Salvation History
Noah – a Beautiful Promise of the Covenant
Noah’s flood is another story that is often caricatured into a children’s story. Yet, the story of the Flood is filled with meaning. The Flood shows what happens when humanity chooses to live without God’s limits. God’s law establishes order in the universe, and in the human heart. When God removed His limits from Creation,…
Read MoreThe Seven Days of Creation
Debates surrounding the Creation story typically focus on whether or not the Biblical account of creation coincides with a scientific understanding of the origins of the world. Such a focus loses the point of the first stories of Genesis. These stories are not written as scientific accounts, and were never understood as such even by…
Read MoreKings & Prophets – God Brings the Covenant to the World
The wish of the Hebrew people to have a king actually constituted an act of defiance and a lack of trust. God was supposed to be their king. However, the people did not trust that God would protect them. They wanted to be like all of the other peoples around them who had kings and…
Read MoreThe Fall – the Covenant Broken but Not Destroyed
Adam and Eve broke the covenantal relationship of love with God. However, the broken covenant did not mean that God stopped loving us. From the very beginning of the Fall God’s love is revealed as mercy. For example, it is a plausible understanding of the Genesis story that God gave Adam and Eve the chance…
Read MoreAdam and Eve – Original Man
What was life like in Eden before Original Sin? Pope John Paul II calls the state of human nature before it was damaged by original sin “Original Man.” Original Man was characterized by a number of important qualities. Adam and Eve Enjoyed Original Justice The human personality was in harmony. There were no unfulfillable desires…
Read MoreAbraham – God Begins to Bring Humanity Back to the Covenant
Even though humanity had given up on the Covenant, God never has. The rest of Salvation History is the story of God gently calling us back to the Divine Family by teaching us how to trust, obey and love Him. God takes the first step with a man named Abaram. The main lesson that god…
Read MoreMoses – God Teaches His People How to Love
The promises of the covenant with Abraham were to unfold through history. As his descendents grew, God took care of them. He sent Joseph to Egypt through the jealousy of his brothers to help the Hebrew people survive a great famine. While in Egypt, Abraham’s descendents did indeed multiply. They grew so numerous that the…
Read More