CREATION
Who created the world? (CCC 290-294)
Creation is
a work of the Holy Trinity – Father, Son and Spirit. He made all
things from nothing, bring life and order to the nothingness.
Why did God create the world? Was he obligated to do so? (CCC
293-295)
God was not
obligated to create the world in any sense, nor did He do it to
increase His glory or own inner happiness. Instead, He freely
created the world out of love. St. Thomas Aquinas says,
“Creatures came into existence when the key of love opened his
hand.” Fulton Sheen, when asked why God created the world,
responds, “Love overflowed.” He is perfectly complete within
Himself, for we remember that perfect Love exists amongst the
Persons of the Trinity. Therefore, creating us does not add
anything to His glory or happiness. Instead, He creates to show
and manifest His glory, which is love. Like a married couple who
love with one other, they want to create offspring in
order to share this love with others. Similarly, the Lord wants
not to keep His love to Himself, but to share and give it away.
If God is all-powerful and all-loving, why is there evil in the
world? (CCC 309-314)
This is a
question that no human being fails to ask at some point in his
or her life. The answer is not short, and in fact, “There is not
a single aspect of the Christian message that is not in part an
answer to the question of evil” (CCC 309). We will not try to
give a complete answer to the mystery of evil (for to do so is
impossible), but only try to state some key truths that help us
understand better. First, God in no way causes evil. All evil in
the world, physical and moral, is a result of our sins. From
this, we necessarily ask ourselves next why He allows us
to sin. The simple answer is that true love must be a free
choice. He desires a loving friendship with us, not robotic
obedience. In other words, He must give us the choice to love
Him. A choice implies another option – the option to choose
against Him, which is sin and is the cause of evil. God’s will
leads to perfect happiness, peace and order. When we choose
against it, we face the consequences. It is only when we have
the option of choosing against Him, choosing against all those
things that seem so good, that choosing Him despite
them is so fulfilling. The Lord understands that our
participation in our own salvation, by choosing Him despite
pain and difficulties, actually makes salvation that much
better. Imagine being given an NBA championship ring for winning
an NBA championship, but you didn’t do anything to get there.
Someone called you, you came, there was a big ceremony, lots of
people to congratulate you and take your picture, and now you
will always be known as winning a championship. How much
satisfaction will you get from that? Compare this to a life’s
worth of work – practicing, lifting weights, working out,
enduring pain and hardship – that eventually leads to the
championship. What is more satisfactory? In short, we must be
given a choice to love if it is to be true love. If there is no
choice, there is no love, only robotic obedience.
God respects
this choice so much that He refuses to violate our free will –
so much so that we can freely choose eternity in hell. However,
though He allows us to exercise our free will to bring about evil,
He only does so because is able to bring good out of it. This is
the amazing part – His power is so great that He can take every
single one of our evil acts and bring a better good out of it
than if we had never committed it. However, He can only do
this if we allow Him to work in us. In essence, He allows evil
to exist for a time because He knows that His love and
power are such that the end result will be greater than the
original. If this were not true, He would not allow evil to
exist. The most obvious example of this truth is the death of
His own Son. Through the greatest and most evil act of man, the
murder of God’s own Son, He has brought forth the greatest good
– the salvation of man.
Are Catholics allowed to believe in evolution? (Humani
generis, Pius XII)
There are
three truths that have been promulgated by the Church in regards
to the creation of man.
1. The
human soul is not a product of evolution. The
human was soul was created out of nothing directly by God. This
can be known by philosophy, reason and divine revelation.
2. As for the evolution of the
body, the Church permits reasonable and cautious
discussion to take place by men experienced in the fields of
science and theology. Pope Pius XII states, “Some however,
rashly transgress this liberty of discussion, when they act as
if the origin of the body from pre-existing and living matter
were already completely certain and proved…as if there were
nothing in the sources of divine revelation which demands the
greatest moderation and caution in this question” (Humani
generis, 36). This document can be found at:
http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/encyclicals/documents/hf_p-xii_enc_12081950_humani-generis_en.html
3. All
humans descended from one couple, Adam and Eve.
Polygenism is not a matter of discussion – it is false.
Polygenism is a theory that can mean two things. It can mean
that “Adam” signifies multiple first parents or that there were
other men created besides Adam that did not inherit original sin
from him. Both are false.
