Good Luck With That

 

The biblical story of Adam and Eve is intriguing.  It always has fascinated me and has made me cringe when I’m told to believe in the talking snake and the forbidden fruit hanging in the tree of knowledge of good and evil.  Our Church has accepted this story as real and as an essential truth of our faith.  

Most of us don’t give Adam much critical thought meaning how was it that he suddenly appeared in the garden as a full-gown man with a belly button indicating he had an umbilical cord attaching him to his mother.  But he had no mother; perhaps he lacked the button?  Now that’s religious fiction as well as Eve originating from one of his ribs.  Now that’s a reproductive role reversal!

The garden of Eden and all associated with it is a beautiful religious myth with great spiritual meaning, but find that acknowledgement in our Catechism. We won’t.  Therein lies a problem for well-informed children who won’t swallow fiction as fact.  Children and young adults tend to walk away from Church teaching that beggar the imagination.  Here’s some of that teaching provided in the Catechism.

(begin) Original sin - an essential truth of the faith

388 With the progress of Revelation, the reality of sin is also illuminated. Although to some extent the People of God in the Old Testament had tried to understand the pathos of the human condition in the light of the history of the fall narrated in Genesis, they could not grasp this story's ultimate meaning, which is revealed only in the light of the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. We must know Christ as the source of grace in order to know Adam as the source of sin (my emphasis). The Spirit-Paraclete, sent by the risen Christ, came to "convict the world concerning sin", by revealing him who is its Redeemer.

389 The doctrine of original sin is, so to speak, the "reverse side" of the Good News that Jesus is the Savior of all men, that all need salvation and that salvation is offered to all through Christ. The Church, which has the mind of Christ, knows very well that we cannot tamper with the revelation of original sin without undermining the mystery of Christ (my emphasis).

How to read the account of the fall

390 The account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, [My note: Figurative language is a type of communication that does not use a word's strict or realistic meaning. Common in comparisons and exaggerations, figurative language is usually used to add creative flourish to written or spoken language or explain a complicated idea.] but affirms a primeval event, a deed that took place at the beginning of the history of man. Revelation gives us the certainty of faith that the whole of human history is marked by the original fault freely committed by our first parents. (end)

It appears to be acknowledged in the Catechism that the fall is figurative language.  Therein lies my confusion about the reality and use of original sin as a foundation for our faith and the mystery of Christ.  

I don't think we humans have ever lost our "original holiness," but the figurative Fall claims we did.  Nevertheless, we lose it or lessen it though our everyday sins to be regained or strengthened through reconciliation.

Here are a few more Catechism statements about sin including the “first sin” and the “first disobedience” – the Fall with its figurative language. 

(begin) Man's first sin

397 Man, tempted by the devil, let his trust in his Creator die in his heart and, abusing his freedom, disobeyed God's command. This is what man's first sin consisted of. All subsequent sin would be disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness.

398 In that sin man preferred himself to God and by that very act scorned him. He chose himself over and against God, against the requirements of his creaturely status and therefore against his own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man was destined to be fully "divinized" by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, he wanted to "be like God", but "without God, before God, and not in accordance with God".

399 Scripture portrays the tragic consequences of this first disobedience. Adam and Eve immediately lose the grace of original holiness. They become afraid of the God of whom they have conceived a distorted image - that of a God jealous of his prerogatives.

400 The harmony in which they had found themselves, thanks to original justice, is now destroyed: the control of the soul's spiritual faculties over the body is shattered; the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions, their relations henceforth marked by lust and domination. Harmony with creation is broken: visible creation has become alien and hostile to man. Because of man, creation is now subject "to its bondage to decay". Finally, the consequence explicitly foretold for this disobedience will come true: man will "return to the ground", for out of it he was taken. Death makes its entrance into human history.

401 After that first sin, the world is virtually inundated by sin. There is Cain's murder of his brother Abel and the universal corruption which follows in the wake of sin. Likewise, sin frequently manifests itself in the history of Israel, especially as infidelity to the God of the Covenant and as transgression of the Law of Moses. (end)

I’m particularly attracted to the following:

(begin) And even after Christ's atonement, sin raises its head in countless ways among Christians. Scripture and the Church's Tradition continually recall the presence and universality of sin in man's history: What Revelation makes known to us is confirmed by our own experience. For when man looks into his own heart, he finds that he is drawn towards what is wrong and sunk in many evils which cannot come from his good creator. Often refusing to acknowledge God as his source, man has also upset the relationship which should link him to his last end, and at the same time he has broken the right order that should reign within himself as well as between himself and other men and all creatures. (end)

The aforementioned makes sense to me – without reference to original sin – as to the “presence and universality of sin in man's history.”  We turn to Christ as a way to deal with our sinful natures; that is, our refusal to acknowledge God as our source.  We often don’t, so we sin explained in #397 and #398 above I now modify somewhat below: 

(begin) “Man and woman, are tempted by the devil, let their trust in their Creator die in their hearts and abuse their freedom, disobey God's commandments. All sin is disobedience toward God and lack of trust in his goodness. In that sin man and woman prefer themselves to God and by that very act scorn him. They choose themselves over and against God, against the requirements of their creaturely status and therefore against their own good. Constituted in a state of holiness, man and woman are destined to be fully "divinized" by God in glory. Seduced by the devil, they want to "be like God", but "without God, before God, and not in accordance with God". (end)  

Now that’s sin, and it is not original.  It is commonplace and ongoing.   It is our nature.  That's original.

For a very useful, fascinating, and insightful look into the story of Adam and Eve I suggest "The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve" by Stephen Greenblatt (2017).

Deacon David Pierce