It is only necessary to be redeemed if we have in some way lost our way and need to get back to it. If nothing else, the story of Adam and Eve shows a central feature of Catholic theology: that man is fallible. The rules of Catholicism point towards the salvation of the soul, but the problem is that the body seems to have a tendency to go in the opposite direction. On one hand we have the quiet whispers of the Spirit that tell us the rules that establish prohibitions for the benefit of our soul, but the problem is that on the other hand we have the screams of our body, which seem to go in a completely opposite direction, longing for that which is forbidden. The only rule that God gave the first man and woman is that "of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it" (Gen. 2, 17), but only 15 verses later, Eve is eating the forbidden fruit, among other reasons because "it was pleasant to the eyes" (Gen. 3, 6). Evil is attractive, it lures us with its appeal. When in GoodFellas Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) asks Karen (Lorraine Bracco) to hide a gun he has just used to hit a guy, she says: "I know there are women, like my best friends, who would have gotten out of there the minute their boyfriend gave them a gun to hide. But I didn't. I got to admit the truth. It turned me on.".
This appeal will mean that within Catholic theology body and soul are destined to be in a constant battle between them, which translates to an eternal tension in our daily lives. Perhaps it was the character played by Al Pacino in The Devil's Advocate (Taylor Hackford, 1997) who has explained this most clearly: "[God] gives man instincts. He gives you this extraordinary gift, and then what does He do? I swear for His own amusement, his own private, cosmic gag reel, He sets the rules in opposition. It's the goof of all time. Look but don't touch. Touch, but don't taste.
