CHAPTER 2

Because of original sin, the love that we were created to give to God and to others is now often overrun with selfishness, pride, and hate. Like Adam and Eve, we now choose to live in ways that are inconsistent with our ultimate purpose. We love ourselves more than God and others

---

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You could buy this book from Our Sunday Visitor Inc., 200 Noll Plaza, Huntington, Indiana 46750

Evolution Confusion

Have you ever had a problem with a teacher? Who hasn't? You know those teachers: You disagree with almost everything they say.

We did. For several reasons, we won't mention his real name; we will simply refer to him as Mr. Negative. All sophomores at our high school had to take a particular course with Mr. Negative. Most Christian students approached his class with a little fear and trepidation because Mr. Negative had a reputation of being hard on Christians. He was an outspoken non-Christian who took every possible occasion in his classes to highlight problems with the Church.

Mr. Negative wasted little time in living up to his reputation. The topic for the first class covered the origins of the human race and the creation of the world. Of course, he believed that the Christian belief in a personal God who created the world was sheer nonsense.

According to Mr. Negative, science has demonstrated that the world began with a "big bang." Moreover, it was also his view that everything else that exists has evolved from lower forms of life, including humans. He even had a poster on his wall graphically depicting mankind's evolution from the apes.

Many of you could probably tell similar stories from your high school. It was Mr. Negative's particular view of evolution that a personal God had nothing to do with the creation of human beings. For him, humans were merely the highest form of animal evolution. This led him to teach that human beings are merely animals with no created meaning or purpose to their existence.

What does this have to do with your sexuality?

Everything! It seems to us that you cannot possibly begin to understand your sexuality without first understanding who you are. Some evolutionary views of humanity's origins (like Mr. Negative's view) have left many wondering just who they are. The basic question, therefore, is: Who are we? Were we created with a meaning and a purpose to our life? Or have we come into existence merely by chance?

How each one of us answers these basic questions will have a tremendous impact on how we value ourselves, which has implications for the way we live our lives.

The Basic Question: 'Who are You?'

Fortunately, the Church has always given us a clear answer to this basic question. Our Catholic faith has taught us that a personal, loving, and good God created each human being. Furthermore, this God created us in order that we might be happy forever. This happiness comes from an intimate friendship with God. Just how God created us, we'll leave to Bible scholars, theologians, and scientists.

(In case you're wondering, the Church doesn't rule out evolution as a science. What the Church does reject is evolutionism, which teaches that only the natural world exists. Mr. Negative was teaching us a version of evolutionism.)

But the important matter for our discussion is that each person has been created by God with a definite purpose. (Cf. CCC 356.)

The Bible is very clear on these matters. For example, King David wondered about who he was. As you'll see from reading a song that he wrote (Psalm 139), David had concluded that God had created him carefully and for a specific purpose. See how David describes God's intimate and personal involvement in his prenatal development: 'Truly you have formed my inmost being; / you knit me in my mother's womb. / I give you thanks that I am fearfully, wonderfully made; / wonderful are your works" (Psalm 139:13-14; NAB).

A few verses later, David describes how God had planned out all his days even before one of them existed. After pondering the fact that God personally created him, David exclaims, "How weighty are your designs, O God" (v-17; NAB).

God revealed a similar message to the prophet Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a teenager when God revealed to him that he had a plan and purpose for his life even before he was born. "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, / and before you were born I consecrated you; / I appointed you a prophet to the nations" (Jeremiah 1:5).

The truly amazing point to take from these Bible passages is that they shed meaning on your life. What David and Jeremiah recognized about their own lives, you should realize about your own. God is the reason that you are alive. It was in God's plan that you were conceived by your parents; and he made you just the way you are. He was involved in your prenatal development just as he was with David's. You, too, have been formed and knit together by your heavenly Father. Like David, you are "wonderfully made." In fact, Jesus tells us that God knows even how many hairs are on your head!

