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.  

Another Flowers for Mary Story

How do you define a miracle?  Read this story.  My friend Marie's birthday is December 8.  A few years ago, her husband bought her a bouquet of roses for her birthday.  December 8th is also a religious feast day--the Immaculate Conception.  This day we honor the fact that Mary, the Mother of Jesus was born without Original Sin.

Anyway, Marie was overjoyed to receive this bouquet and felt very blessed.  She felt moved to thank God by attending the daily Mass in her parish.  She also thought of pleasing Jesus by honoring His Mother by giving her one of her roses.  So on her way into Mass, Marie placed a rose at the foot of the statue of Mary.

After Mass, Marie prayed a rosary. Upon leaving the church, Marie saw her parish priest looking at her rose.  As she approached, he spoke to her.  "Look at that rose.  Every Feast of the Immaculate Conception a rose appears at the foot of this statue."

Marie didn't tell the priest that she was the one who left it.  She, like the priest, was too much in awe.  That was her first and only time of giving a rose to Mary.

Scary Creatures

There was a big Tom Cat bothering my cat.  When he sees me, however, he runs like a bat out of hell. So do the rabbits that live under the bushes.  In fact, come to think of it, all animals run away from humans.

Do you think God made them that way?  After all, humans are predators.  But that wasn't the way it was in the beginning, was it?  If we were in the Garden of Eden, we'd be in harmony with everything. Sin was a discordant break in that harmony.  Now the animals fear us humans.

Think about that.  The fear that animals have of us humans is a reminder to us that we are not whom we were meant to be.

That sin of pride blinds us to Original Sin.  We forget about it.  We minimize it.

Next time you see a little creature scramble away, try to catch a glimpse of yourself reflected in his eyes.  We are scary creatures.  We are dangerous, especially to ourselves.

Discerning the Word

One could study the Bible all their life and still not be able to fathom it.  When I think of my understanding as a teen, a young mother, and now as a grandmother, I am amazed at the different discernment I went through.  Surprising, also, is Bible exegesis.  It seems that the Bible grows, adjusts, and/or adapts to the time, culture, and/or need.

Recently I joined a Scripture Study for moms.  I'm the oldest. This has resulted in some new insights for me.  I'm so happy that I found this group.  I pray that I'm as valuable for them, as they are to me.

I'll take the story of Adam and Eve, for example.  Somehow, I had always blamed Eve for taking that apple.  I pictured her representing mankind.  We are weak creatures and easily seduced.

These young ladies introduced me to consider that the blame really lies with Adam.  Man was put in charge.  He was the keeper of the garden.  He was standing beside Eve, when the serpent appeared.  (I had to check three Bibles to assure myself that he was there beside her.)

The Bible I take to class is the Christian Community Bible.  I often cross check with the New American Bible, and the King James.  I checked all three and two intimate that Adam was beside Eve.  The King James version actually states that Adam was beside Eve.  Previously, I thought he wasn't.  I even pictured Eve looking for him with an apple in her hand.

The young ladies also pointed out, that if Adam was there beside Eve, why didn't he say something?  Why didn't he defend Eve?  Why didn't he defend God?  He was supposed to be protecting her.  And the most important question, why didn't he appeal to God, for help?

Because of Adam's inaction, he is the one responsible for the first sin.  Adam saw with his own eyes, God's goodness.  He saw God create Eve.  Adam had believed and trusted God; surely this should have enabled him to repel the serpent.  His unwillingness to say anything, or act, actually left Eve vulnerable. His silence influenced her.  His "NO!" would have ended everything.  Adam didn't help her.  Instead, she was alone in her reasoning.  And we know that it is not good for man to be alone.

This was interesting to me.  Both Adam and Eve were together in front of the serpent.  The serpent is speaking to both, although his attention is directed to Eve.  "He said to the woman, 'Did God really say...'"  Why did the serpent focus on the woman?  If Adam had the authority, then shouldn't the serpent go through him?  The Christian Community Bible has an interesting footnote:
             The woman temptress--isn't the reality, especially in a world where she is 
             riveted to an inferior state.  Perhaps the author in this remote age witnessed
             the exploitation of women and the art of exploited people to manage their
             masters.
The serpent saw that the woman was subordinate to the man, and he concluded that the woman would desire more autonomy.  Is the serpent correct?

Isn't that the original sin?  The disobeying of God's command was due to man wanting autonomy.  Adam and Eve chose their own "wants" over God, against the requirements of their respective statuses.   Adam's silence and inaction condemned them.

And for what?  Everything the serpent promised, they already had:

          You will not die.  They had that, already.  They were created for immortality
          Your eyes will be opened.  They had that, already.  Adam saw the woman...
          You will be like God.  They had that, already.  They were made in His image.
          Knowing good and evil.  They had that, and should have known it.  They knew that obedience                    
          to God was good because it meant life; they also knew that disobedience was evil, because it
          would cause their death.

Do you think Adam was intimidated?  I can just see Eve turning to Adam for some confirmation.  She keeps deferring to him and he doesn't respond.  At all!  The serpent seemed to have superior knowledge.  Are they too inexperienced in debate?  Was this a fair contest?

Wait a minute!  I'm looking at Adam and Eve like it's factual history.  It is not.  It certainly isn't a scientific treatise on cosmography.  Our Lord was talking simply to men of a certain time, and He used references in their experiences.  He made use of his writers' expressions and knowledge.  St. Thomas Aquinas interprets scripture as history written in mythic language--a poetic truth.  We are obliged to believe the fundamental truths expressed--that our first parents, tempted by the devil, committed a primal act of disobedience whose effects we still suffer (Catechism, no. 390).

I love to read the Word to prove my love and faithfulness to God.  I also have found, that the more I persevere, the more I understand, and my discernment grows.