Looking for Adam

[fhansen]

I haven’t replied to some post’s since my last reply as I would be just repeating my question over again, then I read this above and I now wonder if I have been missing a valuable piece of information.
You say it is beyond our nature to be holy, and that is why we need Grace from God. I get that.

Now I am thinking that, A&E had the choice to act on their unnatural desires or act on the holy nature that they had by the grace of God, but then that seems their was two natures within.
I always thought that, when God created the first humans, they were created without any inclination to act upon unnatural desire, because they were created good, lived holy in friendship with God, and that is also why I have difficultly understanding how they could desire something more, something other than God.
But if God made them with* underlining* basic desires of their own, then I can understand how they then could actually act upon them.

I’m trying to explain what I’m thinking, and I don’t think I’ve done that good of a job, but I hope someone understands some of what I say?

A & E’s desire was the same as God’s desire for them. They wanted to be like God. The disorder in their desire was they wanted to be like God but “without God, before God, and not in accordance with God” (CCC 398). Again, they had not yet achieved their perfection at that point. God had destined them to be “fully divinized” according to the same paragraph. This destiny would take place only as they cooperated with God, obeying Him, entering full union with Him. This would be the right order of things. Instead they “scorned Him”, rejecting His authority and therefore His godhood over them, becoming pitiful “gods”, albeit in control of their own destinies nonetheless, for what it was worth. That’s the situation we’re all born into today, effectively autonomous from the God we hardly even know.

 

[simpleas]

Originally Posted by fhansen

A & E’s desire was the same as God’s desire for them. They wanted to be like God. The disorder in their desire was they wanted to be like God but “without God, before God, and not in accordance with God”

Ok then the disorder in their desire to be like God, but on their terms must have been present within them, and this can only be if God created them with that desire. Man didn’t create himself, he could only use his reason to judge something with the intelligence he was given, rely on his desires both good and bad in order to make the decision.

 

[fhansen]

Ok then the disorder in their desire to be like God, but on their terms must have been present within them, and this can only be if God created them with that desire. Man didn’t create himself, he could only use his reason to judge something with the intelligence he was given, rely on his desires both good and bad in order to make the decision.

God must’ve created them with all gifts and sufficient knowledge to choose rightly; the disorder was only in wanting to be autonomous from their Creator, which would still be a good thing in that it would make them equal to God-and to be God is the ultimate good. They wanted something good-but just not possible. They’re thinking was not aligned with reality or truth, they believed and acted on an untruth instead.Their knowledge of the distinction between created and Creator was lacking perhaps. We must all learn our place in order to have any real peace and I’d bet A & E have done so by now.

Speaking for myself, the very inherent, unavoidable limitations and relative imperfection that would distinguish the created from the Creator may also have at least helped make possible the error in their thought and actions, without eliminating culpability by any means. They* weren’t God*; man needs to learn to trust God; God wants man to be like Him but that can only occur as we’re intimately associated with- *communing *with- Him, not apart from Him.

 

[Vico]

I haven’t replied to some post’s since my last reply as I would be just repeating my question over again, then I read this above and I now wonder if I have been missing a valuable piece of information.
You say it is beyond our nature to be holy, and that is why we need Grace from God. I get that.

Now I am thinking that, A&E had the choice to act on their unnatural desires or act on the holy nature that they had by the grace of God, but then that seems their was two natures within.
I always thought that, when God created the first humans, they were created without any inclination to act upon unnatural desire, because they were created good, lived holy in friendship with God, and that is also why I have difficultly understanding how they could desire something more, something other than God.
But if God made them with* underlining* basic desires of their own, then I can understand how they then could actually act upon them.

I’m trying to explain what I’m thinking, and I don’t think I’ve done that good of a job, but I hope someone understands some of what I say?

They did not have concupiscence before the original sin. Without concupiscence, they could fall in the same kind of sins that the angels did.

 

[grannymh]

A sincere thank you to all who have provided very interesting informative posts. Please continue.

As for myself, I have now found Adam.

 

[Hunho]

This is a summary, based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, of Adam and Eve’s original status of ***Original Justice ***before their First Disobedience and Fall. I had originally posted this in one of grannymh’s earlier threads on Adam. I’m re-posting it here for reference purposes.

---

I went back to the Catechism to see what Catholic doctrine specifically says about that “original relationship.”

