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If we have not been assured that we are possessors of the Holy Spirit, it would behoove each one of us to beg our heavenly Father and His Son to give us that Spirit to help direct our thoughts and actions, so that we may be able to inherit eternal life. Peter says in Acts 5:[32] And we are his witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
Receiving the Holy Spirit is not some magical event that is done to us upon properly requesting it from God. The Holy Spirit (Comforter) is within all human consciousness . . . but WE have to attune our minds to be compatible with it and accept its guidance. We do that by trying to "love God and each other" daily and repenting when we don't. It is our active exercise of agape love and repentance for our imperfections that attunes us to Christ's perfect love and achieves the cover for our imperfect love.
I would ask: why does God not prevent evil and injustice from taking place to begin with, and why does there have to be so much evil and suffering present that good people are powerless to prevent from happening?
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW/NOT PREVENT...TERRIBLE THINGS, ETC.../NO EVIDENCE OF GOD
Not a simple answer. Here are the 5 contributing factors in "why does God allow..."/" I see no evidence of God!" statements. Most of them center around our sin and the limitations of God, but there are other factors. If you combine the main factors below we can begin to see that God, despite being all powerful and all-knowing, IS LIMITED IN HIS ACTIONS ON EARTH AND HIS INTERACTIONS WITH MAN. It is vital that one seeking the truth in this area accept this.
Factor 1. God gave man dominion over the earth.
Factor 2. God gave man total and permanent freedom of choice and free-will in a every area of our lives until we die.
Factor's 3 and 4. (3) Man freely turned over dominion of the earth to Satan. At the same time he separated himself from God spiritually. (4) Sin- He did this through sin and disobedience.
Factor 5. The limitations of God.
1. God gave man dominion over the earth-
One of the hardest things for man to remember and understand the importance of is one of the first things God tells us. "God gave dominion of the earth to man" (Genesis 1:28). In Genesis we see that God GAVE MAN dominion over all the earth. ***DOING THIS PUT A RESTRICTION/LIMITATION ON GOD!!*** Scripture doesn't go on to say (or imply) that God's train of thought here is: "...but if you muck it up, I'll just jump right in and fix it!" No.
Is God to blame for what we do down here since He is the one that gave it to us in the first place? No. Man's dominion over the earth is the foundation of this factor. If you build a new house on the ground but don't build it on a foundation it will eventually collapse. It is vital that the agnostic/atheist understand AND ACCEPT that this is our planet. This is your planet. God gave it to us to live on and have control over. It's also vital to know that this limitation DIRECTLY AFFECTS WHAT GOD IS ABLE AND UNABLE TO DO WITH/FOR US AS A RACE OF PEOPLE!! This evil world that you see around you is the sum total of what we as a race of people have made it!
Consider this example: you buy your bff a brand new car for her wedding. The title and registration are in her name. The car is hers now. Once you have given it to her it is no longer yours, right? She is free to do whatever she wants with it, whenever she wants. Because you love her you write an "owner's manual" for her. "Be sure to come to a complete stop at the sign or you'll be breaking the law. Look left, then right, then left again before you start going again sister, for oncoming traffic that might hit you. Change your oil every 3,000 miles. In winter, steer your car in the direction you are skidding if you hit a patch of ice." You can write her an entire book but it's up to her to read and follow it. She can drive that car straight into the Grand Canyon if she wishes, killing herself and everyone on board. You have tried to inject yourself into her situation by writing and giving the book to her but she has the final say-in every matter. Say one night she gets drunk and sideswipes 2 cars on the street before driving into a swimming pool. Does that reflect badly on you since you were the one who gave her the car in the first place? No. Let me then ask you why you didn't prevent this from happening? You might reply that it's her car, she was driving and you'd be right. This situation holds true when God gave dominion over the earth to man.
2: God gave man total free-will and freedom of choice.
Giving man total freedom of choice and total free-will in every single aspect of life placed a further limitation on God, on top of the one placed there by giving man dominion over the earth. This is restriction #2 on God, all so man could live free and make all his own decisions, including whether or not to believe, follow and worship God or not. Likewise we always have the choice of whether or not to give in to temptation and follow that with sin, just like Adam and Eve had.
