Expert: Marco - 8/13/2011

Question
Hello, I wasn't sure which category these questions would go under, but perhaps you could please answer them for me.

I'm currently doing an assignment on what it means to be human, however this is such a broad question so to find this answer I need to understand the Christian origin and identity.

Firstly, Is the Christian creation story in Genesis meant to be taken literally or symbolically? If symbolically, would Christians believe in a scientific creation of the universe, ie. The Big Bang?

Is our purpose in life some ultimate goal set by God, or is it to satisfy our own individual fulfillment by setting personal goals? If it is set by God, then how would this ultimate goal be achieved?

If you could answer these questions it would be greatly appreciated.

Answer
Dear Kris,

catholics believe that a human being has a soul directly created by God.
The soul is an immaterial immortal element present in us; the soul has not a biological origin and identifies our own identity.
Humans differ from animals because they have an immortal rational soul, while animals have not such elelment. Through our soul, God gives us also a moral conscience, which implies a moral responsability for our choices.


Catholics believe that the Genesis represents only a symbolic account of creation, and it was written for primitive people, who had not sufficiently scientific knowledges to understand another kind of account.

The catholic Church teaches that God inspired the authors of the Bible with the purpose to teach us the spiritual and moral Truth, and not with the purpose to teach us science or history.

So, there is no conflict between the theory of evolution or the big ben theory and catholicism.
The theory of evolution in fact can be applied only the evolution of our biological organism, while what makes us humans is an unbiological element, the soul, and the soul cannot be the product of evolution.

As a phisicist, I can give you some scientific arguments supporting the existence of our soul as a trascendent immaterial element
The explanation of these aguments is rather long and Allexperts allows only to give short answers. You can find such arguments  in the following site

http://xoomer.alice.it/fedeescienza/englishnf.html

where  I analyse the incongruencies of the materialistic conception of the mind, on the basis of our present scientific knowledges about brain and matter.
This analysis points out how the laws of physics  prove that the   brain cannot generate consciousness, which existence implies  the presence in man of a unbiological/unmaterial element. The problem of consciousness is then strictly connected to the one of the existence of the soul and, consequently, the existence of God.
In the first article entitled “Mind and brain...” you can find a general discussion of the mind and brain problem from a scientific point of view.
In the second article entitled “Scientific contraddictions in materialism”
you  can find an explanation of the fundamental inconsistencies of  the  typical arguments used by materialists, such as the concept of emergent, macroscopic or holist property, complexity, information, etc.
In the section called “FAQ: answers to  visitors' questions” you can find the answer to many typical questions, such as "Are there any scientifically proved miracles?", "Does the existence of the universe imply the existence of God?", "Can science explain God?", "Can science establish which is the true religion?", "Can science explain consciousness in the future?", and many others.


>>>>Is our purpose in life some ultimate goal set by God, or is it to satisfy our own individual fulfillment by setting personal goals? If it is set by God, then how would this ultimate goal be achieved?


I think that the meaning of this earthly life is to learn to live a holy life, a life in the Truth, in the true Love and to abandon every kind of evil. Only living holy life we can the true happiness.
God loves us infinitely and He desires to lead each of us to the eternal life  and to the true happiness. God is the source of every true good, tryue love and true happiness, and we can reach the true happiness only when we are in communion with God; to be in communion with God is what we call to be in heaven.
God is perfectly Holy and Good and He cannot tolerate evil because evil is uncompatible with His good and holy nature.
So, we cannot be in communion with God as long as we are not completely purified from our sins and sanctified.
Our sanctifcation is necessary for us to go to heaven.
God desires to sanctify us, but He has given us a free-will, so God needs our consent in order to purify and sanctify us. God respects our choices and therefore God cannot santify those who do not want to be sanctified and purified, those who do not want to stop sinning, those who do not want to live a holy life.

Why did Jesus have to suffer on the Cross?

I think this is the most impostant question!

I believe that each of us needed know that God was willing to accept such a terrible suffering for us, in order to really trust God. Every man needed that proof of love, and God, who knew this, has accepted to give him what man consciously or unconsciously asked to Him. Jesus had to suffer and die that way to convince us about God's goodness and God's love towards us. It is man's obstinate distrust against God that has forced God to give man that proof of love, the proof he needed to trust God. By His death on the cross, Jesus destroys our distrust and our doubts, and He gives us the strength to believe in Him and trust Him. This means that each of us is personally responsible of Jesus ' sufferings and death. This distrust, this lack of faith in God is just the essence of the original sin. Christ's Passion has reconciled us to God because it has uprooted from our heart, our distrust and doubts about God; it has satisfied our (conscious or unconscious) desire and need of a proof of love, so that it has given us the strength to trust God and feel loved by Him. I can summarize my thoughts as follows: Salvation implies a deep change of ourselves. God has the power to change us but He wants to do that with our consent. Man cannot really accept to be changed by God and he cannot be in comunion with God as long as even a shadow of doubt and distrust remains in his heart ( it must be stressed that such a distrust may exist even without the man is aware of it, at the unconscious level). God had to destroy every shadow of doubt and distrust in our heart and He has chosen to give us the greatest proof of love that may exist: Christ's Passion.


Your brother in Christ,

Marco