SAINT AUGUSTIN DID NOT INVENT THE ORIGINAL SIN

 

SAINT AUGUSTINE DID NOT INVENT THE ORIGINAL SIN.  THE ORIGINAL SIN IS A SACRED DOCTRICE REVEALED.

“Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned-”   (Romans 5:12)

1)-BISHOPS AND PRIESTS DENY THE ORIGINAL SIN BECAUSE OF IGNORANCE ALSO IT DISTURBS THEIR CONSCIENCE.  THEY PREFER TO BELIEVE IN VAIN.

Undoubtedly the doctrine of the original sin disturbs many consciences.  It is so much easier not to bother with the original sin.  Just to preach God is Love!  God does not castigate!  God is good!!  God does not ask for anything from us!  Propelled by such a false doctrine, bishops and priests sleep very well at night however with such a false knowledge of God. 

2)-WE MUST KNOW THE DOCTRINE OF THE ORIGINAL SIN.  ADAM AND EVE, OUR FIRST PARENTS, REFUSED TO WORSHIP GOD.

God created our first parents to be with him in the glory of heaven.  However, they had to merit heaven.  They had to prove their loyalty to their Creator.  This test of loyalty to God is still demanded from each one of us today.

3)-ADAM AND EVE WERE READY FOR THE TEST.

Our first parents received from God all the knowledge needed to pass the test.  God revealed himself to them in the splendor of creation.  Not only God created them human beings, body and soul, but he adorned them with four preternatural gifts: the gift of knowledge, the gift of permanent health, the gift of integrity which means no temptation from the flesh, and finally the gift of immortality.  And moreover, God elevated our first parents to share his Divine Life with the GIFT of sanctifying grace.

4)-OUR FIRST PARENTS DID NOT ENJOY THE BEATIFIC VISION OF THE BLESSED TRINITY.

Adam and Eve did not enjoy the Beatific Vision.  They were to past the test of proving their loyalty to the Sovereignty to God Almighty.  If they are successful, they merit their reward of the eternal happiness in heaven, which is the BEATIFIC VISION! 

5)-GOD DEMANDED OUR FIRST PARENTS TO SUBMIT THEMSELVES TO HIS DIVINE WILL.

God prohibited them to eat the fruit of a certain tree in the Garden of Eden.

May we read God in his own words, Genesis 2:16-17:

 “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden,  but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat  of it you shall surely die.”

Thus, our first parents were to obey God on his word or to to be condemned to die.  To be sentenced to die is God's punishment for refusing to obey God.  A bishop told me who wants to live forever!  The bishop ignored Divine Revelation.  Nobody wants to die.  We want to live forever.  Death is not normal for us.  Death is a punishment for disobeying God's Love.

6)-SATAN PROVES TO BE MORE ASTUTE THAN MAN.

Satan disguised himself in the form of a snake.  Satan uses this trick with each one of us.  He may come to us in a friend or any other form.  His choice of a snake proved to be fatal for our first parents. 

Milton, in his famous PARADISE LOST, explained how the snake deceived Adam and Eve.  The snake takes Eve by surprise.  The snake talks to our mother Eve.  Eve is overwhelmed hearing the snake.  Eve asked the snake how come you talk?  The snake is very happy to answer mother Eve. 

7)-THE SNAKE TRIUMPHS OVER OUR MOTHER EVE.

Now the snake obtained to dialogue with Eve; Eve made a fatal mistake in accepting to dialogue with satan.  We must never dialogue with satan since he is so much more astute than we human beings, as the Bible says.

“Now the serpent was the most cunning of all the animals that the Lord God had made.”    (Genesis 3:1)

The snake tells Eve a fact.  I talk, says the snake, because I ate the fruit from that tree.  If the power of that fruit can give me, a snake, the power to talk, what will it give to you since you already talk?  Eve is overwhelmed to discover God’s hidden secret.  Eve is sure God is hiding the truth, satan is telling her the truth.  So our first parents call God a liar.  They accept satan’s word because they want to be their own gods and now is the wide open door to get rid of God. 

May we read Divine Revelation in Genesis 3:6:

 “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired for gaining wisdom, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”

8)-GOD REVEALS TO US SIN AND CONCUPISCENCE CORRUPT OUR HUMAN NATURE FOREVER INTO CORRUPTION.