Total freedom of choice and free-will makes us...us. Animals live by instinct, following it blindly. Man has a choice. Even the most basic life decisions are left in our hands:
Eating and drinking and sex- animals eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty. Normally we do too but in reality, we can choose not to. Prisoners in jail often go on hunger strikes, many times to death. They can also choose not to drink 'til death. Animals have sex when the urge strikes them and for the most part, so do people. But we don't have to give in to this urge. Monks in solitude remain celebate for decades.
God gave man absolute and total freedom of choice in each and every area of his life, for as long as he lives! This presents another limitation on God and is a sacred gift to man! God will NEVER take this away or interfere with it (prayer in the life of a Christian provides the one exception).
3 & 4- Man freely turned over dominion of the earth to Satan. He did this through sin and disobedience.
When he did, he separated himself spiritually from God.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God's only law they tried to began to serve 2 masters. This can't be done. One can't be both holy and evil. It was the end of man's innocence. You know the rest- God DROVE them out of the garden and into the world. This physical separation from God is symbolic of the spiritual separation that also took place. Of our own free-will and disobedience to God, man turned over dominion of the earth to Satan and separated ourselves from God, both spiritually and physically. God recognizes Satan's right to rule and govern man and God is powerless to stop it once man freely and intentionally sins of his own free will.
SIN
Sin is more than just doing bad things. Sin is breaking the laws, commands, commandments, statutes and will of God. As human beings, we do this both intentionally AND unintentionally. EACH AND EVERY HUMAN BEING, IF THEY LIVE LONG ENOUGH, WILL WILLFULLY AND INTENTIONALLY CHOOSE TO SIN. This is called having a sin nature. Often Islam denies this preferring to believe that man leans toward goodness and obedience rather than evil and disobedience. God tells us that "all have sinned..." Every human being, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist or any of a dozen other religions has sinned and is a sinner in God's eyes. I am a sinner; if you are reading this right now YOU are a sinner too! Man's sin nature is undeniable, unless you choose to lie to yourself!
SIN AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE
Sin is a "by-product" of choice- freedom of choice, to be more specific. Just as God gave all humanity; every single boy, girl, man and woman, total and absolute freedom of choice in virtually every area of our lives after we were born, He also gave the angels in heaven the same freedom, long before He created mankind. God's most trusted and beloved angel, Lucifer, exercised his freedom of choice and chose evil over obedience to God. When he did, he rebelled against God, and sin came into being as a result. It would be accurate to state that sin was PRODUCED under certain specific conditions, rather that being a creative act by an intelligent and all-powerful being, as often argued by the non-believer stating that God created sin.
Here are a couple of examples to try to illustrate this process:
1. The very first time in the history of the world that leaves on trees made a "rustling" sound as the wind blew through them. The leaves must have certain qualities and the wind must blow at a certain intensity to produce the rustle. In other words, certain conditions must previously exist for the rustle to occur. The "rustle" was not there before, but had the POTENTIAL to be there, the potential to exist; it just needed the leaves to be in a certain state and the wind to come along and bring out the noise. The same holds true for sin. It had the potential to exist, it just needed the right conditions to bring it out, or into existance. Previously, this rustle sound had never been heard on the earth. Thus, it was a by-product not a creation. Previously, there was no sin, just as there was no rustling sound made by leaves on trees or bushes.
2. Rain.
Tiny droplets of water on the suface of the ground or seas are heated up by the sun or hot wind to the point of evaporation. Wind or heat or both carry them up, up into the atmosphere. As they cool, they join together with other tiny droplets. More and more join together to form a cloud. If the cloud then becomes so saturated with water that the moisture gets too heavy, it falls back to the ground as rain- or in another form: snow, hail, sleet etc...
The rain is a result of other factors and conditions, not the result of a creation act. The rain is a by-product of water, heat, updraft, wind, condensation etc.., which is a process, not a creative act.
There are probably thousands of like examples. It's not at all uncommon.