Do angels really exist, and if so, what is their purpose? (CCC
328-336)
Yes, angels
do exist. They are messengers and servants of God and man. They
are purely spiritual beings, with no material bodies. They, like
humans, have intelligence and free will. Their splendor is above
all in the visible world, including man. However, they humble
themselves to serve man. Their primary purpose is to serve and
adore God. Their secondary purpose is to serve and aid man in
the attainment of his salvation.
Does everyone have their own guardian angel?
Yes, each
person has a personal guardian angel. The task of your guardian
angel is to help you achieve salvation. Your guardian angel will
not leave you until you have reached heaven, even remaining with
you in Purgatory.
If God is really perfect, why did He need to rest on the seventh
day?
God did not
actually need to rest. There are multiple meanings to the
Sabbath rest; we shall focus on one. The Lord gave us the
Sabbath as a foreshadowing of our eternal destiny. While on
earth we work out our salvation, but earth is not our final end.
We were created to have perfect “rest” and fulfillment in Heaven
by our unity with the Blessed Trinity. We must, however, endure
a time of testing in which we work out our salvation. God gives
us the Sabbath as His first promise and revelation of Heaven and
our eternal destiny.
What do we mean when we say man was created in the “image and
likeness” of God? Does this mean we are just like Him? (CCC
356-361)
It is
possible to write an entire book in answer to this question so
we will only dwell on a few basic principles here. On the most
basic level, to be made in the image and likeness of God refers
to our spiritual nature, namely our intellect and will. Our
intellect allows us to know God, and our will allows us to love
him. This makes us distinct from every other created being (except
angels, who also have these capacities). Second, God is a
Trinity of three Persons who are in an eternal relationship.
Being created in His image indicates that we are also called to
relationships – we are not meant to be alone. As well, we are
capable of entering into a relationship with God, not only with one
another. Rocks do not have this capability. God, by making us in
His image, has given us the capability to share in His very
life.
Do we have a soul? If so, is it immortal? (CCC 362-368)
Yes, we have
a soul and it is immortal, which means our soul will exist
forever. The immortality of our souls is natural property. The
basic faculties of our soul are intelligence and will. These two
powers of our soul are what distinguish us from the rest of the
created, material world.
Do animals have souls?
Animals do
have souls, but their souls are not immortal, and they do not
have intelligence or will. Their souls cease to exist upon their
death.
Why did God create us male and female? Does this have a
significant meaning? (CCC 371-373)
Yes. First,
it shows us that we are not meant to be alone. To be a person
means having someone else to love. It means we need one another
to complete ourselves. Only the union of two can make a whole and produce new life. We are unique in that we are
called to know ourselves and others and to give ourselves away
as a gift first to God and second to man, in imitation of God,
who gives Himself to us as a gift. Human beings, having
been created male and female and given the capacity to create
new life in this union, model God with the ability to know and
possess ourselves. Our loving one another and creating new life
(both physical and spiritual) is one of the primary ways in
which we live in the image and likeness of God.
Is one gender superior to the other? (CCC 369-373)
Each gender,
male and female, possesses equal dignity; neither gender is
superior or better than the other. However, each gender is also
different and each one has an important role to play. Each role
is distinct, beautiful and equally necessary. Each person better
understands their identity when they discover who and what they
were created to be. Males are meant to represent the Father, who
is the giver and provider. They were created first and are meant
to be the head of the family. The female is to receive the life
and nurture it within her body in order to bring forth the life
to the world. In the bodies of man and woman we can see the
different and complimentary roles each is meant to play. These
roles are revealed by the body, but they are also manifested in
deeper, emotional, and spiritual levels. Only together
can man and woman fulfill their two-fold vocation – to love
another and bring forth life from this love. Each gender is
essential. A man cannot be a man unless he has a woman with to whom
to be a man. A woman cannot be a woman without a man with whom to
be a woman.
What was the condition of man before the Fall? (CCC 374-379)
Before the
Fall, man lived in a state of original holiness and justice,
in which he was in friendship with God and in harmony with the
world around him. Adam and Eve possessed supernatural grace (the
virtues of faith, hope and charity), the gifts of the Holy
Spirit and the four preternatural gifts (harmony between
body and soul, infused knowledge, loving obedience to the will
of God, and freedom from suffering and death). The preternatural
gifts are gifts that are more than what man is due according to
his nature. In other words, they were extra “perks.” Man was in
union with God, and he had perfect self-mastery, being
unsusceptible to temptations of the flesh, greed, or
self-assertion.
