OTHCC Chapter 19: items 361 - 380

The Old Testament in the Heart of the Catholic Church < > All Chapters

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The Holy Father and the bishops teach [CCC 57] that humanity now experiences a disunity that

a.   is limited to isolated circumstances.
b.   is not as significant as once thought.
c.   man's powers can not overcome.

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The Holy Father and the bishops teach [CCC 56] that the disunity humanity now experiences

a.   assists God in his efforts to save men.
b.   does not limit God's ability to save men.
c.   limits God's ability to save men.

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Some people have said that God has to make humanity unified before he can save it. Thus the actual salvation of actual people (such as yourself) is just pretend or vicarious, since only a perfect, completely unified humanity at the end of time can be saved. The Holy Father and bishops say [CCC 55-56] that this idea

a.   is not true.
b.   is true.
c.   might be true.

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God seeks to save the real, only partially united world that you live in right now. The Catechism plainly states that God ''at once'' sought to save the shattered world right in the middle of its disunity, ''part by part.'' [CCC 56] God is stronger than death itself. He is certainly stronger than any amount of human disunity. He saves real men - like you - in the real world of human disunity. <<

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A serious implication of the Fall, which is shown by Babel, is that human unity

a.   can now only be partial.
b.   is completely destroyed.
c.   is forever beyond man.

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Even after the Fall, humanity does not evaporate into total disunity. Human unity, and thus humanity itself, is wounded but not annihilated by the Fall. God saves ''part by part'' - because there are still ''parts'' to save. These are the ''nations'' - real but partial unions of humanity.

As Babel shows, even consciously apart from God and by himself, fallen man is at least partially conscious of his need for unity. The men of Babel wish to build, ''lest we be scattered.'' [Gen 11:4] Moreover, Babel shows that fallen men clearly have enough power to build a city of partial unity by themselves. <<

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Babel shows that

a.   the achievements of a society that has turned from God are not real.
b.   an impressive society with real achievements is faithful to God.
c.   an impressive society with real achievements may not be faithful to God.

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Babel shows that

a.   the unity of a society that has turned from God is not real.
b.   an impressive society with real unity is faithful to God.
c.   an impressive society with real unity may not be faithful to God.

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You will probably spend your life in a technologically-advanced society, either in the United States, Europe or the Far East. Because Christianity has (so far) never been more than a minority religion in nearly all Far Eastern countries, and because some historians have begun to call the structure of society in the United States and Europe (especially Europe) ''post-Christian,'' the following ideas may prove to be valuable to you.

Some devout Catholics even today are shocked at the success of societies that seem remarkably uninterested in knowing Christ, or that actively reject him. These people have missed one of Babel's obvious implications: fallen men, even fallen men who want to be gods, still possess real power to build a city of partial unity by themselves.

Babel did not collapse the instant men started to build it without God. Thus, some ''part'' of fallen humanity (one of ''the nations'') may possess real knowledge, real power, and even real unity, and yet not necessarily be moving closer to Christ. >>

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Moreover, especially within the context of the story, Babel is clearly the most remarkable, most successful, and most unified human society ever known. Thus, Babel does not teach that mere men can predict just how successful or unified a society can become without God. Such a society may indeed become the greatest, most wonderful, and most unified society man has ever seen.

However, Babel also teaches that whenever man tries to build a city of unity without union with Christ's Body and without joining Christ on his Cross, then man eventually will neglect and abandon even the partial unity that he truly can accomplish: ''They left off building the city.'' [Gen 11:8] >>

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In CCC 845, the bishops and the Holy Father teach that man's disunity can ultimately be overcome, but only by the free union of humanity with the Son of God and with his Bride and Body, the Catholic Church. God will not force this union on even one man, but this union is nonetheless the only way humanity will no longer be ''scattered.'':

''To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son's Church. The Church is the place where humanity must rediscover its unity and salvation. The Church is 'the world reconciled.' She is that bark which 'in the full sail of the Lord's cross, by the breath of the Holy Spirit, navigates safely in this world.' According to another image dear to the Church Fathers, she is prefigured by Noah's ark, which alone saves from the flood.''

The tower of Babel may be just a story, but it is a story about grown-ups, for grown-ups, about the Fall, sin, the Son of God and his Cross, the Catholic Church, and the reality - but also the limits - of human powers and yearnings. The older you get, the more meaning it will have. <<

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Read Gen 12:1-8. God calls Abram

a.   from his country, his kindred, and his father's house.
b.   in the context of his times, his family, and his country.
c.   while allowing him to choose whom to take with him.

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Abram was called by God

a.   beyond the reality he knew.
b.   in place of the reality he knew.
c.   to reject the reality he knew.

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The Catechism teaches [CCC 59] that God called Abraham

a.   because of his anger at humanity's sins.
b.   to create a nation more powerful than the rest.
c.   to gather together scattered humanity.

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Read Gen 17: 1-14. In [CCC 59], the Holy Father and the bishops teach that God makes a covenant with Abram, and makes him Abraham, that is,

a.   ''the father of a multitude of nations.''
b.   ''the father of the one and only nation.''
c.   ''the glory and victory of the nations.''

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Read Gen 12:3 and note that in Abraham, all the nations of the earth

a.   shall be blessed.
b.   shall be doomed.
c.   shall be Jewish.

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In Gen 12:3 God promises that in Abraham's progeny (Abraham's descendant or descendants) all the nations of the earth will be blessed. In CCC 706, the Holy Father and bishops profess that ''This progeny will be Christ himself.''

Just as the Catholic Church sees the Word of God there when ''In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,'' [Gen 1:1] she sees God's promise to Abraham fulfilled in Jesus, whom the Church professes as the Christ, the Messiah of Israel, for in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed. <<

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First, you need to realize that the name ''Isaac'' means ''laughter.'' Next, you need to know that Isaac was Abraham's son, by whom God kept his promise to Abraham to give him offspring. Now you can have a little laugh when you read Gen 18:1-15 (yes, now).

Actually, the preceding sentence was also a little joke. Gen 18:12-15 says in effect that Sarah had a little ''laugh'' - and of course, she did! In this way, God had the last laugh, and when God has the last laugh, everyone else is also delighted. On the serious side, the meaning [CCC 706] is that God keeps his promise to Abraham

a.   against all human hope.
b.   as Abraham knew he would.
c.   by Abraham's powers.

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The Holy Father and bishops in communion with him teach in CCC 60 that the people descended from Abraham would

a.   be the sole recipients of the promise God made.
b.   be the trustees of the promise God made.
c.   not be true recipients of the promise God made.

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''Trustees'' are

a.   the one and only true owners of something precious.
b.   those who can not receive or possess something precious.
c.   those who preserve and take care of something precious.

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