SIN AND GUILT
Many people believe we enter into this world naked and guilty of sin. They are half right. Most of you have heard of the term "original sin". The original sin, as it pertains to mankind, was committed by the first man and first woman in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-7. the Torah). This was the fall of man from the grace of God, similar to the fall of Lucifer from heaven. It was in fact Lucifer who engineered and manipulated the event, pulling down Adam and Eve and causing them to commit the "original sin." The original sin refers to man's first sin, not the first sin or sins ever committed. These of course, were committed by Lucifer and the now fallen angels as mentioned above.
Original sin does not mean "original guilt" for the rest of us! We are not born guilty of anything! Adam and Eve passed something down to us, yes; but it was not guilt. What they passed down to us is the TENDENCY TO SIN, not the guilt from their own sin, the original sin. God Almighty is a fair and just God. He does not punish us for the sins and transgressions of others, nor are we held accountable or responsible for them. Truly, we have enough problems of our own, don't we? We are not penalized "right out of the gate", so to speak, as soon as we are born into this world.
If we live long enough from birth, each one of us will WILFULLY AND INTENTIONALLY CHOOSE TO COMMIT SIN. In effect, we are following in the footsteps of Adam and and Eve in rebellion and sin against God. When we do this, we sever our relationship with God. We can no longer receive his aid and guidence. Our sins have caused God to turn His face from us and we have taken away the opportunity for Him to hear us when we cry out to Him (Isaiah 59:2). WE ARE SEPARATED FROM GOD SPIRITUALLY! More importantly, we then need to be brought back into a correct relationship with Him. This can only be done when our sins are forgiven, and only God can forgive sin. The whole world is a partaker of this sinful behavior and has been for 6,000 years. When we make evil choices (sin) it brings consequences; not only to ourselves, but to those around us and, eventually, to the whole world. Just look around you; read todays headlines in the newspapers, online or listen to the world news. Humanity and the world were given dominion over are in the worst shape in all of history.
Q. "Why?"
A. Because sin has consequences; to individuals and to all mankind, as it is compounded daily, yearly; century on top of century. God tells us that we "reap what we sow" (Galatians 6:7-8). In other words, we can't disobey and rebell against God without it harming us in the long run. God wants us to obey Him, if only for our own sakes and well being! When we "sow" to please ourselves and our own evil, sinful nature, we will receive evil in return. When we sow wickedness, we receive wickedness (Hosea 8:7) The world is the way it is today because of our own sinful choices, decisions and selfish actions. Our evil ways have caught up to us. As our evil becomes more and more vile, so do the consequences! We continually choose sin and it's coming back to destroy us! We have been doing this for thousands of years. In Genesis 6:5 we see that "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and the every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Sin resides in our flesh, but also comes from our hearts. The next verse tells of God's heartbreak, caused by man's sin. "And it repented the Lord (He was sorry) that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart" Our sin has been a heartbreak for God for centuries upon centuries. "The [human] heart is deceitful abouve alll things, and desperately wicked:..."(Jeremiah 17:9) Still, He loved us enough to keep us around, in spite of our sinful and selfish behavior continually. For a wise and selfish creation of God, we still haven't learned that our bad choices lead to destruction. We keep on making the same mistakes over and over and over again! Now we have come up with the brilliant idea that it is all God's fault; or that God does not exist. The longer humanity goes on "in control" of themselves, governing themselves, and rejecting God, the worst it gets for us as a race of people. For all of our intelligence and logic, we just refuse to learn!
Satan makes sin appear very attractive and harmless. It's one of many of his brilliant ways to deceive man. Let's face it- alot of what we call sin is fun and extremely pleasurable. With peer pressure on us from the time we are young, it's easier to give in than to say "no" to sin. We choose to sin. We choose to reject God. The Apostle Paul tells us the ultimate result for this in Romans- "Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become full of every kind of wickedness and evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, strife, murder, deceit and malice.... Althought they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but take delight in doing them" (Romans 1:28-32).
Sin is the great barrier between man and God. Sin is your enemy. Sin is a killer! SIN IS SPIRITUAL DEATH TO YOU!! Sin has not evolved or changed over the years. Furthermore, it's penalties and punishments are the same today as they were in the days of Adam and Eve. Sin separates us from God. Period.