(1) According to CCC 375 “our first parents, Adam and Eve, were constituted in an original “state of holiness and justice”. This grace of original holiness was "to share in. . .divine life”".
(2) According to CCC 376 and 377 “By the radiance of this [original] grace all dimensions of man’s life were confirmed. As long as he remained in the divine intimacy, he would remain in the state of "original justice”:

a) man would not have to suffer or die,
b) man would possess an inner harmony of the human person, a mastery of self in which he was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence that subjugates him to:

i) the pleasures of the senses,
ii) covetousness for earthly goods, and
iii) self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.
c) the first couple possessed a harmony between man and woman, and finally
d) the there was a harmony between the first couple and all creation.
​

(3) And, according to CCC 377 and 378 “God offered man from the beginning the “mastery” over the world…” and, as a sign of man’s familiarity with God, God placed him in the garden of Eden, to live and “to till it and keep it”. That work was not yet a burden, but rather the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation.
​

This is what, by disobeying God’s explicit command, the first couple threw away.

​

Originally posted by Hunho as #399 in “Adam & Logic, Third Edition, Original Relationship between Humanity and Divinity” on Sep 5, '15, 2:15 pm]

 

[simpleas]

They did not have concupiscence before the original sin. Without concupiscence, they could fall in the same kind of sins that the angels did.

That makes no sense to me.

Angels are supernatural, humans are not.

Thanks anyway.

 

[Vico]

That makes no sense to me.

Angels are supernatural, humans are not.

Thanks anyway.

It is true that angels are pure spiritual beings but they are creatures that have intelligence and will. Adam and Eve could fall in the same kind of sins that the angels did because there are two categories of sins: those related to the concupiscence and those that are not. The fall did not involve concupiscence rather concupiscence resulted from the fall.

The Catholic Catechism explains in the Glossary has:
CONCUPISCENCE: Human appetites or desires which remain disordered due to the temporal consequences of original sin, which remain even after Baptism, and which produce an inclination to sin (1264, 1426, 2515).

SOUL: The spiritual principle of human beings. The soul is the subject of human consciousness and freedom; soul and body together form one unique human nature. Each human soul is individual and immortal, immediately created by God. The soul does not die with the body, from which it is separated by death, and with which it will be reunited in the final resurrection.

FALL: … (2) In the “fall” of angels, Scripture and Church tradition see the emergence of Satan and the “devil”; the “fall” of these angelic spirits was due to their freely chosen rejection of God and His reign (391–392).

Also, Catechism:

330 As purely spiritual creatures angels have intelligence and will: they are personal and immortal creatures, surpassing in perfection all visible creatures, as the splendor of their glory bears witness. 190

 

[simpleas]

From the CCC :

377 The “mastery” over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. The first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence254 that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.

I can’t comment on the sin of supernatural beings, I can’t even understand how the human being can turn from God when there is no possibility of a selfish act because those desires were not present in man until after he sinned.

 

[Richca]

Ok then the disorder in their desire to be like God, but on their terms must have been present within them, and this can only be if God created them with that desire. Man didn’t create himself, he could only use his reason to judge something with the intelligence he was given, rely on his desires both good and bad in order to make the decision.

“Behold, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). That God created Adam and Eve with evil desires is neither scripturally, theologically, or philosophically correct and it is against the teaching of the Church. Evil in itself is not something created, it is not a being or a nature, in itself it does not exist. Evil is the absence of being and goodness in some thing which by nature it naturally and normally possesses as blindness is the absence of sight in some thing which normally possesses sight such as animals and us. After God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them and finally Adam and Eve, it is written “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). Again, evil in itself does not exist, it is not a principle of things; evil can only be founded on being and good and it only exists in being and good. The CCC says that God is not the cause of sin either directly or indirectly.

The cause of evil desires which result in sin is founded upon the God given power of free choice or free will. God gave Adam and Eve one commandment to follow and it was within their power of free choice to keep the commandment or disobey it. Adam and Eve did not disobey God’s commandment because of some innate evil desire God created them with but they disobeyed God due to the exercise of their own free choice, their own free will, which free will power is not an evil but an inestimable good which along with our intellect is how we are principally made in the image and likeness of God. God does not force us to love him or serve him or to keep his commandments. We can experience this in ourselves. There is no need to look for a cause of Adam and Eve’s transgression beyond their very power and exercise of free choice or free will; we have all heard of the saying ‘The buck stops here.’ The fact of the matter is that God created us with free will and free choice and it is in accord with the very nature God created us with that we keep His commandments as St Paul says "For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts… (Romans 2: 14-15). Virtue is according to our nature whereas vice and sin is contrary to our human nature.

