The Inseparable Curse: Why I Can't Separate Guilt from Consequence in the Fall

✍️ In My Bit of Studying Original Sin and LDS Teachings of the Fall...

The doctrine of the Fall of Adam and Eve is foundational to Christianity. It explains why we need a Savior, but the precise nature of the consequences that fell upon humanity is where a profound theological divide exists between traditional Christianity (Catholicism, Orthodoxy, and most Protestant traditions) and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

My recent study into this debate has crystallized why I cannot, in good conscience, accept the LDS teachings on this matter. The core issue boils down to whether the curse of the Fall is a unified, indivisible judgment, or whether it can be surgically separated.

The Irreducible Unity of the Curse

The traditional view, heavily influenced by St. Augustine of Hippo, is based on the concept of corporate solidarity (or federal headship) as articulated by the Apostle Paul in Romans 5:12, 18-19.

The argument is simple: when Adam sinned, he acted as the legal representative of the entire human race. His transgression was a single, comprehensive act that triggered a single, comprehensive judgment that fell upon all things:

 * The Team Analogy: As we discussed, the moment Adam and Eve sinned, the whole "team"—humanity and the earth—incurred a universal loss. You can’t separate the team's loss from the captain's action.

 * The Universal Punishment: The judgment was not partial; God "punished" or subjected everything to the consequence of the curse (Genesis 3). This included the Earth (thorns and thistles), mortality, and a corrupted human nature.

 * The Inseparable Consequence: In this traditional framework, the consequence is twofold and inseparable:

   * Inherited Guilt (Condemnation): We are born legally condemned due to Adam's sin.

   * Fallen Nature (Concupiscence): We are born with a powerful, inherited propensity to sin.

The central difficulty with the LDS position, from this view, is its attempt to perform theological "surgery" on the curse.

The LDS "Surgical Tool": Rejecting Inherited Guilt

The LDS Church explicitly rejects the concept of Original Guilt, basing its position on the Second Article of Faith:

> "We believe that men will be punished for their own sins, and not for Adam’s transgression."

> 

The LDS argument is that a just and merciful God would not impose moral guilt or condemnation upon a person for an act they did not personally commit.

To reconcile this, LDS theology uses a distinction that is crucial:

 * What they Accept (The Consequence): They agree that the Fall brought mortality, physical death, a cursed Earth, and a fallen nature (the "natural man," which is similar to the traditional idea of concupiscence). They accept the consequence.

 * What they Reject (The Guilt): They reject that this consequence includes inherited condemnation or guilt from birth. They teach that Christ's Atonement provides an unconditional redemption from any guilt tied to Adam's Fall, securing the absolute innocence of all children.

This separation is what I find theologically unconvincing.

Why I Cannot Accept the LDS Teachings

My conscience does not allow me to accept this teaching because it fundamentally breaks the unity of God's law and judgment.

 * The Legal Unity of Sin: If Paul teaches that "by the one man's disobedience many were made sinners" (Romans 5:19), then the inherited result must be comprehensive. To say that God's justice separates the guilt from the consequence undermines the legal and corporate nature of Adam's representation.

 * The Precedent of Separation: This practice of separating doctrines is not an isolated incident. It reflects a wider pattern in LDS theology that attempts to revise core Christian definitions:

   * The Trinity: Separating the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost into three distinct Beings rather than three Persons in one Divine Substance.

   * Peter's Confession: Separating the revelation (the "rock") from the person and apostolic office of Peter, thereby decentralizing the authority established by Christ.

Ultimately, the traditional view holds that God is not making arbitrary decisions but is upholding a constant, eternal standard of justice. The only way to remove the condemnation of Original Sin (guilt) is through the grace and conditional application of Christ's Atonement, generally accessed through faith and/or Sacraments. The LDS attempt to make the removal of guilt unconditional for all infants seems to be a theological innovation designed to address a perceived flaw in God's justice, rather than accepting the comprehensive nature of the Fall as revealed in scripture.

For me, the consequence and the guilt are two sides of the same coin of broken covenant, and both require the full, profound application of Christ’s redeeming grace—not a surgical separation based on a human interpretation of God's perfect justice.

Here are specific 📜 Key Scriptural References

These are the primary verses used to establish and discuss the concept of Original Sin, the nature of humanity, and the unity of the curse:

I. The Fall and the Curse (Genesis)

 * Genesis 2:17: The original law and threat: “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

 * Genesis 3:17-18: The curse on the Earth: “Cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee...”

II. The Legal Imputation (Romans)

These are the core verses for corporate solidarity and Original Sin that you emphasized:

 * Romans 5:12: “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all sinned.”

   * (Note: The phrase "for that all sinned" is the key point of interpretive debate—Augustine read it as "in whom [Adam] all sinned.")

 * Romans 5:18-19: The parallel between Adam and Christ: “Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation, even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by the one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall the many be made righteous.”

 * Romans 8:20-22: The universal effect of the curse, extending to the physical world: “For the creature was made subject to vanity... because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.”

III. The Inherited Nature (Concupiscence/Natural Man)

These verses speak to the inherent spiritual weakness or inclination toward sin:

 * Psalm 51:5: David's confession of inherited sinfulness: “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.”

 * Ephesians 2:3: Paul describing human nature before grace: “...and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.”

These scriptures, particularly from Romans, will provide the biblical foundation for your blog post's argument against the LDS separation of guilt and consequence.

11-09-25 by Matthew E Treviño