Sin:
1. Cuts off all communication with God. If you have tried in the past to talk to God, but could never get an answer, this is why! It is vital that you realize this result of sin!
2. Stops blessings from coming into our lives
3. Is a thief. It robs us of our joy and happiness.
4. Blocks answers to prayer requests; spiritual, financial, physical and emotional.
We are to consider ourselves "dead to sin and alive to God."
Q. "Why?"
Because the penalty for sin is spiritual death.
Q. "What is spiritual death? "
A. Spiritual death is the seperation between man and God because of man's sin. Contrast this to physical death, which is the separation between man's outer, physical body and the inner man or spiritual man.
The Holy Christian Bible also mentions the second death, or eternal death. This is eternal seperation from God and cast into the lake of fire for ever (Revelations 2:11, 20:6,10 and 14). This is the ultimate and final penalty for rebellion against God, unrepentant sin and failure to accept salvation and forgivness of sin.
5. The limitations of God are a lengthy list. I have posted it as a blog on my home page. It's tremendously important for anyone everyone reading this to read this blog. It's valuable info for both the believer and the non-believer who wishes to gain knowledge of God, His nature and His characteristics. This is must reading, as it explains why God allows the most horrible acts and events to occur on earth!
The Holy Christian Bible also mentions the second death, or eternal death. This is eternal seperation from God and cast into the lake of fire for ever (Revelations 2:11, 20:6,10 and 14). This is the ultimate and final penalty for rebellion against God, unrepentant sin and failure to accept salvation and forgivness of sin.
Let's call this person "Bob". You are saying that Bob will face a final "penalty" of eternal separation from God for his "rebellion against God" and "failure to accept salvation".
1 john 4:8 He who has no love has no knowledge of God, because God is love.
The person who doesn't love does not know God, because God is love
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Who then will truly be under judgment? Bob... or those of us who could have helped show Bob that God is real, that LOVE is real, by LOVING BOB as ourself. The commandment is love your neighbor as yourself. Do you know how many people in this world know very little of LOVE?
If a person does not know love, they do not know God.
So how can a person rebel against something they do not even know???
I guess they are actually NOT rebelling against God, are they?? No they are NOT.
LOVE God.
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.
THAT is what we are called to DO.
THAT. and absolutely NOTHING else.
Because frankly, WHAT ELSE IS THERE???????
HEY - God....I heard rumor that you were going to destroy the evil in the world...that it is said that you will remove the creeps from the face of the earth - I think you were just kidding...You seem to like watching as the creeps make life miserable for the good----and GOD...why is it that just the creeps win the lottery?
Thank you for the helpful and thorough explanation; I very much appreciate the valuable information provided. While I am familiar to a certain extent about the theological concepts of free will and some of the other concepts presented, I guess one other potential follow-up question I have would be: is free will truly free will though, if having the choice to specifically *not* sin, is not and never an option? True, God granted pre-fallen Adam and Eve this quality, and they abused it, choosing to sin and to thus fall in both grace and holiness, in God's eyes. But the important part I would like to emphasize is that this initially sinless nature was granted solely to Adam and Eve -- none of of their successors (obviously except for Jesus Christ himself) were born free from the burden of having a tendency towards sin.
Why did God grant this option of "sinlessness" to Adam and Eve alone, and exclude the rest of humanity except for Jesus Christ from even having this as a viable option? Again, to repeat, does a person really have free will, if that person wants to choose to not sin at all (i.e., an impossible task for humanity alone), but can never viably do so, absent direct intercession from God? I will admit that this troubles me greatly, since God could have also easily asked individual human beings if they wanted to choose, of their own free will, to re-inherit their original sinless nature that pre-dated Adam and Eve's sin. Instead though, God chose to make the tendency to sin an inevitable genetic curse that all human beings must have and can never be free of, and even if they truly do want to return to the original sinless nature, they obviously can't. How can free will be truly free, if the only real choice that humanity has to have is to be burdened with a tendency toward evil and sin, and even if they don't want it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Joint heir with jesus
WHY DOES GOD ALLOW/NOT PREVENT...TERRIBLE THINGS, ETC.../NO EVIDENCE OF GOD
Not a simple answer. Here are the 5 contributing factors in "why does God allow..."/" I see no evidence of God!" statements. Most of them center around our sin and the limitations of God, but there are other factors. If you combine the main factors below we can begin to see that God, despite being all powerful and all-knowing, IS LIMITED IN HIS ACTIONS ON EARTH AND HIS INTERACTIONS WITH MAN. It is vital that one seeking the truth in this area accept this.
