THE ETERNITY OF MAN

 

What was going on in man's mind, at the imminence of the Fall, in the moments before original sin? Among other things, the desire for a new knowledge, the "knowledge of good and evil". See what the text says: "You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it" (Genesis 3:5,6).  

Man already knew good, for he lived in God's presence. But he knew only theoretically about evil, for he knew that on the day he ate of the fruit of the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" he would die (Genesis 2:16,17). But, as the text indicates, not satisfied with the splendor of the knowledge he already possessed, he desired another, announced by the serpent, which, deep down, was nothing but the "evil" that he now knew by his own experience. Created for a life of communion with God, man misused his will (Augustine, 2011, p.157), breaking that communion by acting contrary to his own essence and nature.  

Before he sinned against God, man was endowed with exceptional knowledge. He had been created to have dominion over all animals and to "subdue" the earth (Genesis 1:26-30). Thus, one cannot imagine the knowledge he possessed about the world. His life of harmony with his Creator and the world gave him a knowledge about himself that is not even remotely comparable to that of today's man, who, imagining himself to be an ape descendant, does not know his origin, his destiny and the reason for his existence. But man had yet another, very high level of knowledge: he knew his Creator. This knowledge, incomparable to the rustic and muddy notions about God that are outlined in man-made religions and mythologies.  

That act contrary to his very essence led man to irreparable losses as to his body, his spirit, and his knowledge. Disconnected from his Creator, man lost his knowledge of himself, the world, and God. Now he is in spiritual and cognitive darkness, and his body progresses on a trajectory that culminates in death. He is stuck in the world of matter and without communication with his Creator's spiritual realm of light. That original man, from before the Fall, has died.  

According to the biblical text, after eating the forbidden fruit, "the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked". But they have always been naked, the problem is that after the original sin, they reached a new view of existence, without the parameters of understanding that they had before the Fall. As the generations moved away from the first couple, that initial knowledge dissipated and everything became new and unknown. A thunderbolt, a lightning bolt caused them dread. To ensure peace and balance, they worshipped them as gods. Later on, man will claim that God does not exist. The human being, then, will begin a long journey of construction of meaning for his existence in the world, creating, initially, mythology and, later, religion, philosophy and science (MAIA, 2017, p.10). 

These knowledge, however, are inaccurate, because its are the fruit of a fallen mind. New perceptions and discoveries are always reformulating them, so that they never reach the "truth", that is, the precise, error-free and universal knowledge. Even scientific knowledge, so highly respected, does not constitute the truth, but only an approximation. Philosophers themselves say so. Kant, for example, stated: "man is not capable of absolute knowledge... he does not know the object as it is in itself, as a thing in itself, but only as it manifests, appears, that is, as a phenomenon" (KRASTANOV, 2013, P.48). It is also relevant to say that science has a limit. "This limit consists not in what science says, but in what science does not say and can never say. Scientific knowledge is partial, while it does not reach deep existence, but superficial existence" (MORRA, 2004, p.47). 

Man, then, got stuck in this existence, which is marked by matter and sin. His body, which is matter, is heading toward death. His spirit, which is already dead in relation to God, after the union with the body is broken, will suffer "everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might" (2 Thessalonians 1:9). Thus, by the above, there is no salvation for man and he is left only, as Kierkegaard (2001, p.23) put it, "to live his death". However, God, out of his great love for humanity, did what was impossible for man, that is, to reestablish the Creator-creature contact, revealing himself in the person of the Word, that is, Jesus Christ, "Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness." (Philippians 2:6,7). 

Yes, God, in the person of the Son, became man of flesh and blood and walked among human beings. He was tempted like Adam, but unlike him, he overcame the temptation and lived without ever deviating from the divine will. That is why the Apostle Paul called him "the last Adam" (1 Corinthians 15:45). He died, but rose again, thus opening a way for mankind to return to God (John 14:6). Thus, if someone decides to receive Christ as the Truth, he already starts, in this life, to enjoy the blessings of that knowledge that Adam lost in the Fall, for, as Paul said about Christians: "we have the mind of Christ" (1 Corinthians 2:16). And this same Apostle, writing to the Colossians, said that in Christ "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hidden" (2:3).   

Antônio Maia - M. Div.

Copyright

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