Posted on 04/15/2008 10:31:33 PM PDT by perfect stranger
Why Did God Allow Adam and Eve to Sin? By Billy Graham, Tribune Media Services Q: Why did God allow Adam and Eve to sin? He must have known what they were going to do, and it seems to me that it would've been better if He had just stopped them. The world was already perfect, so why didn't God keep it that way? I've always wondered about this. -- R.M.
A: The opening chapters of the Bible tell us what happened when Adam and Eve committed the first sin -- but they don't tell us exactly why God allowed it to happen. We must be careful, therefore, not to blame God for something that is ultimately beyond our understanding.
At the same time, the Bible does tell us two very important truths about Adam and Eve's sin. First, it tells us that they were completely free to love God -- or to reject Him. In other words, they weren't robots! God's warning was clear: "You must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" (Genesis 2:17).
But what if they had been robots -- that is, what if they didn't have any will of their own, and all they could do was love God? Then their "love" for God wouldn't have been love at all -- because love always involves a choice or a decision on our part. God took a great risk in creating them with a free will -- but only then could their love for Him be real.
The other truth the Bible tells us, however, is that while sin's consequences were great -- God's love is even greater. The proof is that He sent His only Son into the world so we could have our sins forgiven. Have you turned to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness and new life you need?
Read “Mere Christianity” by C.S. Lewis.
I’ve been meaning to but haven’t yet.
It's a good question, but like so many things, I'm afraid the answer is beyond our understanding.
PING
Imagine a sinless life, wherein we’d be like plants.
I’ve always enjoy reading Billy Graham.
No, it’s not beyond your understand. The Bible clearly says, “It has been given unto you to know the mysteries and secrets of the Kingdom.”
What that tells you is that God has given you the ability to know and understand .. beyond your own human understanding. It’s one of the gifts you receive when you receive Jesus as your Savior.
Salvation means: Safety, soundness, preservation, healing, deliverance and provision.
God has supplied everything for us already .. the secret is learning how to operate in it.
. Without that knowledge of his need for salvation, and without experiencing the grace that permits him to long for salvation, mankind cannot have his will conformed to God, except for by a brute force which attains conformation without love; therefore God permitted us to sin so that we may rejoice in salvation and love him in gratitude made possible only through grace.
This gift, enabling us to love out of friendship and not mere obey out of servility, is at such a precious cost: that God himself has taken upon himself all our pains and great humility and allowed us to sin. Thus, in full awareness of the horror and injustice of sin, the Church is yet able to proclaim at Easter in the ancient mass the paradoxical refrain, Oh happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
For Christ has ransomed us with his blood,
and paid for us the price of Adam's sin
to our eternal Father!
This is our passover feast,
when Christ, the true Lamb, is slain,
whose blood consecrates the homes of all believers.
This is the night when first you saved our fathers:
you freed the people of Israel from their slavery
and led them dry-shod through the sea.
This is the night when the pillar of fire
destroyed the darkness of sin!
This is the night when Christians everywhere,
washed clean of sin
and freed from all defilement,
are restored to grace and grow together in holiness.
This is the night when Jesus Christ
broke the chains of death
and rose triumphant from the grave.
What good would life have been to us,
had Christ not come as our Redeemer?
Father, how wonderful your care for us!
How boundless your merciful love!
To ransom a slave
you gave away your Son.
O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam,
which gained for us so great a Redeemer!
That prayer is used in Catholic, Anglican and Lutheran Easter liturgies. Or if you prefer a Calvinist source, here is Paradise Lost by Milton:
O Goodness infinite, Goodness immense!
That all this good of evil shall produce,
And evil turn to good; more wonderful
Than that which by creation first brought forth
Light out of darkness! Full of doubt I stand,
Whether I should repent me now of sin
By me done, and occasioned; or rejoice
Much more, that much more good thereof shall spring;
To God more glory, more good-will to Men
From God, and over wrath grace shall abound.
But one fisherman always had excellent healthy fish to market. Years rolled by and the fisherman died and his son took over the boat. The other fishermen of the village came aboard to ask how the father had always had such healthy fish to market.
The son said not a word, but opened the cover of the wet well. In the dim interior water a very large sea catfish was seen cruising the wet well.
The other fishermen were astonished at the sight and asked 'why a fisherman would keep such a monster in the wet well, didn't it eat some of the catch each trip?'
The new captain smiled and replied that it did eat many of the catch, but the ones not eaten kept swimming to keep from being eaten and thus the exertion kept them healthier than non-active fish. Evil works sort of like that. The Devil gets many, but the ones he doesn't get keep mindful of the Salvation God arranges by His Grace and they revert to it often and with humble hearts ... they keep movin'.
