Original sin and EVIL

[catholic1seeks]

The following consists as part of the answer to “Question 5: If God is all good, then why is there evil in the world?” in chapter one of **The Catholicism Answer Book **by Rev John Trigilio and Rev Kenneth Brighenti.

The entire created universe was tainted by original sin. Human nature was wounded, and the cosmos was shaken up and disturbed. No more perfect harmony, and ***hence there exists some occasional catastrophes ***like floods, earthquakes, fires, droughts, blizzards… These are sometimes known as physical or earthly evils.

Had there been no sin, Adam and Eve would have never been expelled from the Garden of Paradise. There would have been ***no pain, no suffering, and no physical evil ***whatsoever.

How could this be if there were physical evils (“floods, earthquakes, fires, etc.”) BEFORE the original sin – before Adam and Eve? Whether they existed 150,000 years ago or whatever, it is apparent that there have been these “earthly” evils since the beginning of the Universe. Animals have had to hunt for food, whole groups of animals have become extint, and surely there have been earthquakes, tornadoes, etc. since the beginning.

So how does this idea of original sin causing PHYSICAL EVILS make any sense??? I’m confused.

I see the importance of the issue, for taking the original sin route places the existence of evil as man’s fault. But if there has truly been physical evils from the beginning…

 

[MarcoPolo]

I know very little about this subject, but granting you every premise in your OP, the dilemma could be solved if the effects of original sin worked in 2 directions of time, just like Christ’s work on the Cross was able to save the OT saints, or how Mary was conceived without sin in anticipation of Christ’s work…

 

[masterjedi747]

The following consists as part of the answer to "Question 5: If God is all good, then why is there evil in the world?" in chapter one of **The Catholicism Answer Book **by Rev John Trigilio and Rev Kenneth Brighenti.The entire created universe was tainted by original sin. Human nature was wounded, and the cosmos was shaken up and disturbed. No more perfect harmony, and ***hence there exists some occasional catastrophes ***like floods, earthquakes, fires, droughts, blizzards… These are sometimes known as physical or earthly evils.

…to be honest, I know of nothing in the Catechism (or otherwise) that would prevent me from simply disagreeing with that portion of their answer. Within the Garden of Eden, of course, there would almost certainly have been no physical evils to speak of… but outside the Garden (or before the Garden was established), I’d argue that all bets are off.

Had there been no sin, Adam and Eve would have never been expelled from the Garden of Paradise. There would have been ***no pain, no suffering, and no physical evil ***whatsoever.

For men, yes. If mankind hadn’t fallen, we would have retained the preternatural gifts, and our nature would have been preserved from suffering and death. But with regard to the rest of the material world, I don’t see any necessary connection with the Fall of man (unless perhaps God was planning to extend the Garden over the rest of the earth if our first parents didn’t Fall, in which case we caused the rest of the world being deprived of this gift… but even this is purely hypothetical supposition).

Whether they existed 150,000 years ago or whatever, it is apparent that there have been these “earthly” evils since the beginning of the Universe. Animals have had to hunt for food, whole groups of animals have become extinct, and surely there have been earthquakes, tornadoes, etc. since the beginning.

Put simply, I very much tend to agree. And I don’t see any real problems resulting from this.

I see the importance of the issue, for taking the original sin route places the existence of evil as man’s fault.

Well, the angels fell before we did, so it could never have been the case that our Fall was responsible for the existence of evil (simply speaking)… and again, I don’t really see why “physical evils” have to be brought into the equation, aside from acknowledging the fact that the Garden (and men in general) would have been preserved from them had they not fallen from the state of grace and damaged their nature. Just stick with what the Catechism has to say regarding the Fall of man, and I don’t think there should really be any problems.

 

[catholic1seeks]

Thanks for the replies.