Now, we know Eve was tempted by the devil to sin and transgress the commandment of God and Adam in a way was tempted by Eve to eat the forbidden fruit for Eve ate and then gave to Adam to eat. Eve succumbed to the temptation of the devil although it was within her power to resist the temptation and Adam succumbed too. The devil can tempt us but he cannot move our wills. We have all probably succumbed to the temptations of the devil on many occasions at least I speak for myself. But, “the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) and “We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one.” (1 John 5: 19). God allows us to be tempted by the devil to prove our allegiance to Him and make us grow in virtue as was the case with Job. We are also tempted by the world and its maxims which are contrary to God’s law as well as our own flesh which lusteth against the spirit which is concupiscence and a result of the fall of Adam and Eve.

Though Adam and Eve before their Fall did not experience concupiscence, this does not mean I think that they could not desire some sensual pleasure inordinately. By the very fact that their lower sensual desires were subject to their reason and will, they could freely turn their will and desire to desire some sensual pleasure inordinately. And so we find it written “the woman [Eve] saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes” (Gen. 3: 6). Eve here is allowing herself to desire a sensual good inordinately, a temptation to gluttony, beyond the order and will of God. I think we need to keep in mind that Adam and Eve were human beings like us, composed of body and spirit (not angels), and that they had natural desires to eat and drink without which they could not survive in the body. So, even though our first parents were created in original holiness and justice and their lowers powers of soul and appetites were subject to their reason and will, their bodies were in harmony with their soul, they were not robots. Before the Fall, it was easy for Adam and Eve to use food and drink in moderation. However, I don’t think this necessarily implies that they could not turn their wills to use food and drink immoderately if they so willed to do so. They were given an intellect by God to use food and drink in accord with reason and virtue but I don’t think this means that they could use food and drink not in accord with reason and virtue as we find in the case of Eve who desired the forbidden fruit inordinately. Human beings can freely choose to act virtuously or against virtue. We experience this within ourselves.

 

[Vico]

From the CCC :

377 The “mastery” over the world that God offered man from the beginning was realized above all within man himself: mastery of self. The first man was unimpaired and ordered in his whole being because he was free from the triple concupiscence 254 that subjugates him to the pleasures of the senses, covetousness for earthly goods, and self-assertion, contrary to the dictates of reason.

I can’t comment on the sin of supernatural beings, I can’t even understand how the human being can turn from God when there is no possibility of a selfish act because those desires were not present in man until after he sinned.

The Catechism has another item on 1 Jn 2:16, the same noted for 377.

2514 St. John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.

Outside of these three are what Adam and Eve sinned. St. Thomas Aquinas opinion is that the angels fell because of pride (Summa Theologica Q163): "
Hence it follows that man’s first sin consisted in his coveting some spiritual good above his measure: and this pertains to pride. Therefore it is evident that man’s first sin was pride.

newadvent.org/summa/3163.htm#article1

Angels were created in sanctifying grace, but not in fullness of grace which would merit them complete beatitude. It was possible for them to fall because they have free will. The same was true of Adam and Eve. St. Thomas Aquinas opinion is that the angels fell because of pride (Summa Theologica Q63):
“Such is precisely the sin of pride–not to be subject to a superior when subjection is due. Consequently the first sin of the angel can be none other than pride.”
newadvent.org/summa/1063.htm

 

[fhansen]

“Behold, this alone I found, that God made man upright, but they have sought out many devices” (Ecclesiastes 7:29). That God created Adam and Eve with evil desires is neither scripturally, theologically, or philosophically correct and it is against the teaching of the Church. Evil in itself is not something created, it is not a being or a nature, in itself it does not exist. Evil is the absence of being and goodness in some thing which by nature it naturally and normally possesses as blindness is the absence of sight in some thing which normally possesses sight such as animals and us. After God created the heavens and the earth and everything in them and finally Adam and Eve, it is written “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Gen. 1:31). Again, evil in itself does not exist, it is not a principle of things; evil can only be founded on being and good and it only exists in being and good. The CCC says that God is not the cause of sin either directly or indirectly.

