HRE 101: Unit #2 Creation, Decreation, Recreation Review

Comprehensive vocabulary review flashcards for HRE 101 Unit #2 covering Creation Stories, Decreation, and Recreation.

Day (according to St. Peter)

A period equivalent to a thousand years, illustrating that God's perception of time transcends human 24-hour days.

Genesis (literary form)

A myth or symbolic religious narrative written to communicate theological truths about God and creation rather than scientific or historical data.

Historical truth in creation stories

The creation accounts are not read by Catholics as literal historical or scientific truth, but as religious and theological truth.

Number 40 (Noah)

A biblical symbol representing a period of trial, testing, preparation, or purification, such as the 40 days and nights of rain during the flood.

Day of human creation (first creation story)

The sixth day, on which God creates human beings in His own image and likeness after creating plants and animals.

Seventh day of creation

The day on which God rests from His work of creation and blesses it as holy, establishing the Sabbath.

Order of creation: light vs. sun/moon

Light is created first on Day 1, whereas the sun and the moon are created later on Day 4.

God's command to Adam and Eve

The divine instruction in the second creation story prohibiting eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, warning that doing so results in death.

Tree of knowledge of good and evil

The forbidden tree situated in the middle of the garden of Eden.

Free will in the garden

Demonstrated when God establishes a command and permits Adam and Eve the choice to obey or disobey, proving He values voluntary human choice.

Evolution and creation

Catholics can accept both evolution and creation, affirming that faith and science are compatible and that God created and guides the evolutionary universe.

Sin

A deliberate offense against reason, truth, and right conscience, and a failure in genuine love for God and neighbor through thought, word, deed, or omission.

Original sin

The initial sin of disobedience committed by Adam and Eve, resulting in the loss of original holiness and an inherited fallen human nature for all humanity.

Covenant

A sacred, permanent agreement or solemn promise established between God and humanity that binds them in a relationship.

Origin of evil

Evil enters the world not from God, but through the misuse of human free will and the deliberate choice to disobey God.

Mortal sin

A grave offense against God's law that destroys divine charity in the human heart and completely breaks one's relationship with God (e.g., murder).

Venial sin

A less serious offense against God's law that wounds or weakens divine charity in the soul without completely severing the relationship with God (e.g., minor gossip).

Sin of commission

A sin committed by actively performing a wrongful thought, word, or physical action (e.g., stealing).

Sin of omission

A sin committed by failing to perform a required moral duty or good action that one could and should have done (e.g., failing to assist someone in peril).

Conditions of mortal sin

Three essential criteria that must all be present: grave matter (serious offense), full knowledge (awareness of the act's sinfulness), and deliberate consent (free, intentional choice).

Conscience

The inner judgment of practical reason that enables a human person to recognize the moral quality of an action and obliges them to do good and avoid evil.

Vice and virtue

A vice is a bad habit or moral failing that inclines one to sin, while a virtue is a good moral habit and firm disposition that directly combats and overcomes vice.

Cain and Abel

The biblical narrative in which Cain acts upon the vice of envy/jealousy to commit murder against his brother Abel, which constitutes a mortal sin.

Sign of the covenant with Noah

The rainbow, placed in the clouds by God as a reminder of His promise never again to destroy all earthly flesh with a flood.

Encyclical

An official, authoritative circular letter written by the Pope to Catholic bishops and the faithful across the world on matters of doctrine and morals.

Laudato Si

A papal encyclical issued by Pope Francis focused on care for our common home, ecological responsibility, and the stewardship of creation.

Abram

The patriarch whose name was changed by God to Abraham to designate his role as the father of a multitude of nations.

God's promises to Abraham

The divine covenant promises offering Abraham a promised land, innumerable descendants, and blessings upon all families of the earth through him.

Sign of the covenant with Abraham

Circumcision, which served as the physical, permanent mark of the covenant between God and Abraham's descendants.

Punishment for Adam's sin

Expulsion from the garden of Eden, physical mortality/death, painful toil and labor to produce food from the ground, and the loss of original harmony.