Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned

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Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned
CRANACH, Lucas the Elder Adam and
Eve Panel Koninklijk Museum voor Schone Kunsten,
Antwerp

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• 75. What was the first human sin?
• 396-403415-417
• When tempted by the devil, the first man and
  woman allowed trust in their Creator to die in
  their hearts. In their disobedience they wished
  to become like God but without God and not in
  accordance with God (Genesis 35). Thus, Adam and
  Eve immediately lost for themselves and for all
  their descendants the original grace of holiness
  and justice.

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Introduction

• God created Adam and Eve, infused in them the
  supernatural and preternatural gifts and placed
  them in the Garden of Eden.
• But Adam and Eve committed a very serious sin
  original sin.
• All men inherit this sin. Pain, suffering,
  hatred, wars and all other misfortunes that
  affect men and the world spring from original sin.

BOSCH, Hieronymus Paradise Terrestrial
Paradise Oil on panel, 86,5 x 39,5 cm Palazzo
Ducale, Venice
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Main ideas
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1. The happiness of our first parents in the
Garden of Eden

• God, out of love, created our first parents so
  that they could eventually contemplate Him and
  live eternally in His presence. To that end He
  made them participants in His divine life by
  means of sanctifying grace or the life of grace.
• God placed them in an earthly paradise and gave
  them many other gifts they were free from error
  and from the inclination to evil, they were
  created free from pain, disease and death (the
  preternatural gifts).
• These gifts -supernatural and preternatural- were
  to be transmitted by Adam and Eve to their
  descendants.

CRANACH, Lucas the Elder The Paradise 1530 Limewoo
d, 81 x 114 cm Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
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2. The trial of our first parents

• As with the angels, God put our first parents to
  the test by giving them a commandment to prove
  their faithfulness to Him. If they obeyed, they
  would preserve the graces and gifts that God had
  given to them and their descendants. But if they
  disobeyed, they would lose those graces and
  gifts.
• God, being their absolute lord and sovereign,
  could impose such an obligation on them, always
  in the hope that they would remain faithful to
  Him.

BALDUNG GRIEN, Hans Eve, the Serpent, and
Death 1510-12 Panel National Gallery of Canada,
Ottawa
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3. Our first parents sinned

• Adam and Eve disobeyed God and fell into sin. It
  was a sin of pride, because they wanted to be
  like God.
• Having committed this original sin they lost the
  divine friendship (grace) and the preternatural
  gifts that God had given them.
• Our first parents were submitted to
  concupiscence, the inclination to sin, an
  inclination which in itself is not sinful, but
  incites to evil.

MILANI, Aureliano Expulsion of Adam and Eve Oil
on canvas, 153 x 106 cm Private collection
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4. Men are born under the effects of original sin
and suffer the consequences

• In Adam the entire human race inherited the
  effects of that sin. That is to say, when
  receiving our human nature from our first
  parents, we receive it stained with Adams sin.
• Without that inner harmony, we are inclined to
  sin (concupiscence).
• This is what we call the original sin, with which
  we all are born.

Durer's Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1498)
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5. Consequences of original sin

• All men are born with the terrible inherent
  consequences of original sin. We are born without
  grace, in a state of sin which turns us away from
  God and inclines us towards evil.
• We call this inclination concupiscence.
• We are subject to illness, pain and finally,
  death.
• By original sin, Satan acquired great influence
  on the world.

SIGNORELLI, Luca The Damned Being Plunged into
Hell (detail) 1499-1502 Fresco Chapel of San
Brizio, Duomo, Orvieto
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6. God had pity on mankind and promised a
Redeemer

• God had pity on mankind and promised future
  redemption. He promised that from the human race
  would emerge a Redeemer -Jesus Christ-, who would
  save humanity from original sin and its
  consequences.

ALTDORFER, Albrecht The Resurrection of Christ c.
1516 Oil on wood, 70,5 x 37,3 cm Kunsthistorisches
Museum, Vienna
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Resolutions for Christian life
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Resolutions to move forward

• Learn the Act of Contrition. It can be recited as
  a sign of repentance for our sins before
  confession and at other times of the day.
• Be aware of the fact that as a consequence of
  original sin we need to make a strong effort to
  avoid sin, but always in a spirit of Christian
  joy.