Cont…
St. Augustine, said this about Genesis (De Genesi ad litterams 6.12.20), “That God made man with bodily hands from the clay,” wrote Augustine, “is an excessively childish thought … we should rather believe the one who wrote it used a metaphorical term, instead of supposing God is bounded by such lines of limbs as we see in our bodies.”
There they go again, twisting and distorting the words of the beleaguered St. Augustine to defend their doctrines of demons. Here is something else St. Augustine said in the same book:
“Nevertheless, one should not take the whole passage in a figurative sense on the basis of one word used in a transferred sense. Consider what was meant by the serpent’s words, ‘Your eyes will be open.’ The author states that this is what the serpent said; the meaning or thought behind what was said is left to the discernment of the reader. But the statement, ‘Then the eyes of both were opened, and they perceived that they were naked,’ is put forth in the way in which the other facts are narrated, and they cannot suggest to us an allegorical narrative.” (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, 11, 41)
And more from this dear Saint:
“Let us, then, omit the conjectures of men who know not what they say, when they speak of the nature and origin of the human race. For some hold the same opinion regarding men that they hold regarding the world itself, that they have always been… But they say what they think, not what they know. They are deceived, too, by those highly mendacious documents which profess to give the history of many thousand years, though, reckoning by the sacred writings, we find that not 6000 years have yet passed.” (The City of God, 12, 10)
“But if we should suppose that God now makes a creature without having implanted its kind (genus) in His original creation, we should flatly contradict Sacred Scripture, which says that on the sixth day God finished all His works. For it is obvious that in accordance with those kinds of creatures which He first made, God makes many new things which He did not make then. But we cannot believe that He establishes a new kind, since He finished all His works on the sixth day.” (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, 5, 41)
“When they are able, from reliable evidence, to prove some fact of physical science, we shall show that it is not contrary to our Scripture. But when they produce from any of their books a theory contrary to Scripture, and therefore contrary to the Catholic faith, either we shall have some ability to demonstrate that it is absolutely false, or at least we ourselves will hold it so without any shadow of a doubt. And we will cling to our Mediator, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge [Colossians 2:3], that we will not be led astray by the glib talk of false philosophy or frightened by the superstition of false religion.” (The Literal Meaning of Genesis, 1, 41)
See this article:
Pope says evolution can’t be proven
And, again, the bottom line:
“Because God did not make death, nor does he rejoice in the destruction of the living. For he fashioned all things that they might have being” (Wisdom 1:13-14)
“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach a gospel to you besides that which we have preached to you, let him be anathema.” (Galatians 1:8)
And read this article to see what the Catholic Church actually teaches on Creation. God bless.
kolbecenter.org/pdf/Keane_days_of_creation_150.pdf
, but since I believe the Church contains the truth, I go with what the Catechism says. Genesis describes a real event but used figurative language. Original sin happened. That doesn’t mean there was a serpent present.
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Why is it that we are so inclined?