EXISTENCE

EXISTENCE

Progression:

· God (Trinity) ETERNAL EXISTENT

· God decides to open eternal happiness to new existents

· God creates Angels (immaterial beings with intellect and free will) before material universe as Good.

· God exists in perfect harmony with Angels (all creation)

· Fall of the Angels

o First temptation (consideration of an intellectual concept to possibly be implemented by free will) of immaterial beings with intellect and free will (pride)

o Some Angels, enamored by their own glory and power, led by Lucifer, the bearer of light, and perhaps the most glorious and powerful of angels, revolt against God, considering themselves equal to God and capable of defeating God and the other angels.

o Perhaps also tempted by the prospect of the Son of God becoming man.

o First sin of all immaterial created beings

o Lose the battle against God and the good Angels led by St. Michael

· Good and Bad Angels divided

· Beginning of Evil; first sin by Angels (any existent with intellect and free will created by God)

· Beginning of Hell (Bad Angels sent to Hell, a place separated from God)

· Separation of Heaven (God and Good Angels) and Hell (Lucifer and Bad Angels)

· CREATION of MATERIAL UNIVERSE to 2,000 BC (Genesis 1-11)

· Creation of Material Universe as Good (13.7 billion years ago)

· Creation of Earth as Good (4.5 billion years ago)

· Power of Satan allowed on Earth (presence of Evil)

· God creates Man: Adam and Eve: (material beings with intellect and free will) as Good

o 200,00 years ago (Homo Sapiens): Population: 2 Population throughout history

· God exists in perfect harmony with mankind

· Fall of Adam and Eve

o First temptation of material beings with intellect and free will (pride)

o Enamored of their own glory and power, tempted by Lucifer, to consider themselves equal to God, desiring the knowledge of good and evil.

o First sin of material beings

o First triumph of Lucifer on Earth

o Beginning of man’s fallen nature: inclination to evil

o Beginning of Temptation, Sin, and Evil on Earth (“lead us not into temptation , but deliver us from evil” can only happen in heaven away from the power of Lucifer (temptation) and evil (the rule of Satan on Earth) and the removal of all personal sin (forgiveness and redemption through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ)

o The mother of Jesus Christ, Mary of Nazareth, will crush the dead of Lucifer

· Mankind continues to sin

· God floods the Earth. All men perish except for Noah and his family

· God makes a covenant with Noah: “I will establish my covenant with you. That never again shall all bodily creatures be destroyed by the waters of a flood (Gn 9:11)

· Man continues to sin and is scattered at the Tower of Babel

Population 8,000 BC: 5 million

· PATRIARCHS (Genesis 12-50) 2,000 to 1700 BC (See also Job)

· Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, twelve tribes of Israel, migration to Egypt to the death of Joseph

· Covenant of circumcision

· EGYPT AND EXODUS (Exodus) 1700 -1280 BC (See also Leviticus)

· Moses leads the Israelites to the Promised Land

· Ten Commandments; Golden Calf

· DESERT WANDERINGS (Numbers) 1280-1240 BC (See also Deuteronomy)

· 40 years in the desert

· Law, challenges, worship, preparation to enter the Promised Land

· CONQUEST AND JUDGES (Joshua, Judges) 1240-1050 BC (See also Ruth)

· Joshua leads the battles for the settlement of Canaan

· Twelve military leaders (Judges) help the tribes to exist until the time of the Kings

· Major Judges: Othniel, Ehud, Barak, Gideon, Jephthah, Samson

· ROYAL KINGDOM (1 & 2 Samuel) 1050-930 BC (See also 1 & 2 Chronicles, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon)

· Prophet: Samuel

· Kings: Saul, David, Solomon

· DIVIDED KINGDOM (1 Kings) 930-722 BC (See also Amos, Jonah, Hosea, Isaiah, Micah)

· Israel (North), Judah (South) split

· EXILE (2 Kings) 722 – 538 BC (See also Tobit, Joel, Nahum, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Baruch, Daniel, Ezekiel, Judith, Lamentations, Obadiah)

· Israel’s exile by Assyria 722 BC; no return

· Judah’s exile by Babylon in three waves: 605 BC; 597 BC; 586-587 BC

· RETURN (Ezra, Nehemiah) 538-167 BC (See also: Zechariah, Haggai, Esther, Malachi)

· Judah returns

· MACCABEAN REVOLT (1 Maccabees) 167 BC – 1 AD (See also 2 Maccabees, Wisdom, Sirach)

· Jewish leaders revolt against Greek rule

· MESSIANIC FULFILLMENT (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) 1 – 33 AD

· Jesus Christ: birth, ministry, death, resurrection