Unfortunately, most of us are not happy with who we are. We don't like the way we look. We don't feel good about ourselves. We don't like our bodies. We don't like our complexion. We don't like the color of our hair, how fat or skinny we are, the size of our nose, the length of our feet, etc. To our detriment, we are conditioned by TV to value ourselves based upon how well we measure up to society's "sex symbol image." Such a preoccupation with our looks can cause us to forget that each one of us was carefully created by a loving God who wants our happiness.

Other reasons why many teenagers don't value their lives are because they don't hang out with the "in crowd" or they don't have enough money to buy the right things. This is unfortunate because, as we hope you will see, our value, meaning, and purpose do not derive from those things. Our value is inside us. It is based upon who we are as God's creatures.

A Chip off the Block

Many of us would be much happier if we realized that our dignity (and significance) as human beings comes not from what we look like, or from who approves of us, nor from how much money we have. On the contrary, our dignity-- like every human being's dignity-- is intrinsic to who we are as persons created by God.

In fact, our dignity is much greater than all other things created by God. If we read the creation story of Genesis 1, we would discover something marvelous about ourselves and all human beings. A major point of the very first chapter of the entire Bible is to highlight humanity's uniqueness as the glory of God's creation. After recording the creation of everything else, verses 26 and 27 tell about the creation of human beings: "Then God said: 'Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.' So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them."

God created us in "his image." Please realize that this is not true of any other living being. Only humans are made in God's image and likeness. This is the source of our dignity and value. God has shown our dignity by placing the dominion and rule over all his world into the hands of man.

But what does it mean to say that God created us in his image? Simply put, God gave us his life and made us like himself. We are like God. This cannot be said of any other creature.

Let us try to explain. A year and a half after our first son was born, Keith was sitting at a youth-group meeting bouncing him on his knee. Becky, a sixteen-year-old girl, began smiling and giggling at Keith. Confused, Keith asked Becky why she was laughing. Her reply taught us a little bit about what it means to be created in God's image. Becky said, "It's just that your son looks so much like you. He sits like you; he holds his hands the same way; and he even has the same dumb look on his face that you have. He's a chip off the block." Keith thought to himself, "Of course he is, he's my son."

In giving us his life and likeness, God has made us in his image. He has made us his children. There is no greater dignity and honor for human beings than this. (Cf. CCC 343, 355-356, 358.)

A Frantic Search ... For Happiness and Meaning

Did you know that there's a frantic search under way in the world today? All of us are involved in it. But what are we looking for?

It's a search for real meaning and happiness. Look around at the world and you'll see it. Look at your friends. Look at yourself. Everybody wants to live a happy and meaningful life. We're sure that you, too, want this. We all look for happiness, but many don't find it. It's our belief that those who don't find it are looking in the wrong places.

Some people try to find ultimate happiness in money. "If I just had enough money, then I'll be able to buy all the things that can make me happy."

Others seek happiness and meaning in physical pleasure and personal comfort. This group lives for the weekend. Its members can't wait for the party. Getting smashed and making out on the weekend-- now that's really living.

A third group seeks happiness in success and personal achievement. Making the honor roll, getting elected class president, being popular and getting accepted at the most prestigious university are what this group thinks will give its members real happiness and meaning.

Those in this group love to hear their peers say how wonderful they are.

Don't get us wrong, many of these things are very good. But by themselves, money, pleasure, and success won't bring true happiness and meaning to our lives. They are simply not capable of giving us lasting and internal happiness. We are created for something greater.

But what is happiness, anyway? Most of us tend to think that happiness is achieved when things are going our way. If we have money, things, pleasure, and success, then we'll be happy.

Looking at happiness in this way is really very shallow. Happiness is more than external things going our way. Think about it. If these things don't go our way, does this mean we can't be happy? The reality is that things don't always go our way.

Can a very poor person, someone considered ugly, a person who's not so smart, or somebody who has failed in business be happy?

