Why did God punish all of humanity for the rebellion of Adam and Eve?

[KiwiCatholic86]

It’s important to understand that Adam and Eve are not merely symbols, they are real historical figures. This is a dogma of the Church. While not all elements of the Creation story are necessarily meant to be interpreted literally (e.g. the number seven was highly symbolic to the Jews and so the “seven days” of creation may or may not be completely literal), the fact that an individual man called Adam and an individual woman called Eve were the parents of the whole human race must be believed.

From Humani Generis – encyclical letter of his holiness Pope Pius XII
“37. When, however, there is question of another conjectural opinion, namely polygenism, the children of the Church by no means enjoy such liberty. For the faithful cannot embrace that opinion which maintains either that after Adam there existed on this earth true men who did not take their origin through natural generation from him as from the first parent of all, or that Adam represents a certain number of first parents. Now it is in no way apparent how such an opinion can be reconciled with that which the sources of revealed truth and the documents of the Teaching Authority of the Church propose with regard to original sin, which proceeds from a sin actually committed by an individual Adam and which through generation is passed on to all and is in everyone as his own.”

 

[KiwiCatholic86]

Archbishop Sheen speaks of the topic of original sin in his book The Divine Romance (primarily in the chapter “Love’s Overflow”), which I enjoyed and would highly recommend. Two of his main points are that "by this act of disobedience*, which is called his original sin, man lost nothing which was due to him or to his nature. He lost only gifts, and became, as St. Augustine has said, “just mere man” and that “this sin of Adam was not merely the sin of an individual, it was the sin of all humanity, for Adam was the head of all humanity”; Adam acted in our name in a similar way to a president acting in the name of the people when he declares war.

*(The archbishop earlier tells us that Adam’s sin was particularly that of wishing to be independent.)

“Original sin, then, is not to be in the state we are in, but to have fallen into that state.”

 

[RobedWithLight]

KiwiCatholic86:

Two of his main points are that "by this act of disobedience*, which is called his original sin, man lost nothing which was due to him or to his nature. He lost only gifts, and became, as St. Augustine has said, “just mere man” and that “this sin of Adam was not merely the sin of an individual, it was the sin of all humanity, for Adam was the head of all humanity”; Adam acted in our name in a similar way to a president acting in the name of the people when he declares war.

This is why we say that Original Sin is different from all other types of sin, in the case of Adam’s descendants, **it is not a personal sin, committed by an individual, **and hence not of our own making. Thus, washing it away through the sacrament of Baptism is necessary to remove this stain and make us worthy to become the children of God.

Gerry

 

[RobedWithLight]

Teresa9:

I’d agree with you Alan, friend the first one to sin against God was satan and His sin was pride, then He tempted us humans into the same sin…and we did it.
Teresa

An interesting thought just came up.

What about Satan himself then? Since he sinned against God before Adam did, did Satan likewise sin because he was “tempted”, just as Adam and Eve sinned because they were likewise tempted by the serpent? Does temptation have to precede sin ?

Gerry

 

[BenRosa]

RobedWithLight:

Does temptation have to precede sin ?

Gerry:

I’m thinking no; sin, in my opinion, can germinate on it’s own within us. I’t’s one of the few things we create all by ourselves in this world.

May His peace be with you all…