The idea of Tabula Rasa - "unscribed tablet"-"clean slate" - is the philosophical idea expressed by Aristotle and Thomas Aquinas, but then more notably by John Locke. Locke proposed the modern idea of Tabula Rasa that our mind (at birth) is a blank slate. Therefore there are no built in formulas or neural connections and that everything is developed and learned. The important theory (to me) is the connection to the spiritual idea of Tabula Rasa which follows that we are born with no sin.
It's an interesting theological quandary as there is no way for humans to deny sinfulness, however, we do acknowledge our baptism into Christ as a day of dedication in which we are cleansed by the holy water and made anew:
"The liturgy of baptism in (certain) traditions makes clear reference to baptism as not only a symbolic burial and resurrection, but an actual supernatural transformation, one that draws parallels to the experience of Noah and the passage of the Israelites through the Red Sea divided by Moses. Thus baptism is literally and symbolically not only cleansing, but also dying and rising again with Christ. Catholics believe that baptism is necessary for the cleansing of the taint of original sin, and for that reason infant baptism is a common practice."
If this is the case that baptism marks our burial and resurrection with Christ; does it then follow that our spiritual re-birth (our baptism) marks our real birth and therefore our birth into a state of our minds as a tablet unscribed upon by the chisel of sin?
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