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MonFrere
USA
1216 Posts |
 Posted - 07/27/2010 : 10:55:30 AM
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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
It seems to me that what God started "in the beginning" is something that we find ourselves smack dab in the middle. In other words Christians are not just going to die and go to heaven and see God face to face and that's it (of course, that a pretty glorious it). But what I see is FAR FAR bigger. Cosmology tells us that for the majority of the life of the universe it was simply "cooking up" the elements necessary for entrance of life. After we reached that point rather quickly, in cosmological terms, life began its course culminating in man (but man sinned -- and for that we have the Redemption) but the evolution of man continues. History seems to tell us that man is moving ahead towards greater and greater units of community. Arnold Toynbee projected the idea of a universal society lead by the blending of the great world religions but Christopher Dawson saw this universal society as being one lead by the Catholic Church. The call for a World Order is IMO this natural moving forward of history. The Holy Scriptures give us some indications that the universe is NOT some ballast that is discarded like the rockets of our old Apollo missions but is part of this universal drama started "in the beginning". God's thought for His creation is moving along marvelously - but my point is that it is moving along with man's evolution not yet being complete. The man Adam is not the man we are today so therefore we shouldn't think that the man we are today is the end of the course. The awesome potential God put into the physical realm (noticed in cosmology and evolution) seems to be unending in its ability to create. Considering the 14+ billion years of the universe our generation is just a blip -- but our blip comes from a very ancient past as well as an enormously long future (besides our promise of living eternally with God). The Redemption of man and the incarnation was all thought out from the beginning and in this backdrop amplifies its significance as being the only necessary moment for God's direct intervention.
MonFrere
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Edited by - MonFrere on 07/27/2010 3:25:40 PM |
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Patti
USA
7401 Posts |
Posted - 07/29/2010 : 11:28:02 AM
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I meant to respond to this sooner. Sorry about the delay!
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In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
It seems to me that what God started "in the beginning" is something that we find ourselves smack dab in the middle.
Time is of no consequence to God; that is entirely feasible but cannot be known for certain.
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In other words Christians are not just going to die and go to heaven and see God face to face and that's it (of course, that a pretty glorious it).
Actually, that is our destiny IF we obey God and do His Will. Being a Christian does not guarantee salvation, though it makes it much more likely. But going to Heaven and being united to God is what we are created for and where we desire to end up in eternity.
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But what I see is FAR FAR bigger.
Bigger than union with God? I am afraid you've lost me here. There is nothing "bigger" than that.
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Cosmology tells us that for the majority of the life of the universe it was simply "cooking up" the elements necessary for entrance of life. After we reached that point rather quickly, in cosmological terms, life began its course culminating in man (but man sinned -- and for that we have the Redemption) but the evolution of man continues.
Cosmology really knows precious little about the universe; it's only tapped the surface, and is based on conjectures and theories rather than absolutely certifiable facts. And man being the pinnacle of creation is something derived from revelation (as given in Judeo-Christian Scripture) rather than science. God-made-man via the Incarnation tells us that man is the most important part of creation more simply and eloquently than all sciences combined, including cosmology and evolutionary biology. (And remember, evolution is still a theory, not a fact. It is a very likely theory but it has not been carved in stone like the Decalogue.)
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History seems to tell us that man is moving ahead towards greater and greater units of community. Arnold Toynbee projected the idea of a universal society lead by the blending of the great world religions but Christopher Dawson saw this universal society as being one lead by the Catholic Church.
Perhaps as population increases, men are compelled to live in larger communities. However, larger communities also bring about problems not found in smaller ones: Greater crime, violence and stress. Toynbee's model is flawed due to syncretism; Dawson's is better, but the Church long ago distanced herself from being a temporal ruler of men. To quote Jesus Christ: My Kingdom is not of this world. Since the Catholic Church is considered to be His Kingdom, it would follow that she is to live in this world but not be part of it.
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The call for a World Order is IMO this natural moving forward of history. The Holy Scriptures give us some indications that the universe is NOT some ballast that is discarded like the rockets of our old Apollo missions but is part of this universal drama started "in the beginning".
The Holy Scriptures refer to the old world passing away in a blaze of utter destruction and being completely recreated. Please read 2 Peter 3:10 and Revelation 21:1.
Now, that isn't to say that the earth is just refuse to be jettisoned, but it is going to done away with, along with the "heavens", which in Scripture generally means the sky and what is contained in it, such as the sun and moon and stars, and as man got better instruments for studying space, galaxies and all the rest of it. As stewards of creation, man is expected to take good and due care of the earth he was given to till long ago in the Garden of Eden.
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God's thought for His creation is moving along marvelously - but my point is that it is moving along with man's evolution not yet being complete. The man Adam is not the man we are today so therefore we shouldn't think that the man we are today is the end of the course.
It is believed that when Adam was created and sinless, he was markedly different than we are now, in that he had an integrity that we lack due to the effects of the fall. Some saints have even had visions that Adam and Eve were very advanced as humans, for they were uncorrupted by sin and as perfect as they could be as human beings. Once they fell, they fell hard, shattering their integrity and then their intellect was at war with their emotions, and the appetites were struggling for ascendancy, resulting in man becoming little more than a brute. We had to struggle to get anywhere in the sense of improving our lot. Most importantly, our race no longer had the means to receive God's grace without an intervention; more on that later.
When Christ came, He was called the new Adam for His role in our redemption and our rebirth as a race through baptism. He was also called the new Adam because He was born in time as a man as Adam had been created, without sin. Christ therefore had the integrity our parents had before they sinned, and since He never sinned, He (as a Divine Person) remained humanly perfect. Our Lord came to restore man to God's friendship, the loss of which we suffered most by our folly.
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The awesome potential God put into the physical realm (noticed in cosmology and evolution) seems to be unending in its ability to create.
Here, the way this is worded shows that there may be some confusion between the Creator and His process. God's potential is not as we understand it, that is, passive; His potential is constantly active and acting upon what He creates; His potency is active to the highest degree. (See Summa Theologica, Prima Pars, Q. 25, art. 1) God does not "put" His potency to create in objects but is connected to them by His potency. "For in Him we live and move and have our being." (Acts 17:28)
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Considering the 14+ billion years of the universe our generation is just a blip -- but our blip comes from a very ancient past as well as an enormously long future (besides our promise of living eternally with God).
We really have no idea how much longer this universe has. It could go on millions of years more, or it could end tomorrow. Scripture warns us to make no long-term predictions or plans.
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The Redemption of man and the incarnation was all thought out from the beginning and in this backdrop amplifies its significance as being the only necessary moment for God's direct intervention.
The Incarnation and Redemption are part, but it was the Passion and Resurrection that fully effected God's plan for man, and the Resurrection most certainly came from outside of the natural order of the universe. As for those being the only instances of God's direct intervention, that is untrue. God has to create each human soul from outside of the physical universe each time a person is conceived; that is not found in the physical realm. And if one reads the Old Testament, there is a chain of interventions: A covenant being offered over and over again, offered first to a married couple, then a family, then a tribe, then a nation, then a kingdom; God calling, testing, rewarding, chastising, rescuing and guiding His chosen people; the giving of the Law and the form by which He wanted to be worshiped. This carried over into the New Testament, with the final offering of the Covenant, the eternal one, signed and sealed with the Blood of Christ. This gave us the sacraments, which help us on the path to God. The grace that we receive is the ultimate intervention.
Yours in Christ,
Patti
Laudare, benedicere, praedicare. |
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from Left Field
