The Fall

Original Sin and its Aftermath

What is “The Fall”

• Forbidden to eat from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

• Serpent states the opposite• Man and woman eat the fruit• They realize they are naked• Blame each other• Consequences follow

The Fall• The original sin

– The first humans give in to the temptation of evil in the garden and disobey God• Misuse of God’s gift of freedom and choice• Lack of trust• Tried to be God, without God

• Results of this action:– Loss of Original Holiness

• Loss of relationship with God

– Loss of Original Justice• Loss of harmony between man and woman, humans and nature• Suffering and death enter the world• Following generations are born with original sin

– *Concupiscence is a by product of original sin

• Hope of redemption– God promises to send someone to crush evil

• Protoevangelium (Gen. 3:15)* An inclination toward sin.

God Helps Us• Natural Law– Inner understanding of what is good and what is evil

• Conscience– Inner voice that warns us when we are leaning

toward evil. We must form a good conscience• Intellect/ reasoning– Gift of God to all humans to be able to reason

before taking action• Free Will– The ability to choose to take an action- It enables us

to take responsibility for our actions.

Concupiscence

• Sin continues– Cain and Abel

• Sin multiplies– Noah

• Sin becomes societal– Tower of Babel

Sin

Any deliberate offense, in thought,

word , deed or *omission, against

the will of God.

*what you did not do

Sin• Capital Sins

– Seven practices or attitudes that are the roots of all sin

• Original Sin– Sin committed by the first humans, inherited by their descendants. We

are not personally responsible for this sin. Baptism washes away this sin (and all other sins)

• Personal Sin– Sin we ourselves are personally responsible for

• Venial• Mortal

• Social Sin– Sin that is committed by society by allowing sinful or immoral behavior

• Slavery• Abortion ( sins against the right to life)• Institutionalized poverty• Discrimination

Personal Sin• Mortal– Serious offense that breaks our relationship with God

• Serious matter– The action or behavior must be of a serious nature

• Knowledge– You must have knowledge of the seriousness of the action or

nature

• Consent– You must give your full consent or okay to the action

• Venial– Less serious sin; dangerous since repetition can lead to mortal

sin– It weakens our relationship with God

Capital Sins• Pride

– Believing you are better than others, often resulting in despising or disrespecting other people

• Wrath– Strong anger that makes us want to seek revenge and/ or prevents

reconciliation• Lust

– Undisciplined, unchecked desire for self-enjoyment, especially of a sexual nature• Envy

– Resentment that we direct at others who have some success, thing, or privilege that we want for ourselves

• Avarice– Greediness; hoarding money or material things

• Gluttony – Excessive eating or drinking

• Sloth– Habitual laziness; failing to make every effort and take action

Development of Sin• Begins with the first sin– Original Sin

• Continues with the sin of Cain– Personal sin

• Multiplies as humans multiply until it reaches great evil– Represented in the story of Noah

• Increases to include whole societies– Social sin, in the account of the “Tower of Babel”

• Throughout, God remains faithful and loving

Satan & the Fallen Angels

• Since the original sin the human race is involved in a spiritual battle between good and evil– Evil is urged on by Satan, the evil one

• Prince of Liars• Angels who followed him were expelled from heaven along with

him.• Cannot force us to do anything• After the final judgment he will be cast into Hell forever

• Jesus has already won the battle through his Passion, Death, Resurrection and Ascension.

• Whose side will you be on?