The Fall

Introduction

"Why study the faith?" A fair question, indeed. To study the Catholic faith is to study w ho we are, where we come from, and what our purpose in life is. These questions are intricately embedded in what we believe. The object of this book is to have a better understanding of who we are and what role we play in this drama we now call "Salvation History." In order to do this we must start at the very beginning. In order to know where we are going we must first look at where we came from. This includes looking at a brief history of the people of Israel up to the point of the Christ Event. From there, we will take a look at the life, teachings and sacraments of Christ. Finally, we will explore what it means to live a life in Christ. "Why must we live the Christian life?" you might ask. The answer: because to be fully human is to live a life in Christ. Anything else would be inauthentic to who we are. The more we deviate from the teachings of Christ, the less human and less authentic we become. The goal is to show that we are part of something bigger than ourselves, something that requires full and active participation, something that leads to ultimate happiness and freedom. We dare not strive for anything less!

Every story has a starting point. As J. R. R. Tolkien once wrote: "There cannot be any 'story' without a fall – all stories are ultimately about the fall." Ours is not so different. We too begin with a fall. Ours begins in the very first book of the Bible known as Genesis, which literally means the beginning, and indeed, it is the starting point of the history we call "human drama." What is the Bible? The Bible, simply put, is a collection of divinely inspired books. In fact, the word "Bible" comes from the Greek, Ta Biblia, which literally means "the books." The first part of the Bible is called the Old Testament, which is comprised of 46 books. These books are divided into three parts: the Law, the Prophets, and the Sacred Writings. The Law, or the Torah, is also known as the Pentateuch in the Latin Church (The Roman Catholic Church). These are the first five books of the Old Testament. It begins with Genesis and ends with Deuteronomy. It is here, in Genesis, where we will take a look at our own fall and the subsequent effects thereof.

Before we enter into the meat of Sacred Scripture it is notable to first discuss the importance of storytelling as a way of conveying truth. Sometimes storytelling is the best way of conveying truth. J.R.R. Tolkien, creator of The Lord of the Rings, once wrote: "After all, I believe that legends and myths are largely made of 'truth', and indeed present aspects of it that can only be received in this mode; and long ago certain truths and modes of this kind were discovered and must always reappear." When we were children our parents used to tell us stories to teach us lessons. Many times we were not aware that a lesson was being taught, but somehow, we were able to learn an important truth subconsciously, that is, without being consciously aware of it. Take for example the story of Snow White. The lesson or truth of this fairytale was to make known the evils of vanity (the wicked stepmother). Or take for example the story of Hansel and Gretel. The story was meant to keep children from falling into gluttony. If you remember the story, Hansel and Gretel were drawn to the wicked witch's cottage because it was made of candy. As it turned out, the witch used the alluring house as a ploy to capture and eat them. Yet, the main purpose of these stories were not so much to question, "did this really happen?" but more importantly, "what was the truth or lesson that I, the reader, was able to learn?"

We must take the same approach when reading Sacred Scripture, especially the first five books of the Old Testament. Like I alluded to before, I am not questioning whether these things actually happened, i.e. historical facts. I am more importantly exploring the truths they convey. As we dive into scripture we will also explore the context (historical & cultural setting) in which they were written and to whom they were written for so we could grasp a more complete understanding of the text.

So, let us start from the beginning. In the beginning God, who is all loving and all knowing, created the heavens and the earth, everything visible and invisible. Surrounding God are a group of spiritual beings known as "angels" or "messengers." This assembly of angelic beings serves God as his delegates and they make up the heavenly court. Unlike God, however, they do not have the power to create things. This is why only God may hold the title of "Creator." Yet, there were some among them who were envious of God's powers. In the history of sin, one sin stands above all others, one sin that would repeatedly change the course of history: pride. One angel, in particular, would fall victim to this sin. This angel sought to deceive others into believing he was the true bearer of light and not God. He boasted, "I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will make myself like the Most High" (Is 14:13, NAB). For his insubordination, this angel and his followers were cast out from heaven and into the darkness. These fallen angels, or demons as we now call them, will forever be tormented by the mere knowledge that although they sought eternal separation from God, they will never escape the fact that without God they can have no being. For you see, in his benevolence, God made angels, as well as humanity, with free will. He gave us free will so we could freely choose to follow what is good. Sometimes, however, because of our own selfishness, we choose the path not intended by God, but rather the deceivingly more attractive path that leads to destruction and doom.

We thus arrive at our story, the story of human drama. God decides to create the physical world, and with it, something so wonderful and so valuable that he even decides to make it in his own image: he creates man, and because "it is not good for man to be alone (Gn 2:18)" he created woman to accompany him. So then, we might ask ourselves, "Why did God create us?" The answer is quite simple: because he loves us. It was because of love and through love that we were created in his image. Therefore, our purpose as human beings is to freely return that love to God. That is why God gave us free will.

As human beings, however, our knowledge is limited. We do not have the capacity to know things as the angels do since they are not confined to the properties of space and time like we are. We are corporeal beings, that is, beings with flesh and blood. We come to know things through the senses and through our rationale (reason), which allows us to recognize such things as goodness, beauty and truth. We therefore are in a pilgrimage of...