1. If God is a perfect being, why didn't He create everything/ everyone perfect? Why is He the only one who's perfect? Did He do that on purpose?
These are profound theological questions. These are the very same questions that ancient people have asked every time they would see men and women get sick and die, things around them decay, as well as when they see the grandeur of nature and the miracle of the birth of a baby. Why couldn’t things be perfect?
The biblical authors have an answer to the same questions, based on their own reflections, insight and inspiration from the Holy Spirit. The author (or more accurately, the authors) of Genesis answered this with the Creation story.
The Creation story is not a historical account of HOW things and people came to be (for indeed, no one was around that time to report it). Rather, it is the authors’ reflection of WHY things came to be.
The creation story says that God’s original creation is perfect – nothing more, nothing less was needed. It took God “7 days,” which is a biblical symbol meaning “complete” and “perfect.” The creation story says that humanity is the highest of all creation, because only man/woman was created “in the image of God.” Lastly, it says that creation has a purpose; there is order in creation. Things were not created at random, but in sequence, and that it has a purpose. The purpose of creation is shown on the last day, when God “rested.” God did not get tired, but God stopped working and “blessed the seventh day and made it holy” (Genesis 2:3). This means that the purpose, or the end, of all creation is to be holy, to be with God.
That was the way things were: there was perfect harmony between God and humanity, described as “walking in the garden.” But God who created man/woman out of love, did so with freedom as part of the human package. As such, man/woman can choose to accept or reject God’s love.
The temptation story is the biblical authors’ reflection on how this perfect creation, with the perfect relationship of God and humanity, was broken. The “tree of knowledge of good and evil” is a “merism,” or a literary device by which totality is described by the first and last of the series or by opposites. Another example of merism is when someone says “I love you from morning till night”; what he actually means is that he loves her all the time. The “tree” therefore symbolizes mastery over everything or all of creation.
The “eating of the fruit” is not simply an just act of disobedience, but it is a stance taking by humanity that he/she too can have mastery over everything, just like God. It is a position which says “I can be like you, and therefore do not need you; nor do I need your love.” It is this act of defiance and rejection that severed the relationship between God and humanity. And since humanity is the greatest of all creation, then all of creation also was “separated” from God.
Thus, sin (or the rejection of God’s love) became part of the world. Hence, we have sickness, decay, severed relationships, human hurts, death. In short, imperfection.
Did God create imperfection? No. God’s creation is perfect. But, out of freedom, humanity chose to sever this perfection.
2. When Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins, does this refer to our original sin which is disobedience? Or to all the sins of the human race? If this refers to all our sins, does this include the sins we committed, we are committing, or about to commit?
To answer this question, it is best to continue the story from where we left off in your first question.
Even though God’s love was rejected by humanity, God continued to pursue man/woman back. The whole bible is the story of how God – through Abraham, Moses, the Judges, the Kings of Israel, the Prophets, and finally through Jesus – worked to bring humanity back to God.
By God becoming man in Jesus, God could communicate to man/woman what his intentions are in the best and clearest possible manner. (I often compare this with Tita Wena and I talking to our two dogs. It will always be limited unless we learn “dog language.” In the case of Jesus, God became man so that he can speak “human language” and communicate with us directly and clearly).
If sin came into the world because of what humanity did, then Jesus’ mission is to show how we can overcome sin and return to that perfect relationship with God. How did Jesus do this? In two ways:
- First, through his life, words and deeds, Jesus showed that “perfection” can be attained when one totally conforms one’s life with the will of the Father. The will of the Father is summarized in the law of love (and forgiveness).
- Secondly, through Jesus death and resurrection.
We often think of Jesus’ death as having a redemptive (or saving) effect because somebody had to pay the price for the first sin. We imagine a stern Father who was offended by the sin of a child, and now the life of another child is being demanded to appease the anger of the Father. That is not the God that Jesus asks us to call “Abba, Father.”
I’d rather that you think of Jesus’ death as the consequence of his desire to conform to the will of the Father. Jesus mission is to preach the Kingdom of love and forgiveness – “for this purpose, I was sent” (Luke 4:43). This mission entailed much risks since Jesus had to fight the thinking at that time of going to God by following the strict laws of Moses. As a consequence, he incensed the Pharisees, priests and authorities at that time. Jesus was against this conventional thinking because it presented God’s love as something one can earn, rather than one freely given. Jesus message was simply to accept God’s love and forgiveness by loving and forgiving others “as I” loved and forgave you.
Though death was a real possibility for Jesus, he went on to Jerusalem to proclaim the Kingdom of God the way he knew it to be: not one based on compliance with the law, but one based on love and forgiveness. As a consequence, he was crucified.
But Jesus showed that he had power over death. He resurrected, not just resuscitated, and transformed to a new reality.
Therefore, through his life, death and resurrection, Jesus accomplished the following:
- When God became part of humanity through Jesus, then all of humanity was also transformed. (The theological phrase is “creation is now Christologically-charged” or, as St. Paul would say, “Christ is in all”). It is now new creation.
- He showed us that perfect dependence on God’s will and love would entail sacrifice and even death, but the reward is life after death.
- He showed us what will happen eventually happen to us. Death is not our end. But we too will resurrect and be with the Father, just as Jesus did. He gave us a preview of what will happen.
Now, to answer your questions. Yes, Jesus saved us from sin and sins. Sin (singular) is the power of evil to resist and reject God’s love, and to turn towards our self instead of others. Sins (plural) are the individual sins you and I commit.
We are saved from sin (singular) because we now have the power to overcome selfishness and self-righteousness before God, and to turn towards others and be totally open to God’s love. We are saved from our sins (plural) because we know that no amount of sins can overcome God’s love, PROVIDED we turn to God and accept His love. There is nothing you can do to prevent God from loving you unless you yourself totally reject God’s love.
