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Dear Friends of the Kolbe Center,
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
A few years ago, a high-ranking churchman with a reputation for being traditional took part in a televised debate with Richard Dawkins. The debate took a drastic turn when the churchman announced that:
Adam and Eve are terms that mean 'life' and 'earth'. Like an Everyman. It's a beautiful, sophisticated, mythological account. It's not science. But it's there to tell us two or three things. First of all that God created the world and universe. Secondly that the key to the whole universe is humans. And thirdly it's a very sophisticated mythology to try to explain the evil and the suffering in the world....It's a religious story told for religious purposes.
In reality, as those who have studied the material on the Kolbe website understand, it is evolution that provides a very sophistical mythology to explain the origin of man and the universe. But Dawkins, a devout believer in that mythology, showed himself better able than the high-ranking churchman to recognize the fundamental importance of Adam and Eve when he replied to the above comment by asking:
Ah, well, I'm curious to know, if Adam and Eve never existed, where did Original Sin come from?
The answer, of course, is that, if Adam and Eve never existed as the first parents of all mankind in a state of original holiness, then the god of theistic evolution created man with the same fallen nature that he has today or in a condition in which man's fall into his present condition was inevitable. In the theistic evolutionary system, god is always the author of evil, including the natural evils of death, deformity and disease, and thus it makes no sense for Our Lord Jesus Christ to have assumed a human nature so that He could bear the punishment that our first father Adam justly incurred for his sin.
For those who have attended the liturgical services for Holy Week and Easter this blasphemy ought to be especially repulsive, because of the continual reminders these liturgies give us of the original holiness of Adam and Eve and of the original beauty and harmony of the first created world. Indeed, if all Catholics upheld the principle of "Lex orandi, lex credendi," "the law of praying is the law of believing," as we are bound to do, it would be impossible for anyone in the Church to deny the historical reality and original holiness of Adam and Eve.
Throughout the liturgical year, but especially from the beginning of Lent until Easter, the Sacred Liturgy continually reminds us that Adam and Eve are real historical people, created in an exalted state of holiness. It does this through the liturgical prayers and through the sacred icons which teach in accordance with the Word of God. In the Office of Readings on Holy Saturday for Catholics of the Roman Rite, an ancient homily provides a beautiful example of this.
Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still, because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled.
Truly he goes to seek out our first parent like a lost sheep; he wishes to visit those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death. He goes to free the prisoner Adam and his fellow-prisoner Eve from their pains, he who is God, and Adam's son.
The Lord goes in to them holding his victorious weapon, his cross. When Adam, the first created man, sees him, he strikes his breast in terror and calls out to all: 'My Lord be with you all.' And Christ in reply says to Adam: 'And with your spirit.' And grasping his hand he raises him up, saying: 'Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light.
'I am your God, who for your sake became your son, who for you and your descendants now speak and command with authority those in prison: Come forth, and those in darkness: Have light, and those who sleep: Rise.
'I command you: Awake, sleeper, I have not made you to be held a prisoner in the underworld. Arise from the dead; I am the life of the dead. Arise, O man, work of my hands, arise, you who were fashioned in my image. Rise, let us go hence; for you in me and I in you, together we are one undivided person.
'For you, I your God became your son; for you, I the Master took on your form; that of slave; for you, I who am above the heavens came on earth and under the earth; for you, man, I became as a man without help, free among the dead; for you, who left a garden, I was handed over to Jews from a garden and crucified in a garden.
'Look at the spittle on my face, which I received because of you, in order to restore you to that first divine inbreathing at creation. See the blows on my cheeks, which I accepted in order to refashion your distorted form to my own image.
'See the scourging of my back, which I accepted in order to disperse the load of your sins which was laid upon your back. See my hands nailed to the tree for a good purpose, for you, who stretched out your hand to the tree for an evil one.
`I slept on the cross and a sword pierced my side, for you, who slept in paradise and brought forth Eve from your side. My side healed the pain of your side; my sleep will release you from your sleep in Hades; my sword has checked the sword which was turned against you.
'But arise, let us go hence. The enemy brought you out of the land of paradise; I will reinstate you, no longer in paradise, but on the throne of heaven. I denied you the tree of life, which was a figure, but now I myself am united to you, I who am life. I posted the cherubim to guard you as they would slaves; now I make the cherubim worship you as they would God.
"The cherubim throne has been prepared, the bearers are ready and waiting, the bridal chamber is in order, the food is provided, the everlasting houses and rooms are in readiness; the treasures of good things have been opened; the kingdom of heaven has been prepared before the ages."
The icons of the Harrowing of Hell on Holy Saturday teach the same truth about Adam's historical existence and his special importance in God's sight. In them we see that Adam and Eve are not only as real as St. Moses, St. David, and the other great saints of the Old Testament; they are the very first of the patriarchs to be rescued from the Limbo of the Just and taken to Paradise.
Wishing you a most blessed Easter season, I am
Yours in Christ through Immaculata,
Hugh Owen
P.S. For a beautiful exposition of the teaching of St. Thomas Aquinas on the original perfection of our first parents, please see Fr. Thomas Crean's paper on that topic from our symposium on the Special Creation of Adam and Eve as the Foundation of the Church's Teaching on Holy Marriage.
