David Ritchie wrote: "So there, in near-delerium, lay I wondering about a central tenet of Christianity...was Eve's sin actually a fall or a lapse?" According to the tradition, both. The specific sin was a lapse, one that occurs regularly for most people. However, Eve and Adam, according to the tradition, were types for all humanity and therefore, in a single typological act, acted for all humanity. Hence, the fall. A single act, which on its own is bad enough, comes to be magnified by virtue of its consequences. Think of some feverish student shooting a royal in some obscure land starting a war that will leave tens of millions dead. The initial act is bad on its own, but for obscure reasons the act also brings about catastrophic consequences. Tying this into another thread, the fact that the consequences of moral actions matter was always a problem for Kant. He offered two incompatible paths for resolving the problem, either ignore consequences or hold that there is an Ultimate Lawgiver who ensures that it all works out, but I don't think he found either satisfactory. Sincerely, Phil Enns Toronto, ON ------------------------------------------------------------------ To change your Lit-Ideas settings (subscribe/unsub, vacation on/off, digest on/off), visit www.andreas.com/faq-lit-ideas.html