The cause of evil desires which result in sin is founded upon the God given power of free choice or free will. God gave Adam and Eve one commandment to follow and it was within their power of free choice to keep the commandment or disobey it. Adam and Eve did not disobey God’s commandment because of some innate evil desire God created them with but they disobeyed God due to the exercise of their own free choice, their own free will, which free will power is not an evil but an inestimable good which along with our intellect is how we are principally made in the image and likeness of God. God does not force us to love him or serve him or to keep his commandments. We can experience this in ourselves. There is no need to look for a cause of Adam and Eve’s transgression beyond their very power and exercise of free choice or free will; we have all heard of the saying ‘The buck stops here.’ The fact of the matter is that God created us with free will and free choice and it is in accord with the very nature God created us with that we keep His commandments as St Paul says "For when the Gentiles who do not have the law by nature observe the prescriptions of the law, they are a law for themselves even though they do not have the law. They show that the demands of the law are written in their hearts… (Romans 2: 14-15). Virtue is according to our nature whereas vice and sin is contrary to our human nature.

Now, we know Eve was tempted by the devil to sin and transgress the commandment of God and Adam in a way was tempted by Eve to eat the forbidden fruit for Eve ate and then gave to Adam to eat. Eve succumbed to the temptation of the devil although it was within her power to resist the temptation and Adam succumbed too. The devil can tempt us but he cannot move our wills. We have all probably succumbed to the temptations of the devil on many occasions at least I speak for myself. But, “the Son of God was revealed to destroy the works of the devil” (1 John 3:8) and “We know that we belong to God, and the whole world is under the power of the evil one.” (1 John 5: 19). God allows us to be tempted by the devil to prove our allegiance to Him and make us grow in virtue as was the case with Job. We are also tempted by the world and its maxims which are contrary to God’s law as well as our own flesh which lusteth against the spirit which is concupiscence and a result of the fall of Adam and Eve.

Though Adam and Eve before their Fall did not experience concupiscence, this does not mean I think that they could not desire some sensual pleasure inordinately. By the very fact that their lower sensual desires were subject to their reason and will, they could freely turn their will and desire to desire some sensual pleasure inordinately. And so we find it written “the woman [Eve] saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes” (Gen. 3: 6). Eve here is allowing herself to desire a sensual good inordinately, a temptation to gluttony, beyond the order and will of God. I think we need to keep in mind that Adam and Eve were human beings like us, composed of body and spirit (not angels), and that they had natural desires to eat and drink without which they could not survive in the body. So, even though our first parents were created in original holiness and justice and their lowers powers of soul and appetites were subject to their reason and will, their bodies were in harmony with their soul, they were not robots. Before the Fall, it was easy for Adam and Eve to use food and drink in moderation. However, I don’t think this necessarily implies that they could not turn their wills to use food and drink immoderately if they so willed to do so. They were given an intellect by God to use food and drink in accord with reason and virtue but I don’t think this means that they could use food and drink not in accord with reason and virtue as we find in the case of Eve who desired the forbidden fruit inordinately. Human beings can freely choose to act virtuously or against virtue. We experience this within ourselves.

I believe this last part is slightly off from church teachings. Self-mastery was lost-and concupiscence entered the scene-with the original sin. Once subjugation to God was first rejected,* then* truth and reason no longer reigned within man.

 

[fhansen]

The Catechism has another item on 1 Jn 2:16, the same noted for 377.

2514 St. John distinguishes three kinds of covetousness or concupiscence: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of life.

Outside of these three are what Adam and Eve sinned. St. Thomas Aquinas opinion is that the angels fell because of pride (Summa Theologica Q163): "
Hence it follows that man’s first sin consisted in his coveting some spiritual good above his measure: and this pertains to pride. Therefore it is evident that man’s first sin was pride.

newadvent.org/summa/3163.htm#article1

Angels were created in sanctifying grace, but not in fullness of grace which would merit them complete beatitude. It was possible for them to fall because they have free will. The same was true of Adam and Eve. St. Thomas Aquinas opinion is that the angels fell because of pride (Summa Theologica Q63):
“Such is precisely the sin of pride–not to be subject to a superior when subjection is due. Consequently the first sin of the angel can be none other than pride.”
newadvent.org/summa/1063.htm

Aquinas calls pride inordinate self-love, inordinate desire for one’s own excellence, it’s for a man to aim higher [supra] than he is. It’s to be unaligned with the truth of who we are in that sense, and so to oppose reason, as all evil does. But the question then inevitably comes up: since pride is evil, considered a mortal sin and the grandaddy of all other sins, where did it come from? Why did Adam have it? What caused him to abuse his good gift of free will?