Of course such a person can, because real happiness is an internal condition. It's an inner peace with oneself and God. It's knowing that one is living in a way that is pleasing to God. Real internal happiness as well as meaning in life is not really related to "things going our way." In fact, it's very possible for someone to have everything going his way and still be totally miserable. There are many people in the world like this. (Cf. CCC 1723.)

But true inner peace, happiness, and meaning are very much achievable today. Pope John Paul II tells us where to find them.

The Meaning of Life Is ... To Love

At the 1989 World Youth Day celebration in Santiago, Spain, Pope John Paul II gave the world's youth a very clear answer as to where lasting happiness and meaning can be found. He said very simply that "the meaning of life is to love."

The pope has said many times to young people that it's only through giving ourselves to God and to others in love that we really experience true joy and meaning in life.

In his recent book, Crossing the Threshold of Hope, the pope wrote, "Young people, whether boys or girls, know they must live for and with others, they know that their life has meaning to the extent that it becomes a free gift for others." When we learn how to love God and love one another properly, then we'll achieve the happiness and meaning we desire.

The key to understanding what the pope is saying about happiness and meaning is to remember that each one of us is in the image of God.

Because we are in the image of God, we can only really find our meaning and happiness when we live our lives like God does.

But how does God live?

He loves. St. John tells us that "God is love" (cf. I John 4:7). Because we have been created in God's image, guess what we have been created to do? You got it. Love. (Cf. CCC 1604.)

Inside each of us there is a deep longing to love like God loves. In fact, it's only possible for us to find real, internal happiness and meaning if we seek to love in the way God does.

But how does God love? God loves by giving himself to us. God showed us how he gives himself when he sent his only Son, Jesus, into the world. St. Paul tells us that "God showed his love for us by having Christ die for us, even though we were sinful" (Romans 5:8; CEB).

If there is a greater example of love than this, we don't know what it is. When God loves, he gives himself totally. This is what God is asking from us because we are made in his image. God knows that we are made to love. To really love means that we must give ourselves totally to God and to others. Loving in this way will bring us the true happiness and meaning that we seek.

In case you're wondering, it's this built-in need to love that leads us to seek close friendships. Ultimately, this is what also leads many of us to give ourselves totally out of love in marriage. Others give of themselves totally out of love to the priesthood or religious life. But more on this in the chapter on marriage, Chapter 10.

Happiness Lost

But it's not easy to love. In fact, we see in ourselves sometimes a deep-rooted selfishness that makes loving the way God loves seem impossible. We sometimes love ourselves and "things" more than others. We hurt our friends; we snub our families and we make God irrelevant in our lives. As a result, we experience pain, unhappiness, and confusion about the meaning of life.

But why? If we're created in the image of God, if we find our true happiness in loving God and others, why do we have such a hard time living this way?

The answer is sin.

The first chapter of the Bible explains why it is so hard to love as we were created to do. It sheds light on why the real happiness that we seek is so hard to get a grip on.

Most people are familiar with what happened in the first few chapters of Genesis. The serpent entered paradise and persuaded Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. She, in turn, gave the fruit to Adam and he ate it as well. This, of course, is the story of humankind's rebellion against God.

It's humankind's rejection of what we were meant to be-- happy, loving children of God.

God punished Adam and Eve by taking away what made them fit for heaven. He took away their supernatural life. Without this supernatural life, Adam and Eve could not know the happiness of heaven for which they were created. They had lost their friendship with God. They had lost the ability to love God and others before themselves. And in losing this, they had lost their ultimate meaning and purpose.

It was impossible, now, for them to experience true happiness and meaning on earth. Selfishness, pride, and hate have now replaced love. We can see this earthly happiness fading quickly in the Book of Genesis.

Adam and Eve soon chose to do things that would make them unhappy. They hid from God out of shame. They fought with one another and blamed each other for their sin. In fact, their children even got into the act. Cain killed Abel out of jealousy and hate.

