Introduction

    God created Adam and Eve. He gave them supernatural and preternatural gifts and placed them in the Garden of Eden. They were happy there: they were God’s friends and did not suffer any harm; they worked, but would not get tired... After having been happy on earth, they would have gone - without dying - to enjoy God in heaven forever.

    But Adam and Eve committed a serious sin: the original sin. The third chapter of Genesis tells us about that sin: they disobeyed God and offended Him. Since Adam and Eve were our first parents, all men inherited this sin. From it sprang pain, suffering, hatred, wars and other calamities that men and the world suffer.

    Therefore, it is convenient to study this subject. If well understood, perhaps many bad things that happen in the world and within every man could be better understood.

  A. Therefore, it is convenient to study this subject. If well understood, perhaps many bad things that happen in the world and within every man could be better understood.

  Main Ideas

1. The first parents were very happy in the Garden of Eden

    God, full of love, created men so that one day they could contemplate and live eternally with Him.

    That is why He made them part of His divine life. Such big and undeserved gift is called sanctifying grace or life in grace.

   Moreover, God put them in a great place - the earthly paradise - and gave them many other undeserved gifts: He lit their intelligence and strengthened their will, and exempted them from error and evil inclinations; He delivered them from pain, sickness and death (preternatural gifts).

   These gifts – preternatural and supernatural – were supposed to be transmitted to the descendants of Adam and Eve.

2. The proof of the first parents

    Like angels, God wanted to submit our first parents to a test and they were given an order that would test their fidelity. If they obeyed it, they would have kept for themselves and their descendants the grace and gifts that God gave them; if they did not obey it, they would lose the grace and gifts for themselves and their descendants. God, who had to power to impose this mandate since He is absolute Owner and Lord of man, wanted them to win.

3. The first parents sinned

    Tempted by the devil, the father of lies, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned. It was a sin of pride, because they wanted to be like God and were subjected to the devil. For having committed this sin, they lost the divine friendship (grace) and the preternatural gifts that God had given to them for free; even their natural forces were wounded, and with the inner harmony broken, they felt the inclination for evil. They were subjected to concupiscence (inclination to sin), which is not a sin, but incites evil.

  B. Choose one of these words: supernatural, preternatural, faith, ability, truth, lie, sinned, loved, kept, lost.t.

4. Men are born with this sin and suffer the consequences

    Since Adam was the main head of the human race, he lost the grace and the gifts that were given to him, and so, his descendants also lost them: Adam sinned for all of humanity. In other words, by receiving nature from our first parents, we receive it with the stains of that guilt, and are therefore deprived of the grace and all the other gifts. Due to the loss of the inner harmony, we are inclined to sin (concupiscence). This is why it is called the original sin; we are all born with it.

5. Consequences of the original sin

    All sins and evils of mankind derive from Adam's sin. All men are born with the grave consequences of the original sin, we are deprived of grace, and therefore, in a state of sin and inclined to evil. So, the inclination to sin is within us, and that is what we call concupiscence, or lust. This is translated in the disorganized lust of earthly things: enjoyment, goods, honors...We also live in the midst of innumerable sorrows and calamities, and finally, death. Due to the original sin, the devil acquired influence over the world.

6. God had mercy on man and promised them a Redeemer

   Despite the sin, God had mercy on men and promised them future redemption: He promised that the human race would have a Redeemer - Jesus Christ - who would save mankind from sin and its consequences.

Catechesis Course. Don Jaime Pujol Balcells and Don Jesús Sancho Bielsa. EUNSA. Navarra. 1982. With the permission of the authors.

  C. Answer by choosing one of these words: angel, Jesus, Joseph, in writing, orally, tradition, Scripture, deposit, doctrine, geography, Bible.

  Catechisms Questions

1. Who were the first parents?  The first parents were Adam and Eve, from whom all men descend.

2. What gifts did the Lord give to our first parents?  The Lord gave our first parents the divine gifts of grace, knowledge of things suitable to their condition and other gifts that fought against the inclination to sin, and of pain and death.

3. How did the first parents behave before the test God gave them?  Before the test that God gave them, the first parents behaved badly, because they committed a grave sin and disobeyed God's command.

4. What is the original sin?  The original sin that we inherited from our first parents is that we are born deprived of the sanctifying grace and the gifts that accompanied it, so, we are inclined to evil.

5. How do we remove the original sin?  The original sin is removed by baptism.

  D. Select the button to choose the correct answer. Below are the possible answers: A, B, C, D and E