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Catechism 1018:As a consequence of original sin man must suffer bodily
death, from which he would have been immune had he not sinned. Romans 5:12
it was through one man that sin came into the world, and through sin death.
It seems to me that death is a completely natural part of all living things
existence, from the simplest cell to the most complicated of all plant and
animal life, which of course includes man. This is how all life is created
and had been so for the first 3.5 billion years of life on our planet. Death
is actually a necessary and God created thing and part of all the natural
cycles that exist (carbon, nitrogen etc). What then of the creation of man
the species. Surely death must have been part of God's plan for man too?
Unless Adam & Eve were somehow uniquely singled out to exist permanently in
some other unworldly state (with no offspring, this is important). But
perhaps I am answering my own question here! I can't quite grasp what
exactly "the Garden of Eden" is. It cannot have been here on our planet,
subject to the normal order of things. Help! |
| You raise
an interesting point of debate, and one, if I recall correctly which was
much debated by the Scholastic theologians and philosophers in the medieval
period, rather like the proverbial question: 'How many angels can stand on
the head of a pin?' Your question is a serious one. My immediate reaction is to place the the question in the historical period before the ere of writing, when men and women ‹ just like us, asked the same sort of questions. Was the world we know always like this? Why is there death and suffering? Why is there evil, natural floods, disasters or fire? Why this evil in the world in which we live today? Faced with the same questions today, such as, why is my beautiful young son or daughter dying of cancer, or has been knocked down by a mobile phone using car driver? We can but truthfully answer: 'I don't know'. We can speculate, but we do not fully understand or know scientifically precisely why these things happen. Although we may do our level best to comfort and console those involved in such tragedy. If we have faith, we may say with some certitude ‹ dare I say certain knowledge ‹ that the good God did not make this evil happen, no more than the good God makes the good things happen. For I believe God is not the cause of evil, or cause of good in that directly causal sense. For as causal agents we are free to use to the mobile phone when driving or not to do so! Now to return to that era before writing began. The history of tribe or people was passed on from generation to generation by 'story tellers' and 'narrators' who were renowned for their phenomenal memories and skills using poetry and music to relate their history. Among such material, and in various cultures, there is the account of the Garden of Eden (Paradise) which sets out what might have been ‹ a place of ease (no work or labour) ‹ a place of well being and relaxation (a garden or oasis with fruit trees and flowing water) ‹ a place of peace and friendship (where man and woman enjoying each others company also walked hand in hand in friendship with God). Oh! That it were so! But it is not now, for we have wars, death, sickness and disaster. And primitive man's explanation was the allegory of the serpent who did mislead Adam and Eve into disobedience, and their sin wrecked the whole balance and harmony of Paradise ‹ the oasis of fruitfulness in the world that God had created. I am not saying that there was no real paradise, but rather that we might need to understand the basic underlying question facing all conscious living beings. This is a personal view in many respects. It represents how I personally try to come to terms with the biblical story and its present day significance. For me as a Christian believer, I can see what the apostle Paul meant when writing to the converts at Rome when he spoke of sin entering the world through one man and through sin death. For of course Paul is highlighting the fact that also through one man Jesus Christ comes freedom from both death and sin, for they have been conquered and vanquished by God's grace. In my life, and there have been personal times of suffering, at times they seemed unjust, and undeserved, I can recognise that although in one sense Paradise is a dream, it is at the same time a dream that we can, each of us, make more real in our day. It may be by the way we personally bear our sufferings in life, or by making free choices, choosing the good over the evil options that present themselves. It is possible to turn the evil around, to transform evil: to make peace not war, to bring healing and health not sickness or disease, to give food and not to create starvation by inaction. Above all we can bring harmony and friendship in relationships, so that they bloom even in the most desert-like places. May I suggest that Paradise is no dream, it is real enough to live and work for? I hope that lengthy answer is helpful if not a complete answer to a debate that will last for all time. Peter Harrison cephas.quovadis@blueyonder.co.uk |