Page 34 - AECA.org.uk ¦ Koinonia 68
P. 34

The  most  significant  consequence  of  Adam’s  Fall  is  spiritual death,
       closely related  with a  breakdown in relationships.  Physical death is different,
       present in  creation  from  an earlier time and  connected  with angelic/demonic
       corruption. This leads us to a consideration of Men’s understanding of creation
       and interpretation of Genesis 1.
       B. Creation, Cosmic and Angelic Fals
       We shall now discuss evolution  as the motivating factor in  positing a Cosmic
       Fall, then the relationship between Cosmic and Angelic Falls in Men’s writings
       and lectures.
            Evolution  is  a  reality that cannot be avoided.  Men  describes it in  the
       following  terms:  ‘Even  an  uneducated  person,  if  he  examines  carefully  the
       fossilised bones and imprints of ancient animals, will convince himself without
       difficulty  that  they  chased,  ran  away,  watched  out for  trouble,  and  ate  one
       another,  that they died  in  catastrophes  or from diseases, and  that they were
       armed  for defence or for attack...  And  the human  in  his turn, appeared  in  a
       world where the cries of struggle and pain were continually sounding out and
       where  blood  was  continually  poured  out,  where  every  second  death  carried
       away millions of living organisms’ . Men sees death as a universal principle not
                                   20
       only  for  living  organisms,  but  even  within  the  non-living  material  of  the
       universe, represented by its entropic processes.
            When  considering the created  universe Men tells us ‘Only a  blind man
       can  deny the rational   ordering  of  creation,  showing  itself  it its  orders  and
       structures, but on the other hand, no less blind is the one who does not see in
       the form of the universe beside the mark  of  Logos, the mark  of  chaos’ . The
                                                                    21
       universe  has  a  dual  nature,  divided  between  forces  of  chaos  that  result  in
       entropy and death and the order and structure of a rational Creator. This dual
       nature is reflected in Psalm 102: 25-26: ‘Long ago you laid the foundation of the
       earth,  and  the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you
       endure;  they will all wear out like a  garment. You change them like clothing,
       and  they  pass away’,  a  passage used  by Men  to  counterbalance the apparent
       conclusiveness  of  Gen  2:1  in  his  understanding  of  creation  as  an  ongoing
       process.
            If this duality is not to be explained in terms of the Fall of Adam and the
       curse on  the ground  (Gen  3:17),  then  Men  sees that an earlier Fall must have


       20  Men: Magicism and Monotheism, Appendix 8 Part 8
       21  Men: Magicism and Monotheism, Appendix 8 Part 9


                                       32
   29   30   31   32   33   34   35   36   37   38   39