P.P.S. We are almost completely out of room for our regional leaders retreat June 14-19 at Immaculate Conception Abbey in Conception, Missouri. If you are interested in attending, please contact me right away.
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Latest Products from the Kolbe Center:
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Douay-Rheims Bible (Quality Paperbound)
The Douay-Rheims Version of the Holy Bible, translated between the years 1582 and 1610 and revised by Bishop Richard Challoner from 1749-1752, is the most accurate English translation of the Bible available today. It was the only Catholic translation of Scripture commonly in use for over 200 years and we maintain that it is still the best and safest version of the Bible in English. Translated with profound respect for every word, the beautiful style of the Douay-Rheims Bible will instill in the reader a deeper understanding of the Word of God. Annotations, references and an historical and chronological index make it convenient for study as well as meditation. Item No. SB2056 Paperbound.
$25.00
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Evolution Devolution Science by Maciej Giertych - E-Book (PDF)
In Evolution Devolution Science, Dr. Maciej Giertych demonstrates that the molecules-to-man evolution hypothesis is not only wrong; it is the opposite of the truth, as everything in the biosphere is devolving from an original, highly-ordered state, to a less organized condition, through the very process of mutation that evolutionists have wrongly identified as the engine of evolutionary development. The content of the book summarizes the proceedings of a conference held at the European Parliament on October 11th, 2006, on the teaching of the theory of evolution in European schools.
$5.00
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GENESIS AND CREATION is a short catechesis on the Catholic doctrine of creation, based on the work by Fr. Victor Warkulwiz, THE DOCTRINES OF GENESIS 1-11. In the foreword to that work Bishop Robert F. Vasa wrote: "Today the Catholic Church has well-developed theologies of redemption and sanctification but no well-developed theology of creation. That is because so many of her influential thinkers have abandoned the sound creation theology of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and have embraced instead the false principles of evolutionism." He went on to commend Fr. Warkulwiz for his "accurate, thorough, and readable answers...to many questions about origins that perplex the modern Catholic." He commends this present work for the same reasons.
$5.00
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GENESIS AND CREATION is a short catechesis on the Catholic doctrine of creation, based on the work by Fr. Victor Warkulwiz, THE DOCTRINES OF GENESIS 1-11. In the foreword to that work Bishop Robert F. Vasa wrote: "Today the Catholic Church has well-developed theologies of redemption and sanctification but no well-developed theology of creation. That is because so many of her influential thinkers have abandoned the sound creation theology of the Fathers and Doctors of the Church and have embraced instead the false principles of evolutionism." He went on to commend Fr. Warkulwiz for his "accurate, thorough, and readable answers...to many questions about origins that perplex the modern Catholic." He commends this present work for the same reasons.
$3.00
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In this translation of Helmut Posch's important work on the writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen on creation, biophysicist Dr. Dean H. Kenyon shows that this Benedictine nun and Doctor of the Church was shown the workings of the solar system on the same pattern as that conceived by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, the greatest astronomer of his age, several hundred years before him. Dr. Kenyon's translation goes on to show that this Hildegardian conception of the universe actually explains the astronomical data better than the alternative models of the solar system that have been in fashion for the last few hundred years, while restoring man and the Earth to their rightful place in God's plan for Creation.
$10.00
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In this translation of Helmut Posch's important work on the writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen on creation, biophysicist Dr. Dean H. Kenyon shows that this Benedictine nun and Doctor of the Church was shown the workings of the solar system on the same pattern as that conceived by the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe, the greatest astronomer of his age, several hundred years before him. Dr. Kenyon's translation goes on to show that this Hildegardian conception of the universe actually explains the astronomical data better than the alternative models of the solar system that have been in fashion for the last few hundred years, while restoring man and the Earth to their rightful place in God's plan for Creation.
$5.00
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A Catholic Assessment of Evolution Theory (E-Book - PDF) explains how the evolutionary claims commonly taught in high school and college textbooks are discredited in the scientific literature. The case is set forth that, based on permanent Catholic doctrine, it is impermissible to depart from the special creation of mankind and to embrace various types of theistic evolution.
$10.00
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The discovery of soft tissue and proteins in dinosaur fossils directly challenges the evolutionary timescale and confirms the chronology of Earth's history provided by the "sacred history of Genesis."
You can view a preview of this book in the product description here. You can also order the book from the Kolbe web store!
$6.00
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Spike Psarris was previously an engineer in the United States' military space program. He entered that program as an atheist and an evolutionist, but his study of astronomy made him a believer in creation and led him to become a Christian.
You can view a preview of his DVD here. You can also order the DVD from the Kolbe web store
$15.00
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PDF of Proceedings for "The Two Shall Become One": The Creation of Adam and Eve as the Foundation of the Church's Teaching on Holy Marriage, September 26, 2015, Congressi Cavour Roma (near Termini Station), Via Cavour 50/A - Rome, Italy
$10.00
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