Gothic BC

I see the comments on christian dogma and I gotta get in there.  Take note, I don't firmly hold any of these opinions, I just enjoy considering them. 

This post deals with references made in the "Christians and Homosexuality" thread, but does not directly deal with Christians and Homosexuality, so I felt a new thread was warrented.  That being said... pitter patter let's get at 'er.

[u]Original Sin[/u]

Let's start off with an attempt to debunk the concept of original sin.  It's a fairly simple arguement that can probably be illustrated with a chicken/egg diagram.  But first we need to define what we're talking about (can't argue it if you don't know what it is).

Original - The first.  Not much room for interpritation there.

Sin - Some will say an act against God, others will say the commission of an evil.  (Still others will say those things are the same).

Now have a look at what Saint Augustine says (as taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia), "There can be no sin that is not voluntary."  I take that to mean that you have to [i]want [/i]to do it, or that some intention has to be present.

So to commit an evil, you must first recognize said evil and then act in accordance.  Or as other scholars have put it, to commit a sin you must act in dischord with your informed conscience.

Here's where we run into problems.  Adam will not know right from wrong until he eats the fruit that gives him this knowledge.  To eat the fruit is wrong.  Adam cannot know right from wrong until doing what is wrong.  According to St. Augustine, Adam can do no wrong until he knows what wrong is.  Adam can't know what wrong is until he eats the fruit...  (repeat the circle until it sinks in).  And so the concept of Original Sin is plagued by paradox.  This fun problem applies to all faiths that use Genesis to support the idea of Original Sin.

Now on to Catholics...

(please note that Christian does not equal Catholic, and as I am not schooled in the finer points of other forms of Christianity, I can not speak knowledgably on their behalf)

Modern Catholics believe that Original Sin was removed with the death of Jesus Christ.  Once again from the C.E. "The whole Christian religion, says St. Augustine, may be summed up in the intervention of two men, the one to ruin us, the other to save us (De pecc. orig., xxiv)."  In fact, every Catholic mass contains the assertion that the blood of Christ "will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven." - The New First Mass Book, 1970

[i]Then why do Catholics still perform baptisms?[/i] you may ask.  Well, in catholocism, baptism is not supposed to be about the "washing away of original sin," but rather about the welcoming of a person into a larger family, the Catholic church. 

So when a Catholic says "as a Catholic," and then proceeds to blame the ills of the modern world (such as earthquakes and disease) on Original Sin, please understand that they are not speaking from an informed point of view on behalf of Catholics.

Swoopguy

PS My sources that aren't referenced come from my experience first as a student of catholic theology at UofT, and then as a teacher of scripture for a Catholic high school.