HUMAN BEING

a) Creation and Evolution
b) Material and Spirit
c) Body and Soul
d) Equality
e) Dignity
f) Happiness
_________________________________

a) Creation and Evolution

        In the beginning, God created heaven and Earth. God created everything from nothing, with wisdom and kindness, and he entrusted it all to mankind, whom he created, in his own image and likeness and to whom he revealed his divine will.

        Before this, God had created a great army of angels (only spiritual beings) to guard over his children, mankind, on their pilgrimage on the earth.

        Apart from creation, God also gave everything the capacity to evolve. However, evolution only takes place in material creatures, and never in the spiritual soul, which is created for each individual by God himself.

b) Material and Spirit

        In this world which God created we can see that there are multitudes of things that we can see and touch (the senses, instincts, feelings…). They are the material things that God left mankind to enjoy and use.

        Nonetheless, God also created another series of spiritual things (which we can’t see or touch, but we can feel), which don’t end on this world, and which reveal the great dignity man has within. Joy, intelligence, art, languages… these are what make man far different from the rest of the lower anthropoids and monkeys.

c) Body and Soul

        Man, in terms of a human person, is composed of two entirely different elements, which are the following:

-the Body. This is the material part of the person (nails, eyes, ankles…), which is born, grows, reproduces and ends up dying and decomposing;

-the Soul. This is the spiritual (divine) part of the person, which is created by God Himself for each individual person, and which is unique and different. The soul isn’t born, doesn’t grow, doesn’t reproduce and doesn’t end up dying or decomposing. It will return to God, and will decide its own form and destiny.

d) Equality

        In the beginning, God saw that it wasn’t good for man to be alone. So he decided to create a woman as a suitable companion to help this man he had created, and so that the man could take care of the earth.

        Men and women are equal in terms of having the same rights and the same opportunities (studies, family, work…), even when they are from different cultures, creeds or ages.

        And they are different in terms of their different functions, psychology and what they are like, and they need to complement and enrich each other.

e) Dignity

        In the beginning, God formed man from the dust of the earth, and he communicated "His spirit" to this man. This spirit which God placed into man was in his own image and likeness.

        Having God’s image means having the same shape, all of his same qualities and under no circumstances should we lose this privilege.

        This image of God can:

-increase, by doing good deeds, his will;
-decrease, by d
oing bad deeds, going against his will.

f) Happiness

        From the beginning, man has had an unlimited desire for happiness. This happiness which man has always wished for must be based on:

-using things properly (God let us enjoy everything except for what he forbade),
-a total respect for what isn’t ours (everyone has the right to enjoy everything).

        However, happiness in this world can only be achieved in a bittersweet way and only relatively, because only in the other world can we find the flip side of the coin which we are still unable to understand here on Earth.

 

Mercaba Eds 
Diocese of Cartagena-Murcia 
General Diagram of Mercaba's You
th Catechism