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Entry: The Addams Family Chapel Link: http://www.takimag.com/site/article/the_addams_family_chapel#11041 Post contents: MRyan, I see nothing in Trent's dogmas that contracts the Eastern Church's view. Original Sin indeed did enter the world through our first parent, and remains a force "infecting" all who are humans (children of Adam). True, Trent may have had Augustine's view in mind, but its canons do not directly teach it and can be understood the way the Eastern Church understands Original Sin. My reason for making this distinction was in reply to Mr. Balls too literal biological/genetic conceptions. If one wishes to adhere to the inheritance view, one should remember that neither Augustine or Trent had any knowledge of organic chemistry or genetic, be it Mendelian or molecular. I'm happy with those who wish to stick to the inheritance view. Yet I'm still an orthodox Catholic if I choose the Eastern Church's view. "Gnostic" is a Red Herring. There is nothing "gnostic" about Original Sin as a "force" or "power" anymore than there is anything "gnostic" about Grace being a force or power. What is more, I don't agree with the Calvinist dogma of "irresistible Grace", but I wouldn't stoop to call it "gnostic". The word "power" (dunamin) was good enough for St. Mark in his gospel (Chapter 5, Verse 30) -- a saint who hardly qualifies as a "gnostic" -- so it's good enough for me. Of course, in Theology, we often resort to metaphors: "stain", "washing away" the "stain", "outpouring" of the Holy Spirit, "inheritance", even the word "sacrament", etc. -- and such metaphors ought not be pressed into only a literal meaning. (Of course, in the Eucharist, we are dealing with literal realities, not metaphorical ones.) Now for "Paleo's" [sic]charges. We don't hear much about Protestant pedophiles and ephebophiles for two reasons: (1) the media hate Catholics even more than they hate Evangelical Protestants, and (2) given the independence of Protestant parishes, you don't get much money by suing them. For the record, the scandal in the Catholic Church is not one of pedophilia but ephebophilia. The number of real clerical pedophiles is small, and no more than in the general adult population. Now as to "Paleo's" [sic] 2nd charge, not only am I against the Inquisition (the popular understanding of it is largely Protestant exaggeration and "misinformation"), but I have on this Website repeatedly argued with the sympathizers and camp followers of Clerical Fascism that the Faith may never be forced on people, nor may anyone coerce upon someone the Catholic church or impose on a social order a "Catholic" Theocracy, per Nostra aetate (Vatican II 1965) and Dignitatis humanae (ditto) and Dei verbum (ditto). I have gone a step further and said that such coercion is clearly Semipelagian. That Christians have not followed these teachings always is a sad fact. Sent at: 2008 09 06