Many people cry out for justice when they see wrong, but we must remember that if the perp gets justice, what would you do if you got justice? We are all sinners and fall short of the Glory of God, yet he loves us unconditionally. We all deserve judgment, yet we get Grace and Mercy. God determined to love Adam and Eve from the Creation. He showed his wrath at the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah. There are sheep and goats, wheat and tares. If you are His, you are His child, adopted into His family. You get the fatted calf, His ring, and a party, even after you have messed up big time. If you are not His, then you have an eternity of Hell in front of you. You would think it would be an easy choice, yet how many love God as He loves us? You must abandon you love of self and serve a loving God that only wants the best for you. For some, that is too great a price.
Exploring the mystery of Gods love will take an eternity. Exploring ourselves is easy. Our righteousness is as a stench in His nostrils and as filthy rags to Him. If we accept Jesus as our Savior and serve Him, then God only sees the righteousness of Jesus when He looks at us. Our debt has been paid in full.
One thing I learned a long time ago about pondering God is we should read the Scriptures and believe them without question. As humans, we tend to try to mix OUR emotions into the story. We don't think like God. We are unable to think like God. The Bible is a love letter from the one who loves us without measure. Take it and don't dress it up with a bunch of emotional claptrap. That is why we have babies being murdered, because we want to be "nice" to women that have committed fornication, and "nice" to homosexuals that seem nice when we meet them. The mother can be saved if she repents, as well as the homosexual, but they don't want to. So we are the ones that bend instead of the sinner. When God said not to eat of the fruit of the tree, He meant don't do it. Some think Adam and Eve "got away with it", because he didn't fry them on the spot. He shed the blood of animals to cover their sin, and they died to Him spiritually that day and they were forever separated from Him. Sarah didn't listen to God and we got the Muslims out of that. Jonah didn't listen to God and he got quite a ride. We can talk ourselves into many things, but Scripture is pretty plain and should be looked at pretty much without emotions clouding our judgment. Satan can "talk" you into almost anything with his lies.
The lesson from Adam and Eve is one lapse of judgment can mess up a bunch of stuff. We are the ones that choose to submit to God's will or rebel. God has it worked out and has had it worked out from the beginning. There is no plan "B". We just need to accept what was said and done, as is.
Good post. There’s an interesting study in theology regarding our Lord’s lament as He looked over Jerusalem when they received Him not. It very well concludes that Israel could have received Him, thereby ushering in the Millenium at that time. Had that happened, a number of things may have occurred, but Prophecy still would have been fulfilled, just in a different fashion.
—An object lesson for all Creation . . .
about the wages of sin
And God’s Justice triumphed by God’s Mercy and Love . . .
No more heavenly rebellions a la satan are entertained in the least.
All Creation is expectd to emphatically “get it” this go around.
Evil and rebellion are deadly. Only Loving God brings and allows life.
he did it to teach Satan a lesson, and the angels that fell with him
that flawed, imperfect humans could learn to follow God through faith, instead of sight which Satan had
Satan and the angels saw, spoke with, and heard from God face to face. When they sinned, they did such a stupid thing, God taught them just how wrong they were by using imperfect created beings, humans, to show His love
Humans respond by faith. To show love to people who never even saw God, that proves God is love
Ezekiel 28:12 addresses the devil by calling him king of Tyrus. Ezekiel says that in verse 13 Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; yet Moses says not one word regarding the creation of Lucifer and his role of the anointed cherub that covereth. Yet Moses calls this entity the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden and then labels him the serpent.
Now what knowledge did this proverbial tree have as Adam and Eve were NOT the only two involved in the sin.
Isaiah 14:12 gives more information regarding Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
Ezekiel 28:18 Thou hast defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of thine iniquities, by the iniquity of thy traffick;
therefore will I bring forth a fire from the midst of thee, it shall devour thee, and I will bring thee to ashes upon the earth in sight of all them that behold thee.
The stated purpose Hebrews 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are *partakers* of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
The devil, serpent, destroyer, king of Tyrus, king of Babylon, accuser, great red dragon, some of the many names/roles the devil has been allowed to play has already been sentenced to death and he will never be allowed to be born of woman.
Adam was a fully grown adult when created with NO knowledge of the Written WORD, only he was given the commandment to NOT touch that tree.... further note God did NOT blame Eve for Adam's sin, Adam is the one who pointed his finger to Eve that woman that God gave him.... Maybe that is why the question gets asked this way Why Did God Allow Adam and Eve to Sin?
Love is a free-will offering. Without free will, mankind could not truly love God.
JMO.
Seems like mankind has paid a heavy price to make a point to Satan and his followers.
Read “A Course in Miracles”.
Keep an open mind and enjoy. The book had a major impact on my life and spiritual program.
