The E-catechism: October 1998
	Creation Archives	Original Sin

		Each month the team working on this catechism presents you with two texts, and we hope that with your help and cooperation they will improve. Any suggestions you may have would be most welcome, as would ideas on subject matter. We look forward to hearing from you. CREATION   "God created the world" - with this statement one sometimes believes one can explain about the universe. In the middle ages, this idea was even couched in the following formulas "God is the initial cause" or "God is the final cause" of all that exists. But, when questioning nature, modern sciences have only found a chaos that on occasion seems to get organised. Absurdity dominates. Evolution would thus be an immense game of chance and of necessity. It is impossible to find a reasoned plan in it all. This is how modern physics construct their own idea of the beginning of the universe. Scientifically speaking, the statement "God creates" signifies nothing. The simple discovery of the inevitable character of suffering is enough to impede the idea of a God filled with kindly wisdom overseeing the earth. On the contrary, and with entire justification, the image of God is connected to love and to justice. Two realities which do not help us to understand the course of the world's events but which are indispensable to allow us to state our humanity in an inhuman world. Thus, when I say "God created the world", I believe in love and in justice; and this faith is necessary for me not to lose my sense of humanity. Without this conviction people's lives would be entirely ruled by the law of the jungle. In order to find humanity in another human being, in order to take seriously his/hers freedom and personality, I must see in him/her more than the pure product of biological, psychological or social heritage, I must consider him/her as an unfathomable mystery. I may ask the world why this person exists but I shall obtain no answer. But if I really take in the entirety of a person in this world, I suddenly discover that his/hers existence is indispensable. It is in this process of discovery that God will find me. God reveals himself to me and engages me in opposing the suffering of so many sensitive beings which often appears to be so absurd. Thus, by allowing me to overcome the abyss of nothingness, faith in God brings forth recognition and joy and gives me, whenever necessary, the courage to fight on.
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		ORIGINAL SIN   In general, one is told that original sin goes back to the first couple Adam and Eve who had disobeyed God. As punishment, all nature became polluted. Sickness and death would be the result of original sin and men and women would be irresistibly inclined towards evil. Explained in this way, the idea of original sin is obviously absurd. It is incompatible with the basic data of human biology and with the elementary demands of justice: it is not imaginable to transmit the responsibility of the action of one individual on to his/hers entire descendancy. Furthermore this concept is irreconcilable with our knowledge about the first appearance of mankind. It would mean that we consider that Adam and Eve were at the same time the Australopithecus of 3 million years ago, the Homo Erectus of a million years ago, the Neanderthalien of 100.000 years ago, the Cro-Magnon man of 30.000 years ago or the first peasants of eight thousand years ago. The biblical vision of the world covers six thousand years. It is rather a short time to interpret the symbolic narrative on original sin at the beginning of Genesis, as well as information on "historical" events. In fact, we are dealing with images that present human existence. They show us the alternative before which each one of us is placed: will our life be marked by anguish or by an attitude of deepened trust ? The most developed animals are also seased with anguish in the face of danger. They perceive that their life is threatened and attempt to escape. The paroxysm of fear in human beings is provoked by death because, unlike animals, we carry within us the certainty that we will not escape it. In mythical language, it is the proposition of the serpent, with it's throat open before nothingness that asks us the question: what to do with this anguish that is inherent to our existence ? An anguish that becomes infinite and that in mankind, while looking for a solution, implies a constant jump forward. Thus it is that, for fear of hunger, the northern hemisphere accumulates the money and the goods that the remaining 2/3 of humanity lack, thus becoming plunged in misery and famine. For fear of a potential enemy, we arm ourselves to the point of being able to destroy all. And for fear of being nothing but "ash on earth" we attempt to present ourselves as an absolute that must be recognised by all. The desire "to be like God" in fact dissimulates our confusion. Thus we are caught in a spiral of anguish. What defines original sin is therefore not an act of disobedience or of pride, but rather it signals the deformation of an existence that is permeated through and through by anguish. It is impossible to respond to human misery by simple moral pressure, by commands or by exhortations. Human anguish does not dissolve in solitude, by means of the will or of good resolutions, but in a finding based on confidence. Then, and only then, can one truly understand the absurdity of all our escape mechanisms. Only the person who can feel that he or she are loved in spite of everything, can truly feel at home in the world. Saved by grace, there will be understanding of the uselessness of feelings of fear or of guilt. If the doctrine of original sin may be of any use to us, it will not be by means of accusation but rather by furthering the understanding of the true nature of alienation.
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