09-05-2012, 01:13 AM
Seeker Wrote:I don't think so, but I'm not entirely sure. It may or may not be another belief the RCC upholds, but I do know that such a statement was once used to explain John 9:1-2:
"9 As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples asked him, ?Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind??
Some attempt to explain what the disciples asked Jesus by stating that a child is able to "sin in the womb", and thus, can be "born blind." While others, Origen, for example - a beloved 2nd-century Saint that was "de-sainted" in about 500 BC, I believe - attributed such a statement to reincarnation.
So if the CoE doesn't adhere to such a teaching - either to Original Sin or the ability to sin in the womb, then what exactly is their take on John 9? How can a child be born blind?
Hi Seeker,
The Church of the East does not believe in the concept of "Original Sin" in the sense that the RCC does, i.e., that Adam & Eve's (or other ancestor's) sin is inherited by their descendants. The CoE does believe, however, that we are born with a nature to sin due to the fact that our human nature (kyana) was corrupted in the Garden of Eden. But to be very specific, each child is born guilt-free and sinless. Sin requires a knowledge of right and wrong, and a willful act.
What the Church of the East believes regarding John 9 is that the disciples asked a question that was rooted in ignorance and superstition (shared, incidentally, by the Pharisees (v.34)), and that Meshikha corrected them in His answer: "'Neither this man nor his parents sinned,' said Jesus, 'but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.'"
+Shamasha Paul