The Catholic teaching is that the original holiness of Adam and Eve is the Sanctifying Grace which is the presence of God within humans. This grace of God’s presence was lost when Adam removed himself from God’s friendship. In order for Adam to live in a friendship relationship with God, he had to live in free submission to God. Adam chose disobedience.
The problem here is that God created a person with free will, and then punished him for exercising it? God rejoices in our individual autonomy, if He wished to have puppets, then he could have made all He wanted. In fact, He did. Most species are essentially puppets of their God-given instincts.
The God of Forgiveness would certainly choose to forgive Adam for disobeying, not punish him. This boils down to what we see as the characteristics of God Himself. I don’t see God as the punishing type. I will grant you that life has its own consequences, and a person may perceive that God is punishing them. How many times does God forgive disobedience? Well, I can forgive people many, many times, and God is certainly more merciful and patient than I am.
God called Adam, just as He calls us, to share in His divine life both on earth and in eternal joy in heaven. Like us, Adam was created with a rational spiritual soul, including the will. As the first human, Adam had a deep relationship with God from the beginning. That relationship was shattered when Adam scorned his Creator.
I don’t believe that Adam was all-knowing. I don’t believe that our ancestors necessarily had a
more “deep” relationship with God than any of our canonized saints. As I look at the trends over the ages, we are becoming more aware of our creator, not less. As far as “scorning our creator” goes, how often do we complain about our lives, or are impatient with our tasks? When we do such, we essentially scorn our creator, and the natural consequence is our own misery. It isn’t God punishing us, though, for our complaint and impatience. To me, the creation story is metaphorical, but reflects the notion of a punishing God. It is not God who punishes, but we are punished by our own consciences. What I am saying is that there is room in our orthodoxy for different approaches.
Basic, fundamental Catholic doctrines flow from the life experiences of Adam. Main Catholic doctrines are the reality of Original Sin and the necessity for redemption by the Divine Jesus Christ.
Unlike other species, Adam, like us, has an unique nature which is an unification of
both the material world
and the spiritual world. This basic nature did not essentially change when Adam chose himself against God, against the requirement of his creature status, and therefore against his own good. This basic nature was not totally corrupted by Original Sin; instead it was wounded in its natural powers. Instead of being born with “compulsions”, it is more accurate to say that our nature is “inclined” to sin. In other words sin looks “gooder”.
We are definitely on the same page about the necessity for redemption. I disagree, however, with the use of the word “inclined”. People
always intend to do something positive, but our positive intent is filtered through our blindness, our misperception, our lack of awareness. The crowd who crucified Jesus meant well, but they were blind to His humanity - and His divinity.
With the reality of original holiness (relationship with God) lost because Adam chose to break humanity’s relationship with divinity, there is the reality of the divinity of Jesus Christ. Because of the divinity of Jesus Christ, reparation for the disobedience of Adam was made through Jesus’ obedience on the Cross. Baptism, which imparts the life of Christ’s sanctifying grace, erases the contracted state of Original Sin and restores relationship with God.
The result of the Sacraments of Baptism and Reconciliation is that we are in the spiritual state of holiness.
Like I have said before, God created us with the capacity for disobedience. He doesn’t punish us for being disobedient, He forgives us. Jesus came to tell us that. Lack of repentance carries its own natural consequence. God forgives us because He loves us and we do not know what we are doing. Adam did not know what he was doing.
Does the Church have room for those of us who believe in a God who never resents us, who understands and unconditionally forgives our every move?
Yes. The story of Adam reflects a less evolved view of our creator. We have learned a lot since then.