What these first few chapters of Genesis dramatically illustrate is that the first sin brought chaos into the world and the loss of love and happiness. Things got so bad that God decided (out of mercy) to destroy the earth by sending the great flood. The Old Testament tells us: "The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, 'I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.' But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord" (Genesis 6:5-8).

The really bad news about this story is that it has implications for all human beings, not just Adam and Eve. Unfortunately, what Adam and Eve did directly affects the rest of us.

Theologians call their first sin, "the fall." Not only did Adam and Eve fall, but so did the rest of humankind with them. Our faith teaches us that every baby (except Mary and Jesus) is born with original sin as a result of Adam and Eve's sin. Basically, what this means is that every person is born without the supernatural life that makes him or her fit for the happiness of heaven. We, too, have lost our friendship with and love for God.

Because of original sin, the love that we were created to give to God and to others is now often overrun with selfishness, pride, and hate. Like Adam and Eve, we now choose to live in ways that are inconsistent with our ultimate purpose. We love ourselves more than God and others. This kind of living makes our earthly happiness virtually impossible. As we'll see in a future chapter, our drives (that is, our passions, including the sex drive) have become disordered and can result in great earthly unhappiness. (Cf. CCC 396-406.)

A Totally Awesome Life

Thankfully, God is loving, merciful, and forgiving. This is the great thing about God: He wants our happiness. Even when we reject him. God goes to every extreme to ensure our happiness, even to the point of sacrificing his only begotten Son on a cross. He sent his only Son to restore our original friendship. Through Jesus' life, crucifixion, and resurrection, God made our supernatural life and our eternal and earthly happiness possible again.

In fact, God the Father sent Jesus so that we might have an incredible life. Listen to how Jesus describes his purpose in coming to earth: "I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly" (John 10: 10). Jesus came that we might have a totally awesome life. Jesus has promised that if we follow him closely and live by his word our lives will be full of meaning, purpose, and happiness. God is indeed good!

Through Jesus, God the Father has not only restored everything that was lost through the fall of Adam and Eve but has also given us the world's most incredible gift. Through our baptism into Jesus' death and resurrection, God has washed us of our original sin and restored to us our supernatural life and friendship with God. He has made it possible for us to love God and others like we were created to do. (Cf. CCC 405, 977-978.)

God has gone so far as to not only make us his friends through our baptism but also his children.

St. John tells us that God's love for us is so intense that he has made us his very own children. St. John marvels, "See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are" (I John 3: 1; emphasis added). Through our baptism into Jesus, God has adopted us into his heavenly family.

We all know that what family we are born into has a lot to do with what kind of privileges we have in life. Keith can remember as a boy wishing he was a member of his best friend Scotts family (sorry, Mom and Dad!). The main reason for this desire was that Scott's family owned a beach house in Ocean City, New Jersey. Every summer they would pack their gear and head to their three-story beach home for the summer. Keith used to imagine how great it must be to grow up in a family that had these kinds of advantages.

God has given us the privilege of being in the world's greatest family. What better Father is there than God? Think about who God is for a few seconds. He made all things, owns everything, knows everything, infinitely loves and cares for each one of us, and desires our everlasting happiness.

Is there a better father than this? No way. Is there a better family to be a member of than his? No way. To be a member of God's family is really an incredible gift if you stop to think about it!

A Purposeful Existence

In this chapter we've tried to answer the question "Who are you?" We've tried to show you that your life has infinite meaning and purpose. This meaning and purpose is not derived from what you look like, who you hang around with, or what kind of clothes you wear. Your value is within you. It is based upon who you are-- the crown and glory of God's creation, made in his image. Through your baptism into Jesus Christ, God the Father has adopted you into his divine family and offered you a chance to love the way you were intended to love.

In the next chapter, we hope to demonstrate that "who you are" has implications for "how you should live," particularly with regard to your sexuality. As we'll see, sex is a great gift from God. Its purpose is to express love the way God intended. And if sex is used in this way, it can help contribute to that totally awesome life Jesus offered to us.