Was Adam and Eve created Perfect

[BlueSapphire]

I was reading a discussion on another board, and one of the posters says that if God being perfect and created us in his image and likeness, then we fell due to sin, then God wasn’t perfect if we done evil. How would you reply to this question?

 

[rben20]

Were Adam and Eve created perfect? Well no, they wouldn’t have sinned if they were. They were created as material beings with freedom. Not quite like God as no one can be but they have many attributes of God. With their freedom they chose their own will instead of God’s. So I think a better question is does God want man to be perfect? Yes…be perfect as your heavenly father is perfect. God has given us free will, and when we choose sin it doesn’t mean He isn’t perfect…it just means we aren’t. We aren’t a copy of God. Likeness but not a copy. Very different.

 

[buffalo]

1. 
   *]The Doctrine of Revelation Regarding Man or "Christian Anthropology"
   *] The first man was created by God. (De fide.)
   *] The whole human race stems from one single human pair. (Sent. certa.)
   *] Man consists of two essential parts–a material body and a spiritual soul. (De fide.)
   *] The rational soul is per se the essential form of the body. (De fide.)
   *] Every human being possesses an individual soul. (De fide.)
   *] Every individual soul was immediately created out of nothing by God. (Sent. Certa.)
   *] A creature has the capacity to receive supernatural gifts. (Sent. communis.)
   *] The Supernatural presupposes Nature. (Sent communis.)
   *] God has conferred on man a supernatural Destiny. (De fide.)
   *] Our first parents, before the Fall, were endowed with sanctifying grace. (De fide.)
   *] The donum rectitudinis or integritatis in the narrower sense, i.e., the freedom from irregular desire. (Sent. fidei proxima.)
   *] The donum immortalitatis, i.e.,bodily immortality. (De fide.)
   *] The donum impassibilitatis, i.e., the freedom from suffering. (Sent. communis.)
   *] The donum scientiae, i.e., a knowledge of natural and supernatural truths infused by God. (Sent. communis.)
   *] Adam received sanctifying grace not merely for himself, but for all his posterity. (Sent. certa.)
   *] Our first parents in paradise sinned grievously through transgression of the Divine probationary commandment. (De fide.)
   *] Through the sin our first parents lost sanctifying grace and provoked the anger and the indignation of God. (De fide.)
   *] Our first parents became subject to death and to the dominion of the Devil. (De fide.) D788.
   *] Adam’s sin is transmitted to his posterity, not by imitation, but by descent. (De fide.)
   *] Original Sin consists in the deprivation of grace caused by the free act of sin committed by the head of the race. (Sent. communis.)
   *] Original sin is transmitted by natural generation. (De fide.)
   *] In the state of original sin man is deprived of sanctifying grace and all that this implies, as well as of the preternatural gifts of integrity. (De fide in regard to Sanctifying Grace and the Donum Immortalitatus. D788 et seq.)
   *] Souls who depart this life in the state of original sin are excluded from the Beatific Vision of God. (De fide.)

 

[laszlo]

Only God is perfect. The freedom (which includes the freedom to sin) is the highest human value. In the real word always something for something. The risk of the freedom is the hell. The alternative is being puppet.

 

[ConstantineTG]

Remember that God called all of creation as “good”, except for man. Man was called, “very good”. Part of having the image and likeness of God is the intellect and the free will. Thus even in perfection, Adam and Eve has the capacity to fall, which is what happened.

 

[Barbkw]

Adam, Eve and Mary were created full of God’s grace yet each were also given free will.

 

[Joe_Kelley]

Note that the angels were also created perfect, yet a third of them rejected God in favor of autonomy. It would appear that Free Will is a greater good than sinlessness. The highest goal of Creation is love of God and love of others. This is not possible without Free Will.

 

[roveau]

The cost of free will was that we could ignore what God wanted for us and we would be making a lot of poor choices, so not the perfect situation.

The alternative would be that we would be programed to do everything that God wanted us to do, and so we wouldn’t be able to choose to love God and our fellow man… and there would be no need for Judgement Day.

So, Adam and Eve were created perfect but their choices led to imperfection.

 

[FAB]

I was reading a discussion on another board, and one of the posters says that if God being perfect and created us in his image and likeness, then we fell due to sin, then God wasn’t perfect if we done evil. How would you reply to this question?

I would answer that God is perfect and has perfect love. In that Love he gave free will. It would have been an imperfection to do otherwise. The imperfection then comes in his creation who sin because they failed to love the creator, seeing themselves as being able to be gods.