Mankind was given a higher status than the angels, though, seems like Satan lost a high prce to sin, and the angels who didn’t sin are amazed that people believe when they cannot see.
I don't have to imagine a sinless life: I can see one in my Lord Jesus. He Is not at all "plant-like".
Sin is decidedly NOT what makes life worth living. I'll gladly relinquish my freedom to sin forever when I meet my Lord face-to-face.
Its simple... “Free Will”.
God could demand our behavior of his laws at all times, and not give man any choice in the matter. Or deny human beings free will. He could simply demand and enforce that we worship him at all times and in all ways... but a gift that’s demanded is no gift at all.
What father has never faced a situation where their child is going to make a bad decision? When they are young, we simply prevent it.. but there comes a time when, we have to quietly sit back and let them err... and its one of the toughest things as a parent you have to do sometimes... but it is done out of love, not spite or anger or a desire to see them fall.. but because there is a time when the absolute protection of the parent must let go so that the child can begin to become who and what they are meant to be.
The question could be expanded. Why did He allow his #2 Lucifer and his followers, to go against Him? This causes me concern, that sin is still possible in Heaven.
I think a better question would be, why did God allow Satan and the fallen angles to sin?
Well, until then....
It would be an interesting study, however, but I still have to believe God knew Israel would reject Jesus, and therefore the next few thousand years of history were in the bag.
Even for non- believers, that would have thrown Nostradamus off his numbers. LOL Then there is those Mayan calender thingies.
Nah, I think I'll stick to plan "A".
There are endless "What if's" you could consider, but I have to trust God that He already knew the outcome before we were even created. What if Jesus asked the Father to let this cup pass from Him and the Father said........"OK". That would have set everything from Genesis on up as gobbelty gook. This is the main reason I believe Jesus was the only "perfect lamb" ever born. No one could have died in our stead and took away our sin, other than Jesus. If even one person could live a sinless life, then Jesus would not have had to die on the cross. There is no flesh that is sinless other than Jesus. It had to be Him.
I suppose if the Jews accepted Jesus then, that would have also thrown the numbers off in Daniel.
God desires all of His attributes to be on display, His omniscience, His glory, His power... Without sin, there would not be a way to display His supreme self sacrificing love.
Perhaps this is the way that God is dealing with the potential of future sin by allowing us to possess the knowledge of good and evil now.
Seven
/sigh... “Free Will”....
It is the astonishingly loving secret hidden since the foundations of the world that God gives His nature to those who will ask Jesus to deliver, to be their deliverer, to 'parent them' into the family of God. Faith is an action word. Paul says plainly that the 'law' was given as a teacher ... teaching the lesson that ONLY God is righteous. The Gospel of God's Grace in Christ Jesus is that His righteousness will be counted for you or for me as we 'faithe' in His promise to us resurrected in Jesus. The law proved just how much we need Grace to have His required righteousness. We cannot have it except by 'faithing' in His promise.
Well said! ... Even Peter, who walked with Jesus and ate with Him following the resurrection, marveled that people believe so fervently yet have not had the intimate experiences with the resurrected Jesus.
Refined, "Liberty".
God did not want us to be robots, he wanted us to love him freely. That free will thing.
God created humankind because He was lonely. He created us in His image, to be "like" Him on some level in many ways. Angels and Satan are not created in His image; they cannot relate to God. Humans, by the very act of being made in God's image can relate to Him. Therefore, how could God not allow Adam and Eve the choice to sin? There is no true "relationship" when one party comes to the relationship by force or by lack of other options.
Watch out, FRiend, a lot of people have been banned when they got into really nasty fights on the Religion Forum over free will vs. Calvinist predestination.
I don’t get your point. Calvinists believe in Free Will.
I don’t get your point. Calvinists believe in Free Will.
+++++++++++++++++++
Didn’t you once say that God chose which of us He will save and which He will not save, but we are if one of those He chose to save, have the freedom to reject being saved?
I’m not sure if I used those exact words.
People have free will.
thanks
But here is the catch:
Before we are regenerated we are dead in our sins. The things of God are foolish. The non-Christian will always choose, out of his “free will,” the thing that is most pleasing/advantageous to him.
One regenerated by the grace of God, through the work of the Holy Spirit, the person is finally able to look outward to God and will do what his will now desires, to choose Christ. Then and only then will his free will lead him to do things that are pleasing to God.
and you point is important to me why? this is About my faith and my personal relationship with my Lord...just ignor me...
thanks
fred
Regenerated, more commonly known as “born again†is when God makes you alive (ie Ephesians 2, Ezekiel 37). God, through his good pleasure (Ephesians 1) makes us alive in Christ so that we not only can, but will accept Christ.
thanks,again
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