Q. 253. {44} What befell Adam and Eve on account of their sin?  A. Adam and Eve, on account of their sin, lost innocence and holiness, and were doomed to sickness and death.

Q. 254.  What other evils befell Adam and Eve on account of their sin?  A. Many other evils befell Adam and Eve on account of their sin.  They were driven out of Paradise and condemned to toil.  God also ordained that henceforth the earth should yield no crops without cultivation, and that the beasts, man’s former friends, should become his savage enemies.

Q. 255.  Were we to remain in the Garden of Paradise forever if Adam had not sinned?  A. We were not to remain in the Garden of Paradise forever even if Adam had not sinned, but after passing through the years of our probation or trial upon earth we were to be taken, body and soul, into heaven without suffering death.

Q. 256. {45} What evil befell us on account of the disobedience of our first parents?  A. On account of the disobedience of our first parents, we all share in their sin and punishment, as we should have shared in their happiness if they had remained faithful.

Q. 257.  Is it not unjust to punish us for the sin of our first parents?  A. It is not unjust to punish us for the sin of our first parents, because their punishment consisted in being deprived of a free gift of God; that is, of the gift of original justice to which they had no strict right and which they wilfully forfeited by their act of disobedience.

Q. 258.  But how did the loss of the gift of original justice leave our first parents and us in mortal sin?  A. The loss of the gift of original justice left our first parents and us in mortal sin because it deprived them of the Grace of God, and to be without this gift of Grace which they should have had was to be in mortal sin.  As all their children are deprived of the same gift, they, too, come into the world in a state of mortal sin.

Q. 259. {46} What other effects followed from the sin of our first parents?  A. Our nature was corrupted by the sin of our first parents, which darkened our understanding, weakened our will, and left in us a strong inclination to evil.

Q. 260.  What do we mean by “our nature was corrupted”?  A. When we say “our nature was corrupted” we mean that our whole being, body and soul, was injured in all its parts and powers.

Q. 261.  Why do we say our understanding was darkened?  A. We say our understanding was darkened because even with much learning we have not the clear knowledge, quick perception and retentive memory that Adam had before his fall from grace.

Q. 262.  Why do we say our will was weakened?  A. We say our will was weakened to show that our free will was not entirely taken away by Adam’s sin, and that we have it still in our power to use our free will in doing good or evil.

Q. 263.  In what does the strong inclination to evil that is left in us consist?  A. This strong inclination to evil that is left in us consists in the continual efforts our senses and appetites make to lead our souls into sin.  The body is inclined to rebel against the soul, and the soul itself to rebel against God.