How about a synopsis?
Augustine of Hippo who succeeded St.Paul as a founding theologian of the Catholic Church formed the doctrine of original sin to justify two things the Church had already introduced for which there was no clarification in Scripture:
1. Infant baptism
2. Celibacy of the priests, monks, and nuns.
When I read through a number of Augustine's sermons it became clear to me that Augustine redefined the definition of "sin" as being primarily the act of conceiving a child. This was how sin then was transmitted from parents to child and was defined "original sin".
The original sin had to be washed away as soon as possible through the water of baptism. In order not to fall back into sin it was important that the person remained single as long as life lasted. This was the reason the priest could not marry. In order to keep up the population it was necessary for the common people to commit the sin so it was essential to have many monks and nuns who also lived so far from sinning that some of their piety could be transmitted to the sinners.
Augustine clearly admonished the common people to perform the act of sinning without enjoyment to make the sin less grievous, and I suppose not as costly.
Although Augustine became so important to the Church that no theologian during the Middle Ages would write an article about religion which did not include 75% quotations from the writings of Augustine, the real issue was never resolved.
This is why the Church today has to pay for the sins of their priests by the hundreds of millions of dollars. Does the proclamation of the Advent message on TV provide a better solution to the viewers or their own producers?
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Topic: Jeff Anderson prototype clergy abuse/RICO complaint (Read 5507 times)
