Human Nature: Part 2

Q. Why then do we live apart from God and out of harmony with creation?
A. From the beginning, human beings have misused their freedom and made wrong choices.

Q. Why do we not use our freedom as we should?
A. Because we rebel against God, and we put ourselves in the place of God.

Neither Holy Scripture nor the teachings of the Church is meant to give us a scientific explanation of how the human race began. Nor does it literally describe how human beings first started to misuse their freedom in rebellion against God and disdain for their role as stewards of creation. We can believe with firm conviction, however, that the first members of the human family were brought forth as part of God’s design and that they found the world to be the kind of place where they could freely use and develop all the gifts which God had given them. This is the central truth at the heart of the story of God’s creation of Adam and Eve, the parents of the human race [Genesis 2:7-25].

The great tragedy of human existence, as Christians understand it, is that from the earliest ages of our history as a race, humankind — all together and one by one — has allowed its love for God to grow cold. The hardening of the human heart against God is the consequence of our putting ourselves in God’s place, seeking to satisfy our appetites apart from God and the order of relations God has established in creation [Genesis 3:5-7]. Our rebellion against God affects every other kind of relationship we have. Out of self-centeredness or prejudice, we have consistently abused our freedom, injuring other persons and the delicate balance of the world of which God has made us a part. Our separation from God has made us into the kind of beings whose choices are always deeply, and often unconsciously, shaped by our own personal selfishness and by the combined pressure of countless generations of wrongful choices.