 

[Vico]

Aquinas calls pride inordinate self-love, inordinate desire for one’s own excellence, it’s for a man to aim higher [supra] than he is. It’s to be unaligned with the truth of who we are in that sense, and so to oppose reason, as all evil does. But the question then inevitably comes up: since pride is evil, considered a mortal sin and the grandaddy of all other sins, where did it come from? Why did Adam have it? What caused him to abuse his good gift of free will?

Essentially one third of the angels fell from pride, then Eve and Adam. One can ask “why did the angels fall from pride”? The desire must be natural, but that desire is the temptation. Since the grace of God is sufficient, it is only by the willing cooperation with that grace that beings can resist it. If the choice was fully determined then we would not be able to express love.

 

[fhansen]

Essentially one third of the angels fell from pride, then Eve and Adam. One can ask “why did the angels fall from pride”? The desire must be natural, but that desire is the temptation. Since the grace of God is sufficient, it is only by the willing cooperation with that grace that beings can resist it. If the choice was fully determined then we would not be able to express love.

I understand the reason for free will and that it necessarily allows for the possibility of abuse; I just don’t quite understand the reason for its abuse- by our first parents.

 

[Vico]

I understand the reason for free will and that it necessarily allows for the possibility of abuse; I just don’t quite understand the reason for its abuse- by our first parents.

CCC 1872 Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man’s nature and injures human solidarity.

 

[fhansen]

CCC 1872 Sin is an act contrary to reason. It wounds man’s nature and injures human solidarity.

Yes, why would they act contrary to reason? How could pride, a disorder, motivate them?

 

[grannymh]

That makes no sense to me.

Angels are supernatural, humans are not.

Thanks anyway.

Adam and angels are creatures created by the Supernatural Creator. Adam and angels have a specific nature. Adam’s human nature is material/spiritual, body/soul. Angels are spiritual beings, but that does not make them the same as the Supernatural Creator.
CCC Glossary, definition of angel.
ANGEL: A spiritual, personal, and immortal creature, with intelligence and free will, who glorifies God without ceasing and who serves God as a messenger of his saving plan (329–331
Both Adam and angels are considered spiritual creatures. Therefore, in order to remain in a friendship relationship with God, they must live in free submission (obedience) to God.
Non-obedience is called sin. Not all sins arise from concupiscence. For example. Consider the sins against the First Commandment.

Obviously, because angels do not have decomposing anatomies, they are different in nature from humans. However, angels and Adam have the same capability of sinning against the First Commandment. Rejection of God is a sin against God. According to CCC 392, some of the angels “radically and irrevocably *rejected *God and His reign.” Adam could also reject God by his direct disobedience.

Neither Adam nor Angels needed concupiscence
in order to sin against the First Commandment.

 

[grannymh]

I do not mean to be rude.

But the plain fact is that people can crab about Adam’s human nature until the cows come home, but that does not change the God-given human nature, body and soul, given to Adam.

It would be a good idea to recognize that the human person and the angel have a spiritual capability not found in the rest of the creature creation of birds and bears. God created humans and angels as beings who can initiate and control their own actions. The angels, when they were created, have a different nature from Adam. They used their unique freedom to make the radical and irrevocable choice of either accepting a relationship with God or rejecting a relationship with God. Can we now move on to the reality of the real Adam, first human person with a complete human nature on planet earth?

It is useless to moan about the poor dumb Adam. His did understand the goodness of God. It is time to stop skipping Genesis 1: 26 and following. Why or why did Adam choose to disobey God when he was in the State of Sanctifying Grace? Why or why did Adam ignore the actual graces which were given him so that he could turn away from temptation? How about a question which affects our own lives.

Why or why was Adam given the opportunity to choose eternal joy?

