Before a person can commit an act of sin he must first have a desire to perform that act. James says, each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. But the presence of an evil desire is already sin. We sin because we are sinners. We were born with a sin nature. We are fallen creatures with a free will. But Adam and Eve were not created fallen. They had no sin nature. They were good creatures with a free will. Yet they choose to sin. Why?
I have a theory, but want to see what kind of answers come up first.
Adan’s desire wasn’t evil; he wanted something good: to be “like God”, according to Genesis. According to the Catechism,
God wanted this for him, too. Adam’s sin-his conflict with reality-is also clarified by the Catechism: "he wanted to “be like God”, but “without God, before God, and not in accordance with God” (para 398), and so ate of the fruit, disobeying God’s command. While we don’t know exactly why Adam willed do such a foolish act,
preferring himself to God as the catechism teaches, we
can see it’s consequences everyday, all around us. And we need to ask, Are
we carrying on the family tradition? Have
we yet learned of our need for God? Do
we prefer ourselves to God, when push comes to shove?
Jesus came to establish, in a most definitive way as had never been done before, that God
exists, that God is
good, that He’s
trustworthy (trust in God had died in man’s heart with the first sin, according to the CCC), and
merciful,
loving man with an unimaginably huge, unconditional love. Our job is to learn, as Adam hadn’t yet learned, of our absolute need for such a God in order to have life, and life abundantly (to actually be
divinized, a per the CCC, as Adam wanted), in order to have any hope of retaining full moral integrity, in order to have peace and harmony (no longer divided within himself), and eternal happiness, as God wanted for man all along. Enmity comes from man, not God.
