MAN’S SEARCH FOR GOD

(Man’s Needs for Salvation)

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:
At the end of the lesson, the student can;
Doctrine: Relate Church’s teaching on the original sin

Morals: Demonstrate ways to fight and combat sins

Worship: Write and pray a prayer for strength against temptation and sin

THINK ABOUT THIS (Engage)

DISCERN ABOUT THIS: (Explore)

GIVE DETAILS ABOUT THIS: (Explain)

MAN’S SEARCH FOR GOD

(Man’s need for salvation)

Why man needs God?

I. Man’s religious impulse (Man is a religious being)

The desire for God is written in the human heart, because man is created by God and for God; and God never
ceases to draw man to himself. Only in God will he find the truth and happiness he never stops searching for.
(CCC 27)

Action of God:
 God has placed a desire for himself in every person.
 God draws man to himself and facilitates man's search.

How?
 Gen. 1:27 God created man in His image and likeness
 Gen. 2:7 God breathe man into his nostrils the breath of life

Consequence:
 Acts 17:26-27 "God made all peoples that they would search for him"
 Man seeks ultimate happiness, which is found in God alone
 In many ways, throughout history down to the present day, men have given expression to their quest for
God in their religious beliefs and behavior: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations, and so forth.
These forms of religious expression, despite the ambiguities they often bring with them, are so universal that
one may well call man a religious being. (CCC 28) In sum: This is man’s religious impulse

"You have made us for yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in you" (St. Augustine).

Man’s Call:
 Man is called to speak with God and be in communion with him

Does man has the capacity to be in communion with God?

Created in God's image and called to know and love him, the person who seeks God discovers
certain ways of coming to know him. (CCC 31 - 35)
 The order and beauty of creation
 openness to truth and beauty
 sense of moral goodness,
 freewill and the voice of his conscience
 longings for the infinite and for happiness
 man can come to know that there exists a reality which is the first cause and final end of all
things, a reality "that everyone calls God".

Man's faculties make him capable of coming to a knowledge of the existence of a personal God.
But for man to be able to enter into real intimacy with him, God willed both to reveal himself to man and to
give him the grace of being able to welcome this revelation in faith. (Revelation and Faith)

 Man is called to freely accept God's friendship

God tested man:

Gen. 2:15-17 - God's command to Adam (not to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil)
shows symbolically that man had to acknowledge his limits as a creature and submit
his behavior to God's laws.

Man Sinned against God:

Gen. 3:1-24 - Man set aside his trust in God and disobeyed. Man rebelled against his status as a
creature. Man chose to be like God "without God and not in accordance with God"
(St. Maximus).

II. Man’s Fall

It is considered as “a fall from grace” brought about by sin as Adam chose to disobey God’s command.

Man’s nature (strength and limitation)

 Original grace and holiness - Gen 1:26-31
Man was created with an original grace and holiness. God shared his entire creation with Adam even giving
him dominion over all other creatures

 Simple command for man to obey – Gen. 1:16-17

 “The LORD God gave the man this order: You are free to eat from any of the trees of the garden except the
tree of knowledge of good and evil. From that tree you shall not eat; when you eat from it you shall die.”

Man’s preference of Himself over God (The sin of our first parents)
This is the essence of all sin as demonstrated when Adam chose to disobey God and eat from the tree in the
middle of the garden after Eve was tempted by the serpent. (Gen. 3:1-12)

Adam and Eve were given the free choice to love and serve God. God gave us the ability to love God freely
(free will) because true love is one that is not forced.

With this ability to choose, mankind has chosen not to love God. This brought forever change to humanity,
bringing sin into the world and man inherited this fallen nature

Consequence
- loss of original holiness
- Man’s relationship with God is broken
- Man’s relationship with others is shattered
- Creation became hostile to man
- death made its entrance into human history. "

This inheritance is what we call “original sin”

Original Sin
is the sin inherited by all humankind from Adam in his disobedience of God’s command not to eat from the fruit of
the Tree of Knowledge. The Original Sin event is referred to as “The Fall of Man.”

Adam's sin has been transmitted to all at birth.

We do not exactly know how this "original sin" is transmitted. Adam and Eve were supposed to transmit original
holiness and justice to everyone. In their "fallen state" they could only pass on a human nature deprived of
original holiness and justice. Therefore, original sin differs from other sins. It is contracted (a state) not committed
(an act).

By original sin, we are deprived of original holiness and justice. Human nature is not totally corrupted but is
wounded in its natural powers. It is subject to ignorance, sin, and death, and has an inclination to evil (called
"concupiscence").

Baptism erases original sin and turns the person back to Christ. However, the inclination to sin that persists
requires that man be in a constant, spiritual battle

In summary, the symptoms of original sin demonstrate our need for God. Original sin is the loss of original holiness
and justice due to Adam's sin. As a result, man is alienated from God and also other men. Man has a wounded
nature inclined towards evil. Hence, MAN NEEDS GOD FOR SALVATION.

WORK ABOUT THIS: (Evaluation)

References:

Beeman, P. (2008). God in Search of Man | Catholic Answers. Retrieved from https:// www. catholic.
com/ magazine/print-edition/god-in-search-of-man

The Mary Foundation. (1996). Man's Capacity for God. Retrieved from https://catholicity. com/
catechism/ man's_capacity_for_god.html

The Mary Foundation. (1996). Original Sin. Retrieved from https://catholicity.com/ catechism/original_
sin. html

About Catholicts. (2001). The Original Sin. Retrieved from http://www.aboutcatholics.com/beliefs/the-

original-sin/

Catholic News Agency. Original Sin. Retrieve from https://www. catholicnewsagency. com/resources/
apologetics/salvation/original-sin

Mirus, J. (2017). Original Sin: Why is it really and why does it matter?. Retrieved from https://www.
catholic culture.org/commentary/articles.cfm?id=720