Posted on 02/12/2014 8:01:26 AM PST by GonzoII
PART I - FAITH.
THE APOSTLES' CREED.
FIRST ARTICLE OF THE CREED: "I BELIEVE IN GOD, THE FATHER ALMIGHTY."
9. MAN.
The Creation of Man.
The account of the creation of man is found in the beginning of the book of Genesis. Nothing is said about the time when man was created, but the general belief fixes the date at 4000 B.C. The four weeks of Advent seem to indicate that the Church adopts this view.
1. God made the body of man out of the dust of the earth, and breathed into him a living soul.
The soul of man is a spiritual substance. The materialist who denies the existence of the soul because it cannot be perceived by his senses, might as well deny the existence of human reason because he cannot see it. The soul is endowed with the two faculties of reason and free will. Some have supposed that there are in man two souls, on account of the different inclinations which strive for mastery in him, and the struggle that takes place between the leaning towards sensual enjoyment and the reason that condemns it. But this struggle only proves that the soul has different tendencies, in virtue of our nature being partly material and partly spiritual. The rela- tions between the body and the soul of man are as follows : the body is the dwelling-place of the soul. As the nutshell to the kernel, as the dress to the man, as the hut to the hermit, such is the body to the soul. The body is also the instrument of the soul, whereby it may attain to eternal happiness. What his tools are to the carpenter, his brush to the painter, the organ to the organist, such the body is to the soul. The soul is the guide of the body, as the driver of his steed, or the captain of his ship. Too often the soul allows the evil desires of the body to lead it astray, to the ruin of both. The body is a good servant but a bad master. The soul also is the life of the body; as soon as the two are parted, the body soon returns to the dust from which it was formed. The souls of men are essentially different from those of the lower animals ; and have different faculties and capabili- ties. The souls of animals are incapable of striving after perfection, or of searching into the causes of things; hence they can have no knowledge of their end ; they are led by instinct, not by reason. They have no craving after a higher happiness and are quite satisfied with the enjoyment of sense ; they have no spiritual nature, but are essen- tially dependent on matter.
It is an error to think that the bodies of men are developed out of those of the lower animals.
Many think that men are sprung from the lower animals by a pro- cess of gradual development This is the theory advanced by the Eng- lish naturalist, Darwin, who believed that the first man was a highly developed kind of monkey. There is an essential difference between the shape of the body of a man and an ape, and between the form of their skulls. The brain of man is far larger and heavier than that of an ape. Man has the gift of speech, the ape has not. Man has the power of forming abstract ideas, the ape has not. Man has a long period of growth, and a gradual development of his faculties; the ape shoots up very quickly to its full development. The ape only lives about thirty years; man can attain to the age of eighty or even one hun- dred years. Man is capable of the highest cultivation ; the ape is not. No bones have ever yet been found which bridge over the impassable gulf that separates men from apes. There is no difference between the bones of men in the present day and those of men who lived thousands of years ago. Tradition and language bear witness to an early period when men enjoyed a higher cultivation, from which they afterwards fell away through sin and vice. The apes which bear the greatest resemblance to man in bodily form are stupid and without intelligence, and seem to have been created in order that we may see what man would have been if God had not breathed into him an immortal soul, and made him like to Himself. To those who trace the origin of men from apes may be applied the words of Holy Scripture, "Man when he was in honor did not understand; he hath been compared to senseless beasts, and made like to them" (Ps. xlviii. 21).
2. The first human beings that God created were Adam and Eve.
Eve was made from a rib of Adam while he slept, and from Adam and Eve all the millions who now cover the face of the earth were de- scended. Hence all are members of one and the same family. The dif- ferences of color and of the shape of the skull are the result of differ- ences of climate, food, and way of living. We find that animals grad- ually change their shape and color under a different climate. All men have certain common bodily characteristics, and also the mental facul- ties of will, memory, and understanding. The oldest legends of all existing peoples tell of a primeval happiness from which man fell, of a deluge over all the inhabited portion of the earth, etc., and so bear witness to a common origin.
Yet all men derive only their bodies from Adam; for the soul of every man is created by God.
It is not man, but God, Who communicates to each of us his soul when he comes into existence. " The Lord formeth the spirit of man in him" (Zach. xii. 1). Just as the Holy Spirit in Baptism or in the Sacrament of Penance descends into the soul of man, and gives it spiritual life, so God gives natural life to the body of man when formed, and places the soul in it. So He did with the bodies of Adam and Eve at their creation. God creates each soul and at the same moment places it in the body which He has prepared for it. It is therefore an error to suppose, as Tertullian did, that the soul of the child is sprung from the soul of its parent, as one flame is engendered from another. Some have foolishly asserted that all men have one and the same soul, others that God created the souls of all men when He first created the world. This was the doctrine of Plato and Origen, and is entirely false.
