Is Original Sin A Part Of Human DNA?

In past entries I have labeled every incarnate a sinner, other than Jesus and the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In this entry, I analyze my blanket supposition, beginning at the moment of conception.  Let me start with Mary's.

Mary is the Immaculate Conception. [1]  "The Immaculate Conception means that Mary, whose conception was brought about the normal way, was conceived without original sin." [2]  What that means is that Mary's constitution was not tainted in any way by her ancestors, Adam and Eve, who ingested the Forbidden Apple, the Apple that God expressly said not to eat [3].  However, that does not  mean that She was free from temptation -- She was not.  She was as vulnerable as Eve was in the Garden of Eden to Satan's advances but this "new Eve" was incorruptible and inviolate.

Similarly, Jesus, the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit and without Original Sin, was not free from temptation.  He was partly a descendant of Adam and Eve [4]: partly because Mary was but the Holy Spirit was not, and it was the Holy Spirit Who conceived Jesus.   Like His Mother, Jesus was as vulnerable as Adam in the Garden of Eden was to Satan's enticements.  This "new Adam," like the "new Eve," was also incorruptible and inviolate and had rejected Satan attempts to ruin Him. [5]

No other human besides Jesus and Mary has ever been conceived without Original Sin.  For this reason, it is correct that all descendants of Adam and Eve are labeled as sinners.  But does that mean that every baby, at the moment of birth, has sinned?  I do not think so, but it does not take long for it to do so, by demanding with screams and tears until its selfish needs are satisfied [6].  How inconsiderate!  No doubt a harsh standard for an infant, but for this and many other far more egregious sins that will almost certainly be committed as it grows up, death and decay of the flesh are the consequences, and death and decay await all incarnates. [7]

Since I do not believe that an infant has sinned at the moment of birth, it is therefore conceivable that it could grow up without sinning at all.  Such a possibility is remote, but I nonetheless want to indulge in this theoretical possibility to wile away time, and take a closer look at this theoretical child who does not sin, but who is nonetheless born with Original Sin.

Like Jesus and Mary, this child would be vulnerable to temptation by Satan but unlike Them, would live and die with Original Sin.  Therefore, after death, this person would not be resurrected or lifted up to Heaven.  Original Sin causes the deceased body to remain on earth, and sinlessness allows it to remain incorrupt.

What label would be put on such a sinless child born with Original Sin?   A sinless saint, perhaps, a saint that is very unlike John Paul II and many other dubious saints, and even unlike a true saint like Francis of Assisi, who had sinned before he was called to serve Christ but who was transformed by God's grace.  Is there such a sinless saint that had lived or lives?  I do not know, but of the few saints that I read about, Bernadette Soubirous may come the closest in my opinion. [8]

Assuming that Bernadette Soubirous had never sinned, her DNA still had Original Sin.  Having Original Sin in one's DNA does not  mean one has to sin or one necessarily sins: one is only a carrier of Adam and Eve's Original Sin.  Only when one chooses freely to sin  does Original Sin manifest itself as a cancer that grows, to the delight of Satan, until one chooses freely to repent, and to pray to God for salvation of the soul, so that the spread of the sin can stop, and the healing and forgiveness can begin.



[1] Mary is the Immaculate Conception because She said so, to Bernadette Soubirous on Thursday, March 25, 1858.  See http://www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes/bg_lourdes_conception.htm
[2] http://www.catholic.com/tracts/immaculate-conception-and-assumption
[3] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+3
[4] http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/IVP-NT/Luke/Jesus-One-Who-Comes
[5] http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=matthew+4:1-11
[6] While Satan has the patience to wait for us to step on the down escalator to Hell as we enjoy ourselves along the way, with one instant gratification after another, It wants us to grow in impatience and impulsiveness from the very beginning, so that we would not stop to smell the roses, to see God and the beauty of God's magnificence.
[7] The one exception to a natural death would be Jesus because He is the Son of God, conceived by the Holy Spirit.  Arguably he would never die naturally, but since He was crucified, one can only speculate.  Because neither Jesus nor Mary had Original Sin, Their flesh did not decay.  Jesus resurrected.  Mary was lifted up, body and soul, into Heaven.  Read about the Feast of the Assumption here:  http://catholicism.about.com/od/holydaysandholidays/p/Assumption.htm
[8] http://www.catholicpilgrims.com/lourdes/bb_bernadette_body.htm