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Question Title	Posted By	Question Date
Adam and Eve	Chas	Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Question: This is a "what if" question that I have never seen anybody ask. Many have asked only what would have happened if Adam and Eve had not sinned. But my question comes after that, and again it may seem pointless because we know that Adam and Eve did indeed sin. We know that Adam and Eve were created sinless and with a free will and they used that free will to disobey God. Original sin thus was passed on to us. We are all created with a free will. But if Adam and Eve had not sinned would they still have had Abel, Cain, Seth and their descendants and would they have had a free will too? Would they in turn have been put to the test? Would there have been a possibility that somewhere down the line they would have used their free will to disobey God? My thinking is that since original sin is passed down to us, had they obeyed God, their obedience would somehow have been passed on down to us and even though we would still have free will, we would always choose to use free will the correct way. We know that Jesus is Eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit so would we have known Jesus in a different manner? This may sound like a dumb question and I know there are probably countless possibilities on "what if" questions so please excuse me for asking. Thank you and God Bless you and have a great MERRY CHRISTMAS and a real Happy New Year! I'm sorry for shouting but I don't bow to those that say we should refrain from saying Merry Christmas because if may offend others and should say Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings only.
Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), LTh, DD Dear Chas: Sorry for the delay. I was with family from Germany this past week. Hope you had a Merry Christmas. Speculations are always dangerous, but I will take a stab at it. If Adam and Eve had not sinned, there would be no original sin. Thus, each generation would be born without the stain of original sin. This would make the human race without concupiscence. We know what this would be like because our Blessed Mother, by the miracle of the Immaculate Conception, was free from the stain of original sin and concupiscence. She was sinless and still had free will. God gave us free will in order to love Him and each other. Free will is damaged by concupiscence and thus we abuse free will by choosing against its true purpose. If a person, like our Blessed Mother, does not have free will then that person can exercise free will in the way it was intended. The test is only once. The angels were given a single test and so was the human race. If Adam and Eve had passed the test original sin would not exist and therefore it would not be passed down the generations. Since each generation would be free from original sin and concupiscence each generation would be able to exercise free will properly and always choose to avoid sin. Bottomline, in this scenario the human race would live in a preternatural state of the Garden before the Fall. If this were the case, the human race will live in the paradise of the Garden, but would be deprived of the Incarnation of the 2nd Person of the Trinity. In this scenario there would be no reason for God to become man and die for us. The Church calls original sin the "Happy Fault" because it is a fault but it is happy in that it gave us the incarnate God-Man, the Redeemer. The Catechism says: 412 But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had taken away." And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "There is nothing to prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more'; and the Exsultet sings, 'O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!'" God Bless, Bro. Ignatius Mary Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below: Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum. Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum

Question Title

Posted By

Question Date

Adam and Eve

Chas

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Question:

This is a "what if" question that I have never seen anybody ask. Many have asked only what would have happened if Adam and Eve had not sinned. But my question comes after that, and again it may seem pointless because we know that Adam and Eve did indeed sin.

We know that Adam and Eve were created sinless and with a free will and they used that free will to disobey God. Original sin thus was passed on to us. We are all created with a free will. But if Adam and Eve had not sinned would they still have had Abel, Cain, Seth and their descendants and would they have had a free will too? Would they in turn have been put to the test?

Would there have been a possibility that somewhere down the line they would have used their free will to disobey God?

My thinking is that since original sin is passed down to us, had they obeyed God, their obedience would somehow have been passed on down to us and even though we would still have free will, we would always choose to use free will the correct way.

We know that Jesus is Eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit so would we have known Jesus in a different manner?

This may sound like a dumb question and I know there are probably countless possibilities on "what if" questions so please excuse me for asking.

Thank you and God Bless you and have a great MERRY CHRISTMAS and a real Happy New Year!

I'm sorry for shouting but I don't bow to those that say we should refrain from saying Merry Christmas because if may offend others and should say Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings only.

Question Answered by Bro. Ignatius Mary, OMSM(r), LTh, DD

Dear Chas:

Sorry for the delay. I was with family from Germany this past week. Hope you had a Merry Christmas.

Speculations are always dangerous, but I will take a stab at it.

If Adam and Eve had not sinned, there would be no original sin. Thus, each generation would be born without the stain of original sin. This would make the human race without concupiscence. We know what this would be like because our Blessed Mother, by the miracle of the Immaculate Conception, was free from the stain of original sin and concupiscence. She was sinless and still had free will.

God gave us free will in order to love Him and each other. Free will is damaged by concupiscence and thus we abuse free will by choosing against its true purpose. If a person, like our Blessed Mother, does not have free will then that person can exercise free will in the way it was intended.

The test is only once. The angels were given a single test and so was the human race. If Adam and Eve had passed the test original sin would not exist and therefore it would not be passed down the generations.

Since each generation would be free from original sin and concupiscence each generation would be able to exercise free will properly and always choose to avoid sin.

Bottomline, in this scenario the human race would live in a preternatural state of the Garden before the Fall.

If this were the case, the human race will live in the paradise of the Garden, but would be deprived of the Incarnation of the 2nd Person of the Trinity. In this scenario there would be no reason for God to become man and die for us. The Church calls original sin the "Happy Fault" because it is a fault but it is happy in that it gave us the incarnate God-Man, the Redeemer.

The Catechism says:

412 But why did God not prevent the first man from sinning? St. Leo the Great responds, "Christ's inexpressible grace gave us blessings better than those the demon's envy had taken away." And St. Thomas Aquinas wrote, "There is nothing to prevent human nature's being raised up to something greater, even after sin; God permits evil in order to draw forth some greater good. Thus St. Paul says, 'Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more'; and the Exsultet sings, 'O happy fault,. . . which gained for us so great a Redeemer!'"

God Bless,
Bro. Ignatius Mary

Footer Notes: This forum is for general questions on the faith. See specific Topic Forums below:
Spiritual Warfare, demons, the occult go to our Spiritul Warfare Q&S Forum.
Liturgy Questions go to our Liturgy and Liturgical Law Q&A Forum
Liturgy of the Hours (Divine Office) Questions go to our Divine Office Q&A Forum
Defenfing the Faith Questions go to our Defending the Faith Q&A Forum
Church History Questions go to our Church History Q&A Forum