Hint. God gave Adam a spiritual soul so that he could share in Divine life. Because that made Adam a spiritual being, he had to choose his own actions. Those actions had to be in submission to God for the simple reason that there cannot be two supreme gods. Another hint. Being able to choose one’s own actions does not stop a human from choosing himself to be like the one and only God. The external temptation of Satan offered that impossible action in the form of a simple act of disobedience.

Sorry, but we cannot escape the basic fact that God gave Adam a spiritual soul so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full perfection in heaven in the presence of the Beatific Vision.

Now, if we were sincerely looking for Adam, we would find a being who is capable of eternal joy. This capability is actually part of Adam’s human nature, that same nature we inherited in a wounded state. Somehow, all the moaning about why Adam chose the action he did has blinded some, not all, people. Somehow, they choose to overlook the fact that our wounded human nature is still capable of attaining eternal joy after bodily death.

Personally, I would like to slap Adam upside the head. But that would really be a stupid action. It is stupid because I am ignoring the fact that God so loved Adam that He gave His only Son as his Redeemer. We can freely choose to be redeemed because we are still descendants of Adam no matter what he chose to do.

Why remain in the mud of questions which need no answers in order to love our Creator God?

 

[fhansen]

I do not mean to be rude.

But the plain fact is that people can crab about Adam’s human nature until the cows come home, but that does not change the God-given human nature, body and soul, given to Adam.

It would be a good idea to recognize that the human person and the angel have a spiritual capability not found in the rest of the creature creation of birds and bears. God created humans and angels as beings who can initiate and control their own actions. The angels, when they were created, have a different nature from Adam. They used their unique freedom to make the radical and irrevocable choice of either accepting a relationship with God or rejecting a relationship with God. Can we now move on to the reality of the real Adam, first human person with a complete human nature on planet earth?

It is useless to moan about the poor dumb Adam. His did understand the goodness of God. It is time to stop skipping Genesis 1: 26 and following. Why or why did Adam choose to disobey God when he was in the State of Sanctifying Grace? Why or why did Adam ignore the actual graces which were given him so that he could turn away from temptation? How about a question which affects our own lives.

Why or why was Adam given the opportunity to choose eternal joy?

Hint. God gave Adam a spiritual soul so that he could share in Divine life. Because that made Adam a spiritual being, he had to choose his own actions. Those actions had to be in submission to God for the simple reason that there cannot be two supreme gods. Another hint. Being able to choose one’s own actions does not stop a human from choosing himself to be like the one and only God. The external temptation of Satan offered that impossible action in the form of a simple act of disobedience.

Sorry, but we cannot escape the basic fact that God gave Adam a spiritual soul so that he might of his own accord seek his Creator and freely attain his full perfection in heaven in the presence of the Beatific Vision.

Now, if we were sincerely looking for Adam, we would find a being who is capable of eternal joy. This capability is actually part of Adam’s human nature, that same nature we inherited in a wounded state. Somehow, all the moaning about why Adam chose the action he did has blinded some, not all, people. Somehow, they choose to overlook the fact that our wounded human nature is still capable of attaining eternal joy after bodily death.

Personally, I would like to slap Adam upside the head. But that would really be a stupid action. It is stupid because I am ignoring the fact that God so loved Adam that He gave His only Son as his Redeemer. We can freely choose to be redeemed because we are still descendants of Adam no matter what he chose to do.

Why remain in the mud of questions which need no answers in order to love our Creator God?

IMO the question is a fairly interesting one-and I haven’t heard anyone moaning-or calling Adam dumb BTW… And if someone really holds Adam’s sin against him, as if they’re sure they wouldn’t have committed it themselves, then maybe they should be asking that very question because it relates directly to the nature we all share with him, and therefore to his sin that echoes in each of our own lives daily.

Why didn’t Adam trust God? How could he fail in that way? Why do we ever, in our own ways, continue in that rebellion, preferring ourselves to Him? Pride and unbelief are intrinsically related to each other and Aquinas called both the most grievous of sins. They impact and wreak havoc in our lives everyday in some manner or another.

Perhaps the answer to the question, ‘Why did Adam fail to trust God?’, would shed light on why humans today do the same, and why we should reverse Adam’s choice within ourselves, for ourselves. As we look for and find Adam we find ourselves. But maybe the question will never be fully answerable, which is fine. We can certainly move on.