The Bible, in a few words,  reveals to us the total transformation of our fallen human nature.  

May we read the sacred text in Genesis 3:7

“Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked.  And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.”

For the first time, they experience their corrupt human body.  They are naked.  From now on the desires of the flesh, called concupiscence,  will reign over all descendents of Adam and Eve until the end of all ages.

9)-GOD HIMSELF REVEALS TO US THE SIN COMMITTED BY OUR FIRST PARENTS CORRUPT THE ENTIRE HUMAN NATURE FOREVER.  THERE IS NO RETURN.  

Adam’s disobedience resulted in 2 sins.  The reason is this.  Adam and Eve have been fused in one person when God accepted their sacred matrimonial oath. (Genesis 2:24).  Thus, Adam incorporated  the whole of human nature in himself since he had not yet conceived a son  to share in this human nature with him. 

10)-SAINT PAUL REVEALS TO US THE DESASTROUS CONSEQUENCES OF ADAM’S DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD.

When Adam disobeyed God, the whole human nature disobeyed God and thus the whole human nature became depraved and corrupt with him. 

So whatever Adam does the whole human nature does it.

 May we read saint Paul in his own words in Roman 5:14:

“Yet death reigned … , even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, … by that one person’s transgression the many died…”

Saint Paul reveals 2 sins here.  First of all, Adam’s sin which is an ACTUAL AND MORTAL SIN.  Adam deliberately put himself against God. 

But then  saint Paul reveals another sin, which is not an actual sin since we do not commit that sin.  As saint Paul says, that other sin is “not like the transgression of Adam.” That other sin is not an actual sin; however it is a real sin (cf HUMANI GENERIS of Pius xii)  that deserved death to all those who inherit that sin.  And this is why at birth we are sentenced to die because of sin in us.   Those inheriting that sin are the heirs to Adam and Eve.  We inherit a corrupt human nature and that corrupt human nature corrupts us as soon as God creates our soul in our body.

11)-SAINT PAUL REVEALS TO US OUR INHERITANCE FROM ADAM’S DISOBEDIENCE TO GOD.

As soon as Adam and Eve  generated a son, his son inherited their corrupt human nature.  The inherited corrupt human nature corrupt the son who is born in sin and depraved.

12)-SAINT AUGUSTINE COINED THE WORD “ORIGINAL” TO IDENTIFY THE SIN WE INHERIT BUT WE DO NOT COMMIT.

We must be very grateful to saint Augustine for helping us to understand and identify the sin we inherit as sons of Adam and Eve.  The word “original” separates in our mind the sin we inherit from our first parents from our own actual sins.  When we talk about the “original” sin, we know we are not talking about our actual sins. We are talking about the sin we inherit from our first parents.

13)-SAINT AUGUSTINE DID NOT INVENT THE “ORIGINAL SIN”.

I have met personally with bishops, priests and catechists who taught the original sin was an invention of saint Augustine.  At the RELIGIOUS EDUCATION CONGRES IN LOS ANGELES, I personally heard nuns and priests teaching the original sin was an invention of saint Augustine.   Saint Augustine did not invent the original sin.

Saint Augustine is a Father of the Church and a great Theologian.  He gave us a rich legacy in philosophy and theology.  The original sin is not his invention.  However, with his keen mind, he clarified the 2 sins revealed by saint Paul in Romans chapter 5 versus 12.  And in chapter 7, saint Paul enumerates the consequences of the original sin in us. The main FOUR consequences of the original sin in us are ignorance, concupiscence which constantly inclines us to doing evil. sickness and death.

 14)-LEARNING THE ORIGINAL SIN IN DIVINE REVELATION WILL HELP BISHOPS AND PRIESTS.

A bishop sincerely told me he could not accept the original sin. I asked why?  We found out he never studied the doctrine of the original sin in the Holy Scriptures.  Bishops and priests do not accept the doctrine of the original sin for one reason only.  This reason is very simple.  They never studied the doctrine of the original sin in Divine Revelation.  Knowledge always frees us from our slavery into ignorance.

May we hope and pray that our Pope Francis I will help the teaching church, our bishops and priests,  to go back learning the doctrine of the original sin.  And may they teach the original sin and its devastating consequences in each one of us.     The professor.