Daniel Chase13 said:It isn't that God imposed the burden; rather, Adam and Eve made a choice for themselves, and we essentially inherited that decision. Through their own free will—prompted by Satan—they separated us from God, handing ourselves and all of us over to the dominion of Satan (though that very same God, embodied in Jesus Christ, works to liberate us through baptism).
God doesn't just work to repair the damage within this world—He is personally preparing us for a perfect existence: a new heaven and a new earth. We will experience bodily resurrection and receive from God a flawless world where physical death, disharmony among creation, pain, infections, and other diseases won't exist. There will be no more dominance, no struggle for survival where the "fittest" prevail at the expense of others, no natural disasters, no imperfections, and so on.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church covers this beautifully in sections 1042 through 1050, and also in 1060.
Sure, that’s a great story, especially if you’re looking at it from the divine perspective.
>be omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, immortal, as old as time, and infinitely wise—basically everything, everywhere, all at once
>decide to create a paradise planet filled with various life forms just because you're bored. Because clearly, an omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, immortal, and infinitely wise God has this human need for excitement. It makes total sense that despite being infinite, you still deal with human impulses.
>create only one species with consciousness, but don't give them any actual knowledge about reality or the environment they live in (they're basically toddlers), and just tell them they have to obey you. That's it.
>let some evil wizard manipulate these naive children in adult bodies. And you, the omnipotent and infinitely wise God, allow it because you decided to "punish" him by giving him his own kingdom instead of, say, stripping him of all his power. I mean, logic.
>after this whole mess slips past an omniscient and omnipresent God, it’s perfectly logical to demonstrate infinite wisdom and mercy by dropping an eternal curse on an entire species of inferior intellect that you created yourself—an intellect that was manipulated by an incomparably superior and more intelligent evil wizard whom you also created.
>of course, nothing actually happened when Eve ate the "forbidden fruit," except that she bruised the incredibly fragile human ego of an omnipotent, omniscient, timeless, and infinitely wise God. So, you react with a furious "screw you" by hitting them with physical and emotional pain, plus endless diseases and disorders, just to make existence as difficult as possible because they dared—despite being infantile and incredibly naive—to fall for the manipulation of a much older and smarter evil wizard. Again, pure logic from someone infinitely wise and merciful.
>completely ignore the paradise planet, rename it Earth, and then build a new paradise exclusively for the crowd that will worship you and follow your rules. Because even God, despite being infinite, apparently has a human ego that needs constant stroking.
>curse the animal species, the snake, by taking away its limbs—even though it didn't have hands or feet to begin with. Totally logical. Just because the evil wizard took on their shape, even though snakes aren't responsible for anything. A perfect display of infinite wisdom and mercy.
