Question on Genesis that I heard on a protestant radio station

[rwillenborg]

Here’s the gist:
The radio host said that Genesis HAD to be taken literally.
He said it had to be so because otherwise that would mean death was in the world BEFORE the fall of man, and that according to the Bible, ALL death, not just human death, was the RESULT of the fall of man.
Can anyone explain or refute this? I’m just trying to get my head around this idea.
I hope I was clear enough here. Thanks!

 

[passus]

I think we can take away from the story of the Fall that death entered the world as a result of the fall, whether you read that Scripture literally or not.

It’s hard to make a judgment without hearing what exactly was said.

 

[Prayer_Warrior]

The Church is silent on the matter of taking Genesis literally. However, there are certain things we must believe: God is the creator, we descend from two parents, their fall from grace ruptured the relationship of God and man and required a Savior to reconcile us.

Science tells us that death was very much in the world before the creation of man and woman? So, how can we reconcile Romans 5:12 which says “Therefore, just as through one person sin entered the world, and through sin, death, and thus death came to all, inasmuch as all sinned”. Easy! When both Romans and Genesis talk about death entering the world they could be talking about the kind of death that really matters— spiritual death!!

Another point to ponder, if Christ’s death were a true atonement for the sin of Adam as Christians claim, then why didn’t physical death end for Christians? Doesn’t make sense does it? But, Christ came to save us from spiritual death which comes as a result of sin.

 

[Benadam]

There is no contradiction when we consider that the seperation of body and soul is an unnatural state for man. The Church teaches this.

Our earthly lives were not meant to end in death.This is the true meaning of an immortal soul. Enoch, Elijah are signs of this truth and witness to both, what we were meant to be, and with Our Blessed Mother, what God plans for us.

Though all living matter, except man, returned to the earth, that wasn’t death. For the other animals, life is as pagans knew it, cyclic and infinite. For man, life was meant to be a journey upwards to eternal life.

All living matter, like man, is fulfilled in man. When death entered the world through Eve, and Adam failed to be a witness to Life, all living matter is cut off from the ultimate end God intended.

 

[agstockstill]

#3 Great post Prayer Warrior!

#1 Good question!

Be leery of claims of absolutes that are clearly not dogma. Painting oneself into theological corners benefits no one. We’ve all probably heard arguments of the Earth being as young as 6000 years old and the classic, “it wasn’t really wine at Cana.”

Yes the Bible is Sacred Scripture, but fortunately we also have Sacred Tradition, and the Magisterium to guide us from such foibles.

Pax vobiscum

 

[Catholic_Dude]

Here’s the gist:
The radio host said that Genesis HAD to be taken literally.
He said it had to be so because otherwise that would mean death was in the world BEFORE the fall of man, and that according to the Bible, ALL death, not just human death, was the RESULT of the fall of man.
Can anyone explain or refute this? I’m just trying to get my head around this idea.
I hope I was clear enough here. Thanks!

Rom 8: 18I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. 19The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. 20For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope 21that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. 22We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 23Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Death is the ultimate offense to creation. If death was already existing at the time of Adam, then Creation really wasn’t affected by the Fall (which is an obvious error).

The traditional Catholic view is to take the Bible as literally as possible, and only when obvious difficulties arise do we know it must be taken figuratively.