The Gift of Original Blessing
Whether you are from a Christian, Jewish, or Muslim background
(or any faith tradition interested in receiving a blessing
wherever you can find one), the creation story found in the fist
chapter of Genesis is a life-affirming gift for all people,
whether you take the story literally or as powerful metaphor.
The Genesis 1 story invites us to believe that a creative,
energetic, loving God is at the heart of our world and all
creation. Amid the wonder of God's creating word and the beauty
of the created world, at the end of each day we are told that
God surveyed all that had been called into being and said, very
simply, "It is good!"
What a powerful statement! As the creative work unfolded, as
each new aspect of the world and universe came into its own, as
each creature and element first experienced its own existence,
God observed it, admired it, and praised it as acceptable and
desirable. This means, according to the story, that from the
from the very beginning of creation we can claim the concept of
original goodness, or as Episcopalian priest, scholar, and
author Matthew Fox describes it, "original blessing."
Wouldn't it be wonderful if that were the first concept we were
taught in church or in Sunday School as children? How different
might our world be if everyone were told, day after day - "You
are a child of God, created in the image of God, and you are
good!" instead of being told that we are inherently evil,
forever tainted by original sin? How might we treat one another,
and the rest of creation, if we believe we are good instead of
evil?
There is a school of thought in psychology which theorizes that
we become what we believe ourselves to be. If we are told from
the very moment we are born that we are evil, originally tainted
by sin and in need of redemption before we even take our first
step, that has a powerful impact on our psyche and future
behavior.
Christians, it seems, are uniquely familiar with the concept of
original sin, derived from an Augustinian interpretation of the
second and third chapters of Genesis, which forms the foundation
of the traditional Western Christian theology of "fall and
redemption." From a very young age, most Christians are taught
that God created man and woman, put them in the garden, and told
them that they could do anything they wanted to as long as they
never ate fruit from a particular tree. But temptation got the
better of them, as first the woman chose to disobey, and then
the man. Upon God's learning of their disobedience, they were
banished from the garden and forced to live outside of paradise,
as a punishment for their sin.
But does this story completely negate the original blessing we
receive from Genesis 1? And if not, how can we look at Genesis 2
and 3 through a different lens, the lens of original blessing
from Genesis 1?
Obviously the story of the Garden of Eden tells us a lot about
human nature. It reveals our curiosity, even our rebellious
possibilities. It illustrates the human phenomenon of exploring
beyond our good judgment and reason, experimenting with our free
will, desiring more than we need for our well being.
But are we compelled to infer that, because of this one event,
we are essentially evil creatures? Does it necessarily follow
that the prototypical Adam and Eve, in choosing to disobey God,
are the archetype for humanity, and that we are all heirs of
their original sin; that everyone born after them is tainted by
their symbolic actions?
Humans are capable of disobedience and sin, of course. We are
all in need of repentance and forgiveness at certain times in
our lives, certainly. But are we inherently evil and
unacceptable from the outset? Is that the only possible
conclusion to be reached from the Genesis story?
As the story is laid out, before the incident in the garden,
before humans chose to do expressly what God told them not to
do, before all of that - we have the original blessing of a God
who created all that is in the world, and human beings
explicitly, in God's own image. And when each day was over, God
blessed the creation as good.
It's a shame that the western Christian church has historically
ignored the preeminent event of original blessing and belabored
the disobedience and sin over all else. We've all heard about
original sin - but how many of us have ever been told about
original blessing? How often do we hear in church that, not only
are we created in the image of God, but that we are also called
"good" by that same Creator? Not often enough, that's for sure.
None of this is intended to deny sin - we all are capable of
causing harm to others, and to ourselves. My words are merely
intended to challenge the western church's preoccupation with
it. We are capable of evil; it would be ridiculous to deny that.
As human beings created with free will, we have the capacity to
do both good and evil. We can make divine or demonic choices -
just look around the world today and you'll see that's true.
But I do not believe that it is our inherent nature to be evil.
To claim otherwise is to misread Scripture and misunderstand the
creation story. First and foremost, we are good. God says so,
and invites us, even now, to behave according that original
blessing.