As a logical outgrowth of believing in original sin, the Catholic Church developed a strong doctrine of infant baptism. Only by their sacrament of sprinkling could the curse of Adam’s guilt be removed from the baby. Since the child’s salvation hinged upon a proper baptism, absolute priority was assigned to that ritual.
If a choice had to be made between the life of the mother and the life of the unborn baby, the mother was sacrificed. Catholic doctors and nurses were instructed in the art of baptizing a fetus in the womb if there was some question about a live birth.The original sin doctrine also gave rise to the dogma of the immaculate conception of Mary. If every baby was born with guilt on its soul, then something would have to be done to preserve Jesus from that guilt—else He could not be a perfect sacrifice for sin. The Catholic solution assigned Mary a miraculous conception also, which preserved her from the effect of original sin. Thus Jesus would be born of a human mother without partaking of the supposed guilt of Adam.
As an extended consequence of their view of Jesus as altogether different from man, the Catholic Church also introduced the illegitimate system of human priesthood. If the Son of God did not dwell in man’s fallen nature, then the ladder had not been let down from heaven to earth. The gulf still had not been bridged between a holy God and fallen humanity. Therefore, some further means should be provided to complete the connection.
First, it was assigned to priests on earth that are known to have sinful flesh. Then, a mediatorial role was claimed for those who had dwelled in sinful flesh but had been canonized by the church as saints in heaven. Finally, angels and the mother of Jesus were accorded intercessory status between man and God.
Already we can begin to see the chain reaction consequences of a small deviation from the true doctrine.
Filed under: Prophecy | Tagged: Catholic Church, original sin, sin |
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