Think on reverse, please.
Why did the writers of the Bible talked about original sin? Did they have and idea that came through the air like lightning and they, poof, they discovered original sin?
I do not think so. Otherwise they would more explicit and you did not have to do your homework.
So, men realized that there was sin. That everybody sinned. That all peoples offered sacrifices to the gods. That every nation on earth (the earth of that time!) had the notion that we are not “well”, we are not good, that there is evil on us, that it was not supposed to be that way.
On the other hand, they observed what is obvious, that parents influence their children, for the good and for the bad. From this to Adam and Eve it was an easy conclusion. I was influenced bu my parents, my parents by their parents, my great-granparents by their parents and so on till there should one who was the guilty of it all, as someone said in CAF, one that "blew up " the whole thing.
But it is not that way. adam and Eve did not exist. When Jesus was asked whether a disabled person’s parent sinned or was it himself, Jesus said that it was neither way. We see there that the Jews had the idea that if someone had a disease it was a punishment for our ancestor’s sin or for the person’s sins themselves.
Adam and Eve are a reflection on sin. That there is sin. That sins propagate throughout humanity. god knows whether my sins influenced the past, for for God there is no time. A reflection on sin, which is not normal. That sin is wrong and God does not want it. That sin is a punishment. And many more conclusions I have no time to think into now.
There was no person guilty of it all. Mush less a person that eating a fruit persuaded by a snake made all the evil of the world.
And and Eve are like a parable of Jesus. Nos existing teaches us a huge amount of wisdom and God’s will.
You hold a common misconception concerning the ways in which Holy Scriptures are and are not to be taken literally.
It is one thing to contend that the revelations of the Bible are communicated via the use of a certain number of metaphors and literary devices. It is another to say flatly that this person or that in the Bible did not exist.
The writings of St. Paul indicate that the Apostles didn’t believe what you are saying. Not surprisingly, Catholics believe that the Apostles had a better sense of what Our Lord taught than you do. They held to the belief then (and the Church still holds it now) that Adam was a literal single person, for when St. Paul wrote about Adam as a literal single person, they did not take that as evidence that his letter did not belong in the deposit of faith.
*Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world,h and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned— for up to the time of the law, sin was in the world, though sin is not accounted when there is no law. But death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who did not sin after the pattern of the trespass of Adam, who is the type of the one who was to come.
But the gift is not like the transgression. For if by that one person’s transgression the many died, how much more did the grace of God and the gracious gift of the one person Jesus Christ overflow for the many. And the gift is not like the result of the one person’s sinning. For after one sin there was the judgment that brought condemnation; but the gift, after many transgressions, brought acquittal. For if, by the transgression of one person, death came to reign through that one, how much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of justification come to reign in life through the one person Jesus Christ. In conclusion, just as through one transgression condemnation came upon all, so through one righteous act acquittal and life came to all. For just as through the disobedience of one person the many were made sinners, so through the obedience of one the many will be made righteous. The law entered in so that transgression might increase but, where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through justification for eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord*.
Rom. 5:12-20
And to specifically note for the OP where the Church takes this specific stance:
**CCC 390 **The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man.264 Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents.265
265 Cf. Council of Trent: DS 1513; Pius XII: DS 3897; Paul VI: AAS 58 (1966), 654
OP, if your youth minister misunderstands this position, please be very respectful in bringing these and other passages made available to you here by other posters to her attention. Pfaffenhoffen’s post reflects a very widespread and honestly-held misconception.
So, oh wise one, which other parts of the Bible shall we presume to declare to be mere fable?