What Catholics must believe about the creation account of Genesis:
"..the nine teachings of the Church regarding chapters 1-3 of Genesis, as expounded in the 1909 document from the Pontifical Biblical Commission, followed each time by the paragraphs of the 1994 Catechism that carry the corresponding teachings:"
1) The creation of all things out of nothing by God at the beginning of time...and including time; CCC #’s 296-2992) The special creation of man; CCC #’s 355-359
3) The creation of woman from man [Eve was created from Adam's rib - well, the Church doesn’t say that it absolutely happened in exactly that way, but it does teach that woman was created from man in some manner]; CCC #371
4) That all of humanity is descended from an original pair of human beings - Adam and Eve; CCC #’s 54-55, 359-360, 375, 390-392, 402-405, 407, 416-417
5) That Adam and Eve were created in an original state of holiness, justice, and immortality; CCC #’s 374-379, 384, 398, 415-416
6) That a Divine Command was laid upon man to prove his obedience to God [“Thou shalt not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” - again, exactly what that means, we don’t know. Was it really a tree with fruit that they weren’t supposed to eat? Probably not, but we don’t really know. But we do know that there was some command from God, laid upon man, to prove his obedience.]; CCC #’s 396-397, 399
7) The transgression of that Divine Command at the instigation of Satan; CCC #’s 379, 390-392, 394-395, 397-398, 413-415
8) The loss of the state of holiness, justice, and immortality of our 1st parents, because of their disobedience - Adam and Eve were kicked out of Paradise; CCC #’s 379, 390, 399-400, 410
9) The promise of a future Redeemer, a Savior - Gen 3:15, the protoevangelium, the first “good news”; CCC #’s 410-411
... Source
... Catholic Dogma and Teaching on Creation
and the 1909 Pontifical Biblical Commission on Genesis
I. FOR WHAT END ARE WE ON THIS EARTH?
II. HOW ARE WE TO ATTAIN TO ETERNAL HAPPINESS?
III. CAN WE ATTAIN PERFECT HAPPINESS ON EARTH?
I. THE KNOWLEDGE OF GOD.
II. DIVINE REVELATION.
III. THE PREACHING OF THE GOSPEL.
IV. HOLY SCRIPTURE AND TRADITION.
V. THE CHRISTIAN FAITH.
VI. THE MOTIVES OF FAITH.
VII. ON THE ABSENCE AND LOSS OF FAITH.
VIII. ON THE DUTY OF CONFESSING OUR FAITH.
IX. THE SIGN OF THE CROSS.
X. THE APOSTLES' CREED.
FIRST ARTICLE OF THE CREED: "I BELIEVE IN GOD,
THE FATHER ALMIGHTY."
1. THE EXISTENCE OF A SUPREME BEING.
2. THE DIVINE ESSENCE.
3. THE DIVINE ATTRIBUTES
4. THE BLESSED TRINITY.
5. HISTORY OF CREATION.
6. DIVINE PROVIDENCE.
7. THE CHRISTIAN UNDER SUFFERING.
8. THE ANGELS.
9. MAN.
What is “dust”?
Well, house dust is actually dust mite poop.
Dust mites eat the cast off skin of humans and pets.
When trying to communicate with ancient, largely illiterate people who did not understand molecular science or microscopic biology or DNA, I think “dust” is as close as you can get to saying:
“You were made with the same basic biological matter that all living things were made of”.
Humus: Dirt or “good soil made with rich with decayed animal or vegetable matter.
Human: made from Humus!
Why is it MORE insulting to think we came from life animals than to think were made from dead animal matter?
What ever happened, Eve's body didn't evolve from a lower species.
When Adam was created, there was no death, neither animal or plant. As far as thinking we came from animals: That's not what God said.
What of Genesis 2:9 - The Lord God made all kind of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. and Genesis 3:22 - And the Lord God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and live forever."
How is it held that Adam and Eve, or anything else for that matter were immortal?
Rom 5:12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world and by sin death: and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.
Wis 2:23, 24 For God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world: and they that do hold of his side do find it.
It seems like there’s a direct conflict.
Nonsense.
Got speaks in parables and stories all the time.
The point of Genesis is that God is in control.
We do NOT have to take it literally.
The sun does not really rise or set either, by the way. The Earth is NOT the center of the universe, by the way.
It is wrong to expect Genesis to be written in scientific or biological terms.
We do NOT know how long a “day” was in Genesis.
What concept was there for a “day” prior to the formation of the Earth?
What if the “day” being considered was that of another planet?
God has a sense of humor and he will laugh at all of us.
Nobody knows exactly what happened, when or how.
I think you meant 'spoke'.
The point of Genesis is that God is in control.
No it is that God created the heavens and the earth. Even Catholics say so, the Magisterium no less:
We do NOT have to take it literally.
What? That God did create or the timeline?
We do NOT know how long a “day” was in Genesis.
In the inspired Word of God, Genesis chapter, the Hebrew word was yom. Where else in scripture is that word used in another sense than it is used in Genesis?
What concept was there for a “day” prior to the formation of the Earth
The hadn't been a day before creation, so Genesis 1:3-5
3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Seems your opinion differs from the text.
What if the “day” being considered was that of another planet?
I assumed you were Catholic, this other planet Kolob or Xenu's home planet?
Nobody knows exactly what happened, when or how.
God obviously does, He was there.
God has a sense of humor and he will laugh at all of us.
He surely recognizes fools, but I doubt he suffers them much.
One comes from God's Word, the other is some fiction writer.
There are millions of planets in our Galaxy alone. Each planet has different days.
And was/is there an 'Adam' on all of them? Genesis refers to this planet, since the narrative continues to Adam's creation.
Huh? Which is fiction: Genesis or Romans?
Wisdom. The two quotes were from Romans and Wisdom.
Okay, but the conflict is with Genesis 3:22 which arguably indicates that Adam and Eve were not immortal.
By inference, after the fall the nature of the tree of life seems to have changed as well from a tree available to eat which didn't confer immortality to one that did. So God in His mercy drove Adam and Eve from the Garden lest they become stuck in sin eternally.
As far as the Catholic Catechism disagreeing with Gen 3:22, not all that surprising.
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