Genisis

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How can I explain to my New Age friend that we believe that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but then turn around and say that the Genisis story “really didn’t happen” but was story of how sin began? How can I say this with out sounding like I’m contradicting myself…
 
Jonah said:
How can I explain to my New Age friend that we believe that the Bible is inspired by the Holy Spirit, but then turn around and say that the Genisis story “really didn’t happen” but was story of how sin began? How can I say this with out sounding like I’m contradicting myself…
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Um, tell her what the Church teaches, that we really did descend from two people, Adam and Eve, who started out in a state of “original justice” but sinned and caused problems for the rest of us. 👍
 
To put it bluntly, we cannot say that the account of Genesis and other writings in the old testament “didn’t happen”. Pope Pius XII reminds us of this in his encyclical letter Humani Generis:
HG 38:
This Letter, in fact, clearly points out that the first eleven chapters of Genesis, although properly speaking not conforming to the historical method used by the best Greek and Latin writers or by competent authors of our time, do nevertheless pertain to history in a true sense, which however must be further studied
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HG 39:
Therefore, whatever of the popular narrations have been inserted into the Sacred Scriptures must in no way be considered on a par with myths or other such things
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The letter he is referring to is from the Pontifical Biblical Council in 1909. It outlines 9 things that we are required to believe as Catholics:


  1. *]Creation ex nihilo (Everything was created out of nothing)
    *]Special creation of man (Direct intervention from God whether that is just adding a soul to a soulless evolved creature, or completely creating man body and soul at a specific moment in time).
    *]The creation of woman from man (not necessarily bodily crafted from the rib, but that one being comes from the other in a mysterious sense).
    *]All of humanity is descended from an original pair of human beings.
    *]That Adam & Eve were originally created in a state of holiness justice and immortality.
    *]A divine command was laid upon man to prove his obedience to God. (Was it literally a tree? That much is not clear, although it probably wasn’t an apple, that is a by-product of the similarity between the latin for “apple” and the latin for “evil”).
    *]Transgression of divine command at instigation of satan.
    *]Loss of holiness and immortality were as a direct result of the transgression of that divine command.
    *]The promise of a future redeemer that is Christ (Gen 3:15 the protoevangelium or “first good news”).

    You can explain to your friend that the Church teaches that all of scripture is inspired, which includes the two accounts of creation in the first two chapters of Genesis which, if read in a literalist manner, appear to contradict one another, but when read in a literal manner, do not. The Church also teaches that man through his intellect can come to understand truth and that Scientific truth cannot contradict Theological truth - where the Bible contradicts science, we can be certain that we have either misinterpreted the intent of the author of holy scripture, or misinterpreted the scientific evidence.

    Hope that helps,
 
Crepusculum said:
To put it bluntly, we cannot say that the account of Genesis and other writings in the old testament “didn’t happen”. Pope Pius XII reminds us of this in his encyclical letter Humani Generis:

The letter he is referring to is from the Pontifical Biblical Council in 1909. It outlines 9 things that we are required to believe as Catholics:


  1. *]Creation ex nihilo (Everything was created out of nothing)
    *]Special creation of man (Direct intervention from God whether that is just adding a soul to a soulless evolved creature, or completely creating man body and soul at a specific moment in time).
    *]The creation of woman from man (not necessarily bodily crafted from the rib, but that one being comes from the other in a mysterious sense).
    *]All of humanity is descended from an original pair of human beings.
    *]That Adam & Eve were originally created in a state of holiness justice and immortality.
    *]A divine command was laid upon man to prove his obedience to God. (Was it literally a tree? That much is not clear, although it probably wasn’t an apple, that is a by-product of the similarity between the latin for “apple” and the latin for “evil”).
    *]Transgression of divine command at instigation of satan.
    *]Loss of holiness and immortality were as a direct result of the transgression of that divine command.
    *]The promise of a future redeemer that is Christ (Gen 3:15 the protoevangelium or “first good news”).

    You can explain to your friend that the Church teaches that all of scripture is inspired, which includes the two accounts of creation in the first two chapters of Genesis which, if read in a literalist manner, appear to contradict one another, but when read in a literal manner, do not. The Church also teaches that man through his intellect can come to understand truth and that Scientific truth cannot contradict Theological truth - where the Bible contradicts science, we can be certain that we have either misinterpreted the intent of the author of holy scripture, or misinterpreted the scientific evidence.

    Hope that helps,
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  1. 👍 Thanks for adding the official sources. I knew it was so, but I didn’t know where to cite.
 
ABostonCatholic said:
👍 Thanks for adding the official sources. I knew it was so, but I didn’t know where to cite.
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No problem, and thanks for saying what I wanted to say in a more easily digestible format - now we have both 😃

Best of luck in 19 days time, will be praying for you.
 
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