Question about Garden of Eden story

[po18guy]

In the fall, spirit fell victim to body, the immaterial to the material. There is one non-Catholic theologian who surmises that before the fall, the spirit controlled all aspects of the body - even digestion. The fall initiated a sea change, the likes of which were and are unprecedented. Unfortunately, clarity in this matter is clouded by the fragmentary and allegorical written record that remains.

 

[Shakuhachi]

I am probabaly alone on this as it does not conform to Genesis but I don’t see a fall so much as a creative unfolding: spirit becomes matter and begins a long process of realizing its true identity as Spirit. That involves waking up out of darkness.

 

[huck]

I am probabaly alone on this as it does not conform to Genesis but I don’t see a fall so much as a creative unfolding: spirit becomes matter and begins a long process of realizing its true identity as Spirit. That involves waking up out of darkness.

I also share a similar view. The forbidden fruit is our soul inhabiting a body with a conscience that was at first untrained. As we pass through successive lifetimes the soul imparts its knowledge of right and wrong and the conscience either acts in conformity or it doesn’t. What is learned through obedience and or disobedience is then passed on to the soul.

 

[Shakuhachi]

Can we call it speculative theology?

 

[pacloc]

The Orthodox Church has a very different view apparently from the popular RCC view. We do believe that God only punishes out of Love and for our Good. Death allows for Sin to come to an end instead of being eternal. By the Earth being cursed, which would mean a greater effort that would need to be given to be nourished, we are taught to appreciate what is given us. The Rose is a great example of this, it is so beautiful to the eyes and smells good to the nose, but it has the thorns to remind us that it too has suffered from the transgression of man. So we are drawn to God by the beauty in creation that survived the fall, but are reminded that we must long for the promised new Heaven and Earth for the painful aspects of creation to be healed. Adam was put right outside the Garden, so that looking back at what he lost, he would learn repentance and humility, and would appreciate the gifts of God, and hoped one day to be brought back in out of God’s Mercy.

 

[TMC]

It’s followed by the thing about the thorns and thistles, which are certainly a curse on the ground. The “for thy sake” might simply be one translation of something like “through your fault”.

You are correct, this is the meaning of that verse. From the NABRE:

To the man he said: Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, You shall not eat from it,

Cursed is the ground because of you!

In toil you shall eat its yield

all the days of your life.

 

[Shakuhachi]

I dont have it at my fingertips but what is coming to mind is Catholic teaching on the goodness of work and our participation in God’s creative fruitfulness. So even though we must toil with the earth to bring forth yield it is more a blessing than a curse.