through the Fall could also have included corruption of the body through vestigial organs and the like. Human nature is hence corrupted in another way, bringing us down on a level closer to the animals in some respects.

Could the Fall have included corruption of the body?

Man is made in the image of God with regards to the mind only (St. Thomas Aquinas wrote this). Original sin is said to be transmitted through the semen (St. Augustine wrote this), and this is where the male DNA is (like Adam’s).

 

[NotWorthy]

I’d have to say False.

There is a gene that is common throughout all women. I believe its called the michardial gene, and it can be traced back to one woman.

Now, I’m hoping I remembered this correctly. I got it from Fr. Altier’s Catechism series.

On another note, I’m of the opinion that further science developments only make me believe in God even more!

 

[fhansen]

Is it compatible with the Catholic Faith to say the following?

1. The Fall included the corruption of Adam’s DNA.
2. Because of this, we can never through science discover than Adam and Eve are the two parents of all of mankind. This is something known through revelation.

This corruption of the body through the Fall could also have included corruption of the body through vestigial organs and the like. Human nature is hence corrupted in another way, bringing us down on a level closer to the animals in some respects.

Could the Fall have included corruption of the body?

Man is made in the image of God with regards to the mind only (St. Thomas Aquinas wrote this). Original sin is said to be transmitted through the semen (St. Augustine wrote this), and this is where the male DNA is (like Adam’s).

I understand that the Church has rejected St Augustines view on the transmission of OS.

 

[Quack]

I would like to clarify. Throwing out what I said here:

Original sin is said to be transmitted through the semen (St. Augustine wrote this), and this is where the male DNA is (like Adam’s).

I would like to restate the question:

Could the human body have been different before and after the Fall in at least some ways?

My motivation is this: If the Fall in some way involved corruption of the body and/or genes, this could easily explain why we cannot find Adam and Eve through genetics.

Is is based on the following, which may not reflect proper understanding on my part:

The genetic Adam and genetic Eve to which geneticists refer to lived thousands of years apart. For monogenism, there must be something supernatural involved in order for there to be one Adam and one Eve, from which we are all descended

 

[Luke65]

Could the Fall have included corruption of the body?

Yes, in fact that is infallible Catholic dogma:

The Council of Trent
The Fifth Session
DECREE CONCERNING ORIGINAL SIN

1. If any one does not confess that the first man, Adam, when he had transgressed the commandment of God in Paradise, immediately lost the holiness and justice wherein he had been constituted; and that he incurred, through the offence of that prevarication, the wrath and indignation of God, and consequently death, with which God had previously threatened him, and, together with death, captivity under his power who thenceforth had the empire of death, that is to say, the devil, and that the entire Adam, through that offence of prevarication, was changed, in body and soul, for the worse; let him be anathema.

There is a gene that is common throughout all women. I believe its called the michardial gene, and it can be traced back to one woman.

Actually, its called mitochondrial DNA, and we all have it, but its passed down to us only by our mother, so we can trace our matrilineal heritage with it. And we can trace men’s patrilineal heritage with the Y-chromosome.

The genetic Adam and genetic Eve to which geneticists refer to lived thousands of years apart. For monogenism, there must be something supernatural involved in order for there to be one Adam and one Eve, from which we are all descended

Well, they’re wrong about the timeline, of course, but they’re right that “mitochondrial Eve” lived earlier than “Y-chromosome Adam”. That’s because all men got their Y-chromosome from Noah, through his three sons, so it should be “Y-chromosome Noah” - but don’t tell the unbelievers that!

 

[Quack]

From the Council of Trent, as quoted by Luke65:

…the entire Adam, through that offense of prevarication, was changed, in body and soul, for the worse…

Then why would a Catholic go along with the scientists who say vestigial organs of the human body or junk DNA as being evidence for human evolution from a lower animal? This may be a better approach.

If the human body was changed in body and soul for the worse, then this change could easily have included vestigial organs, junk DNA, and all aspects of the human body which are regarded as evidence for human evolution. To the Catholic, all evidence for human evolution is hence null and void, and we know by faith that Adam was formed from the dust of the ground. Perhaps this corruption of the body is something we should be hearing more of.

 

[Crumpy]

To the original question, I’m going to say “No” just from general principles. I don’t see any evidence of this in scripture. It is the death of the soul, that is the condemnation to hell, that is the worst of fates.

 

[Quack]

It doesn’t sound like my thinking on this is really necessary from the perspective of scripture, theology, human origins.

The reason I mentioned it is that this would mean a literal forming of Adam from dust (Genesis 2:7), along with a defense of monogenism.

I think that evolution is not a real problem for Catholics. I wanted to know if my thinking on this is Catholic. I was fascinated with this scenario when I first thought of it.