Creation and 460 in CCC

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Creation: Is evolution real? Was the world made in 6 days or is that just a metaphor? Were Adam and Eve just two people or many people?

460 in CCC: It says in CCC that we will “become gods”. I know this is a metaphor meaning that we will go to heaven. I know this is stated in the bible, that we will be one in Christ, but where in the bible does it say that?
 
I think the theory of evolution has a lot to recommend it. The Creation stories (there are at least 3 or 4 in the Bible) are about theology, not science, and teach us about our relationship with God – why the world was made, not how the world was made.

When he was still a cardinal the Pope wrote a great little book called ‘In the Beginning…’ A Catholic Understanding of the Story of the Creation and the Fall. It’s very short – it’s really just 4 homilies that he gave. I found it an easy and inspiring read.

As for CCC 460, how about John 17, especially the last half and 2 Peter 1:4:
4Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants in the divine nature.
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So many questions!🙂
dominikus28 said:
Creation: Is evolution real?
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Depends what you mean by evolution. The origin and development of life by random, natural forces apart from God? No way.

The Church has repeatedly said that there is nothing wrong with accepting the fact that God could work through evolution if he so chose. The point to keep in mind is that the whole origin and process of life cannot be understood apart from God’s direct “design” or activity.
Was the world made in 6 days or is that just a metaphor?
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The Church has not definitively defined one way or the other (individual Bible scholars and theologians have their opinions, but that’s all they are – their opinion). Suffice to say, if God wanted to create the world in six days he could. We are free to believe as we choose on this issue as it has no direct impact on our salvation.
Were Adam and Eve just two people or many people?
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The Church has definitely taught that our first parents were two distinct people. Monogenism has been explicitly condemned.
460 in CCC: It says in CCC that we will “become gods”. I know this is a metaphor meaning that we will go to heaven. I know this is stated in the bible, that we will be one in Christ, but where in the bible does it say that?
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You may be thinking of 2 Peter 1:3-4:
His divine power has bestowed on us everything that makes for life and devotion, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and power. Through these, he has bestowed on us the precious and very great promises, so that through them you may come to share in the divine nature, after escaping from the corruption that is in the world because of evil desire.
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The NAB notes say:
Christian life in its fullness is a gift of divine power effecting a knowledge of Christ and the bestowal of divine promises (2 Peter 3:4, 9). To share in the divine nature, escaping from a corrupt world, is a thought found elsewhere in the Bible but expressed only here in such Hellenistic terms, since it is said to be accomplished through knowledge (2 Peter 1:3); cf 2 Peter 1:2; 2:20; but see also John 15:4; 17:22-23; Romans 8:14-17; Hebrews 3:14; 1 John 1:3; 3:2.
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The Navarre Bible Commentary adds:
“Partakers of the divine nature”: this succinct phrase sums up the fruits that the good things (especially grace) produce in Christians. This sharing in God’s own life is both the beginning and the final goal of Christian life. It is the beginning insofar as it is incorporation in Christ through Baptism, and brings with it (through grace and adoptive divine filiation) a sharing in God’s own life. It is the final goal of the Christian life since this participation attains its fullness and enduring perfection in heaven with the contemplation of God “as he is” (1 In 3:2 and note on same).
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Of course, already in this life the Blessed Trinity dwells in the soul in grace (cf., e.g., Jn 14:17-23; 1 Cor 3:16; 6:19; and notes on same). “Our faith teaches us that man, in the state of grace, is divinized–filled with God” ([St] J. Escriva, “Christ Is Passing By”, 103).
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Partaking of the divine nature is a basic feature of the Christian vocation. Pope Pius XII reminds us of this marvelous fact, which is closely linked to the mystery of the Incarnation: “If the Word ‘emptied himself, taking the form of a servant’ (Phil 2:7), he did so in order that his brethren according to the flesh might be made partakers of the divine nature (cf. 2 Pet 1:4), both during this earthly exile by sanctifying grace and in the heavenly home by the possession of eternal beatitude. For this reason the Only-begotten of the Father chose to become a son of man, that we might be made conformable to the image of the Son of God (cf. Rom 8:29) and be renewed according to the likeness of him who created us (cf. Col 3:10)” (“Mystici Corporis”, 20).
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On this subject, see also the [Navarre] notes on Rom 8:14-15 and Gal 4:6.
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Thank you for all that

Tamilda: What exactly does it say in that book you mentioned?
 
For more theological exploration of “becoming gods”, I recommend Dominican sources talking about Grace. It’s not purely metaphorical: we really do share in the very Life of God, not as Divine Persons of course, but as participators like iron receiving the nature of fire by being held in it.

Basically, since only the Divine Mind can “see God as He Is”, we know we will “be like Him” by Grace; God not only lets us see Him, in a very real way He gives us His own “eyes” so we can see Him.

Here is what Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange said about the nature of Sanctifying Grace:
Therefore Deity as such cannot be partaken of except by some essentially supernatural gift. And, conversely, grace cannot be essentially supernatural unless it is a formal and physical participation in the divine nature as divine, that is, in the intimate life of God, or Deity as Deity, ordaining us to the knowledge of God as He Himself knows Himself immediately and to the love of God as He loves Himself.

Furthermore, sanctifying grace is a participation in Deity as it is in itself and not merely as it is known to us. For it is produced in our soul by an immediate infusion altogether independently of our knowledge of the Deity; and just as Deity as such is communicated to the Son by eternal generation, so Deity as such is partaken of by the just, especially by the blessed, through divine adoption.
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That is what “becoming gods” means. It’s a profound and touching mystery.

Peace and God bless!
 
As for “becoming gods” check out Theosis on the internet. In the Western Church we talk of Sanctifying Grace while in the Eastern Church they talk more of the process of Theosis. Correctly understood It is quite an orthodox and legitimate process of “becoming gods” or becoming God as it is put in paragraph 460. 🙂
 
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