It has become commonplace for people to work from home and shop online – deliveries are made by Amazon. We greet our neighbors at a six-foot distance without the warmth of a handshake, smile behind a mask and visit our friends and family via ZOOM. Is this a ‘New Normal’ that will be with us for some time?
When God first created the world and the progenitors of humanity, he said it was “very good.” (Gen 1:31) His children were “naked and unashamed.” There was tranquility, no need for a savior and no need for religion. Believers regard that state as God’s “Original Normal.”
As the story is told, when our first ancestors then deviated from God’s “Original Normal,” they created the first ‘New Normal.’ Now, with the world of COVID upon us, we seem to have established the latest in a long string of “New Normals.” Shall we just continue acclimating ourselves to one ‘New Normal’ after another, ad infinitum, drifting ever further away from God’s ‘Original Normal?
How do you react to the belief that there was an “Original Normal” as God planned and intended, and then a “fall” at the beginning of humankind, causing a fundamental departure from that original state?
Assuming the so-called “fall from grace” as symbolically described in the Bible did actually happen, what might the “Original Normal” have looked like and evolved into had there been no deviation?
Beyond the obvious “nakedness” aspect, in what other significant ways do you think our “Normal” today may be different from the pre-fall “Normal” of the Genesis story?
Please share your thoughts below.
In my late teens, I struggled with the feeling that I was a selfish person, and that I only looked at other people as a means to my own satisfaction, not theirs. I felt that this conflict between my impluses and my conscience were a symptom of some flaw between what I was designed to be and what my thoughts and actions revealed; something very different. This contradiction felt anything but ‘normal’. I believed that there must be an ‘original normal’ that I had not discovered or understood. This lead me to study religion, which gave me some answers and allowed me to pinpoint the struggle in my heart. I have not become a saint, but I believe I have improved my character by developing and living a faith-based life guided by virtuous goals.I believe our ‘original mind’, or conscience, can guide us to make good decisions, if we are… Read more »