Lesson 5: Creator of Heaven and Earth Part 2

God created all things – visible and invisible. The most important creatures God made are human beings and angels.

Why did God create?

God created all things because of His goodness and love. There are 2 creation stories in the Bible (Genesis) The first was written about the formation of the world in days: light, sky, earth, seas plants, sun moon stars, sea creatures birds, land animals man & woman, rest. It was written as a poem not as a historic record of 7 days. The second is of Eden (paradise) Adam and Eve ——> Man and Woman equal in dignity and perfect companions. There they lived in friendship with God and I harmony with each other and the rest of creation. They enjoyed the divine life of GRACE and were holy.

We call this happy state original justice.

Because God created Adam and Eve with the gift of FREE WILL they chose to love and obey God until…………… the chose to DISOBEY.

This disobedience became what we know as SIN. SIN is disobedience to God’s law (rules)

Eve and Adam’s sin is called original sin. It was the first sin that took away the special gift of GRACE God gave humans. Afterward EVIL was set loose in the world. Actual Sin- sinful acts we choose to do- became part of humanity. From Adam and Eve we are to be predisposed to desires that do no honor to the grace of God.

The Council of Trent 1545-1563 taught us that “comes from sin and induces to sin” is Concupiscence. The human inclination to do that which is sinful to that which is holy. Simply: our tendency to sin.

Concupiscence makes us vulnerable to sin. Our susceptibility to temptation is not sin. How we act in response to the temptation determines the rightness or wrongness — the sin.

What I do, I do not understand. For I do not do what I want, but I do what I hate.

Romans 7:15

Saint Paul is telling us that it is hard to be good all the time. We find courage and God gives us grace to make us stronger to resist sin.

See The Apostle Paul, portrait by Rembrandt 1657. We printed off a small version of this artwork and had the children cut it out and glue inside their notebook and below it copy the above quote.

We printed off a small version of this image Expulsion of Adam and Eve and glued it to the notebook.

Due to original sin we have to struggle with temptation. Like Adam and Eve we can fail. Every day we are faced with decisions to do right or wrong. We use our conscience (the power of our minds to judge what is right or wrong) to choose how to act. Jesus is our example. We should love others and God. We should learn and obey His Commandments. *Repeated sins can smother your conscience.*

We can fight temptation by:

**** Read Lessons 5 Creation& fall of man & 6 Actual sin in the St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism book #2 ****

Assignment:

1.) Draw the 5 steps to a good Confession. (Hint: see page 187 Baltimore Catechism)

2.) Draw Adam and Eve with the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Need some ideas look for some artwork as inspiration in a picture Bible.