Sin Causes Suffering

The LORD God said: "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a suitable partner for him." So the LORD God formed out of the ground various wild animals and various birds of the air, and he brought them to the man to see what he would call them; whatever the man called each of them would be its name. The man gave names to all the cattle, all the birds of the air, and all wild animals; but none proved to be the suitable partner for the man. So the LORD God cast a deep sleep on the man, and while he was asleep, he took out one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh.

The LORD God then built up into a woman the rib that he had taken from the man. When he brought her to the man, the man said: "This one, at last, is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called 'woman,’ for out of 'her man’ this one has been taken." That is  why a man leaves his father and mother and clings to his wife, and the two of them become one flesh. (Genesis 2:18-24)

Eve symbolically is the other person whom we need to love and by whom we need to be loved.  Adam is each person – all of us.  This is how we should understand the powerful, imaginative myth we call the Adam and Eve story with its theme of “sin causes suffering.” This is a spiritual truth.  Each of us suffers from our own and others’ sins.  

It’s the suffering we learn from experience such as physical pain and unjust social structures.  The latter is exemplified by Genesis 3:16 that reads: “To the woman he said: I will intensify your toil in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Yet your urge shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you.” (my emphasis)

Unfortunately, many of us think the story is history or science based.  Our Church does little to dispel that misunderstanding.  Perhaps one reason is the story being the foundation for the concept of original sin and the portrayal of Jesus as the “second Adam,” as if Adam was a real person.  

Father Richard Rohr has a very useful perspective he offered to his readers in July 2016.  He said: Christians pinpoint “original sin” in the Genesis story of Adam and Eve eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, even though the phrase is not in the Bible. 

I think a much truer description of Adam and Eve’s experience would be “original shame.” They hide when God comes looking for them, and when God asks why, they say they feel naked. Then God asks Adam and Eve, “Who told you that you were naked?” The implication is, “I sure didn’t.” A few verses later, we see a very nurturing image of God as seamstress, sewing garments and covering the two humans to protect them from their shame (see Genesis 3). How different than the much later and opposite notion of God shaming people for all eternity in hell. 

The older tradition reveals the deep mystery of transformation: God even uses our shame and pain to lead us closer to God’s loving heart. Of course! After forty-seven years now in active ministry, this has become obvious to me. We live in a time of primal shame, and we don’t seem to know how to escape it. I find very few people who don’t feel stupid, inadequate, dirty, or unworthy today, even if they do not consciously admit it. When people come to me for counseling or confession, they ask in one form or another, “If people knew the things I think, the things I’ve said, the things I want to do, who would love me?” We all have had feelings of radical, foundational unworthiness. I’m sure they take ten thousand different forms, but the shame is usually there.

We will be unable to have a solid experience of our own goodness and holiness unless we allow ourselves to be led to the mystical level. Otherwise, it is just wishful thinking or psychological analysis. In spiritual direction, so many people start with the premise, “If I behave correctly, I will one day get God to love me or even notice me.” We tend toward this behavioral model. But the biblical tradition actually teaches that first we must see God clearly, often by experiencing God’s mercy for our bad behavior—and then our right behavior will follow. 

We first must encounter and experience God’s original blessing, choosing, and loving of us. If you start with original sin or shame, normally the pit is so deep you never get out of it. This is why more and more the modern world resents Christianity, as any child would understandably resent a foundationally rejecting parent. 

All the good theology in the world is not strong enough to overcome bad psychology and anthropology. Some reformers actually thought of human nature as “a pile of manure covered over with Christ” or of human beings as “totally depraved.” I am afraid this has become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Let’s try preaching original blessing and see if that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy instead! (end)

Father Rohr compels us to think of “God’s original blessing.”  We have been blessed by God’s creation.  We have been blessed by God’s love.  We have been blessed by having Jesus as our Savior.  He saves us by understanding us and giving us a prescription for a faith-filled life based on love of God, our neighbors, and ourselves.

Deacon David Pierce