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Monday, November 25, 2024

Original Sin and St. Agustine

 My "cloistered brothers" and I were doing some Lectio Divina on Psalm 51.  We focused in on verse 5.

Surely I was sinful at birth,
    sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

Most of us, I know I was, thinking of the first sin committed by Adam and Eve, called "original sin."  Steve, leading the group, said that wasn't possible to be in David's mind, when he wrote the psalm.  It seems that the term was used and promoted by St. Agustine, much later.  

Original sin is an Augustine Christian doctrine that says that everyone is born sinful. This means that they are born with a built-in urge to do bad things and to disobey God. 

It explains our desire to choose the bad, the wrong choice.  Original sin affects individuals by separating them from God, and bringing dissatisfaction and guilt into their lives.

That's exactly what happened to Adam and Eve.  They were separated from God.  So, I think that affect, separating oneself from God, was there from Adam and Eve, but there was no name to it.  I think everyone just accepted the fact that we are born sinful.  Agustine gave it a name.  



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Original Sin and St. Agustine

 My "cloistered brothers" and I were doing some Lectio Divina on Psalm 51.  We focused in on verse 5. Surely I was sinful  at birt...