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Anna Chiprean

Bayardi

October 16, 2017

Honors Religion IV

Reflection Paper I: Creation and the Fall

God the Father, the Creator of heaven and earth, had a plan for creation. We don’t know

how long it really took, but he created it out of nothing. He created the universe out of love and

for man to have dominion over it. Of course man has faults and went against God, which put the

rest of mankind at a disadvantage.

Genesis: Chapter 1, show us how the universe was created by God. Day one, God creates

time by creating day and night. Day two, God creates space by creating the sea and the sky. Day

three, God creates life by creating land and vegetation. Day four, God creates the sun and the moon

to rule the night and the day. Day five, God creates the fish and the birds to rule the sea and the

sky. Day six, God created man and the animals to rule over the land and the vegetation. On day

seven, God saw what he had created, and rested. Now that the creation story is stated, we can move

deeper into its meaning.

God did not have to create time, space, life, or the rulers over them. He did this out of love.

He made Man in the image and likeness of Him. He unites us with him as well as the spiritual and

material worlds. God created Adam, the first man. Adam ruled over all the animals and named

them, but none of the animals were like him or suitable for him. God casted Adam into deep sleep,

took out his rib, and created woman. He created the first woman, Eve, for Adam. God provides for

us always. Only man is able know and love God. God’s love is infinite. God created us out of love
and man is called by grace to his Creator, to offer him a response of faith and love that no other

creature can give.

Mike Aquilina and Dr. Scot Hahn gives six basic principles to follow. The first is that God

is the origin of all creation. No matter what creation story you believe in, you must put God in the

story. The second is that mankind has dominion over the world and everything in it. Man rules

over the earth, the animals, and the vegetation. We are different from animals and other creatures

because we have a human soul and free will. The third is that man and woman were created in a

state of marriage. Eve was created out of love for Adam. The fourth is that the family is the basic

structure of human society. Family is bonded together in order move and create throughout the

earth. The fifth is that God created us in community, not solitude. We need to live in a society to

know and love God. If we do it alone, we will never know him. The sixth is that human nature is

ordered. All humans are created to follow the law and respect the process of life. The world has

and order to it and man is just a process in it to make it run smoothly.

Now of course, man has weaknesses and is easily tempted. God gave Adam and Eve one

rule. Don’t eat the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good an Evil. Adam and Eve wanted to be

like God. A serpent, the devil, came to Eve and said if she wanted to be like God she had to eat

the fruit of the tree. She ate the fruit and gave some to Adam. They immediately felt ashamed and

hid from God. The first sin is not that they ate the fruit, the sin is that they preferred themselves to

God. They immediately lose the grace of original holiness. The harmony of original justice is

destroyed and the union of man and woman becomes subject to tensions. Woman now feels pain

in childbirth. Harmony with creation is broken. Because of the first sin, the harmony with all of

creation decays. Adam and Eve lost their original holiness and justice not just for them but for all

of mankind. We are now deprived of original holiness and original justice which means we have
original sin. Because we have original sin, we are subject to suffering and now have a domination

of death. Because of this original sin we are subject to the inclination of sin, or concupiscence.

Because of Adam and Eve’s first sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over

man. We now have a sense of ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature. Our education,

politics, social action, and morals are tainted because of this. Because of the sin in the world, the

devil is able to move about and tempt us. The world is now in a sinful condition. We are at a battle

with the devil and ourselves. We need to keep God in our lives and make him the main priority so

we are less inclined to sin. Being a part of the community and helping others and help put the

world back together. We have been told the stories of how evil makes its way into the person,

whether it is murder, a plague, or even a small lie, evil is all around us. From the very first sin until

the last day on earth, sin is around us. Because of the inclination to sin, man is at a constant battle

of being tempted in doing what is right and what is wrong. We can find peace through God’s

everlasting grace.

God works in many mysterious ways. He is always there to help guide us when things go

wrong in our lives. He created us even though he did not have to. His love is so great that even

when we mess up, we can still be forgiven. God wants us to be with him forever. Even though we

sin and disobey God sometimes, he is still with us and still loves us. God love was, is, and will be

infinite in our lives. We as his people have to judge right from wrong and make a life of love worth

living for. God did not create us to leave us. He created us to be with him after we suffer our natural

death.

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