Many Christians, Jews, Moslems and others have a
view that something happened at the dawn of human history,
recognizing that mankind lost its original direction and at a
certain point became corrupted and evil. In the numerous
and various explanations on the origin of evil and sin, throughout
the history of Judeo-Christianity theology, the interpretation
of the fall of the angels and the fall of Adam and
Eve in
sexual terms, is not completely new or exclusively
ours, as you probably know.
We find this line of interpretation in the writings
of some Jewish rabbis, mostly in the inter testamental period,
as well as in those of some early Church fathers and
ecclesiastical writers of the first centuries.
The following are several examples that I came across
when I did some research for the book "True Love &
Forbidden Love"
Clement of Alexandria in the second century wrote:
"... the
first man of our race did not await the appropriate
time, desiring the favour of marriage before the proper
hour and he fell into sin by not waiting the time of God's will...they
(Adam and Eve) were impelled to do it before the
normal time because they were still young and were persuaded
by deception." (On Marriage XIV:94, XVII:102-103).
Theophilus of Antioch and St. Irenaeus also considered Adam to be in a premature age when he violated the precept of abstaining from a sexual union with Eve, his future wife.
This was not because it was a wrong action, but because
it was inappropriate for their age.
This notion that the fall occurred in a period of
immaturity before they achieved perfection is also shared by
Peter Lombard, Hugo of St. Victor, Alexander of Hales,
St. Bonaventura, John Duns Scotus and others in the Franciscan
school.
Influenced by some apocryphal books of that period
and especially the Book of Enoch, the notion of a carnal
relationship between angels and women in the beginning
of
history was commonly accepted, particularly, in order
to
interpret verses 6:1-4 of Genesis. Tertullian (160-200)
called these fallen angels "Desertores Dei,
Amatores
Feminarum" - Deserters of God and lovers of
women.
Similar interpretations were maintained by St. Irenaeus,
Athenagoras, St. Athanasius, St. Ambrose, St. Jerome,
St.
Justin and others. However, those ambiguous and incomplete
analyses could not offer an effective solution to
the serious
problem of the original sin.
The "Ambrosiaster", a writing of the fourth
century
attributed for a long time to St. Ambrosius, but
now
considered to be an anonymous writing, is a little
more
specific on this topic:
"...Eve, the first woman, upon being corrupted,
lost her
virginity against the will of God and everything
that was
engendered by her appeared to be corrupted, starting
with
Cain, born of the first disobedience."
"...the devil used Eve to entangle Adam, making
him an
instrument in order to usurp the supreme sovereignty,
which
belongs only to God."
"...Adam the first and only man created and promoted by God to universal royalty, with the investiture of the divine image and likeness, accepted the devil's proposal to become like God, deflowering the virginity of his wife Eve, to whom the Lord God had promised the chaste conjugal love of a sacred marriage" (The Original Sin. Eleuterio Elorduy.
B.A.C. 1977, pp. 202, 208, 221)
The "Ambrosiaster" had a great influence
on St. Augustine in
his interpretation of the original sin. St. Augustine,
although he emphasized that the fall was primarily
due to the
sin of pride and disobedience, deserves our recognition
for
uncovering also the involvement of the sexual component,
as
well as his understanding that concupiscence is still
the
root of the present sinful state of man.
There is the interesting case of Mother Ann Lee Stanley,
who
officially founded the celibate Shakers. While being
imprisoned in 1770 in Manchester, England, she had
a vision
of Jesus Christ in which he graphically showed her
that, in
respect to the original sin, the sexual act was the
true act
of transgression committed by the first man and woman
in the
Garden of Eden. After this surprising experience,
she and her
followers settled down in celibate communities in
which they
lived together as brothers and sisters.
From ancient Jewish sources:
Rabbi Leo Jung, who made a careful study of the Jewish,
Christian and Islamic literature on the fall, maintains
that
all the stories that speak of the adultery of the
"serpent"
with Eve have some foundation in the Jewish tradition.
(L.Jung, Fallen Angels in Jewish, Christian and Mohammedan
Literature. 1974, pp 69-78)
We find in the Talmud in Abot de Rabbi Nathan from
the second
century: "At that time the wicked Serpent considered
in his
heart and said - since I am unable to cause Adam
to fall, I
shall go and cause Eve to fall - He went, sat beside
her and
talked much with her... What did the wicked serpent
plan at
that moment? He thought, I shall go and slay Adam
and marry
his wife, and I shall be king over all the world
and shall go
about proudly and shall enjoy royal pleasures."
Similarly, professor F. R. Tennant of Cambridge University,
who made an extensive study of the fall, comments:
"It is
beyond question...that various stories concerning
the
monstrous sexual intercourse of Adam and Eve with
demons, and
especially Eve with the serpent or Satan, were both
widespread and ancient among the Jews. (F.R. Tennant,
The
Sources of the Doctrines of the Fall and Original
Sin,
Schocken, NY 1968, pp 156)
What is so remarkable about these new revelations,
presented
now by Rev. Sun Myung Moon, that corroborate the
same views
mentioned in the past, is the fact that they don't
appear as
a mere biblical interpretation or as a study of similar
theological interpretations, but rather Rev. Moon
proclaims
with absolute conviction and great authority that
these are
new divine revelations, received as the result of
a direct
and intense search in the reality of the Spirit World.
Secondly, these revelations, illuminate and deepen
with
precise detail, for the first time, the motivation,
process,
consequences and solution to this first crime or
original sin
which affected us so deeply and continues to affect
us,
tragically drawing man and woman in the direction
of illicit
love. Unfortunately, we have to recognize that deep
in man's
heart exists a powerful inclination or tendency to
seek an
illicit or forbidden love.
Best regards. ITL
Jesus G.
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Jesus Gonzalez
Ave. 19 de Abril # 3460
Montevideo Uruguay
Tel: 598 2 379396
Fax: 598 2 378985
E-mail: jegonzal@adinet.com.uy
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