Factor 1. God gave man dominion over the earth.
Factor 2. God gave man total and permanent freedom of choice and free-will in a every area of our lives until we die.
Factor's 3 and 4. (3) Man freely turned over dominion of the earth to Satan. At the same time he separated himself from God spiritually. (4) Sin- He did this through sin and disobedience.
Factor 5. The limitations of God.
1. God gave man dominion over the earth-
One of the hardest things for man to remember and understand the importance of is one of the first things God tells us. "God gave dominion of the earth to man" (Genesis 1:28). In Genesis we see that God GAVE MAN dominion over all the earth. ***DOING THIS PUT A RESTRICTION/LIMITATION ON GOD!!*** Scripture doesn't go on to say (or imply) that God's train of thought here is: "...but if you muck it up, I'll just jump right in and fix it!" No.
Is God to blame for what we do down here since He is the one that gave it to us in the first place? No. Man's dominion over the earth is the foundation of this factor. If you build a new house on the ground but don't build it on a foundation it will eventually collapse. It is vital that the agnostic/atheist understand AND ACCEPT that this is our planet. This is your planet. God gave it to us to live on and have control over. It's also vital to know that this limitation DIRECTLY AFFECTS WHAT GOD IS ABLE AND UNABLE TO DO WITH/FOR US AS A RACE OF PEOPLE!! This evil world that you see around you is the sum total of what we as a race of people have made it!
Consider this example: you buy your bff a brand new car for her wedding. The title and registration are in her name. The car is hers now. Once you have given it to her it is no longer yours, right? She is free to do whatever she wants with it, whenever she wants. Because you love her you write an "owner's manual" for her. "Be sure to come to a complete stop at the sign or you'll be breaking the law. Look left, then right, then left again before you start going again sister, for oncoming traffic that might hit you. Change your oil every 3,000 miles. In winter, steer your car in the direction you are skidding if you hit a patch of ice." You can write her an entire book but it's up to her to read and follow it. She can drive that car straight into the Grand Canyon if she wishes, killing herself and everyone on board. You have tried to inject yourself into her situation by writing and giving the book to her but she has the final say-in every matter. Say one night she gets drunk and sideswipes 2 cars on the street before driving into a swimming pool. Does that reflect badly on you since you were the one who gave her the car in the first place? No. Let me then ask you why you didn't prevent this from happening? You might reply that it's her car, she was driving and you'd be right. This situation holds true when God gave dominion over the earth to man.
2: God gave man total free-will and freedom of choice.
Giving man total freedom of choice and total free-will in every single aspect of life placed a further limitation on God, on top of the one placed there by giving man dominion over the earth. This is restriction #2 on God, all so man could live free and make all his own decisions, including whether or not to believe, follow and worship God or not. Likewise we always have the choice of whether or not to give in to temptation and follow that with sin, just like Adam and Eve had.
Total freedom of choice and free-will makes us...us. Animals live by instinct, following it blindly. Man has a choice. Even the most basic life decisions are left in our hands:
Eating and drinking and sex- animals eat when they are hungry and drink when they are thirsty. Normally we do too but in reality, we can choose not to. Prisoners in jail often go on hunger strikes, many times to death. They can also choose not to drink 'til death. Animals have sex when the urge strikes them and for the most part, so do people. But we don't have to give in to this urge. Monks in solitude remain celebate for decades.
God gave man absolute and total freedom of choice in each and every area of his life, for as long as he lives! This presents another limitation on God and is a sacred gift to man! God will NEVER take this away or interfere with it (prayer in the life of a Christian provides the one exception).
3 & 4- Man freely turned over dominion of the earth to Satan. He did this through sin and disobedience.
When he did, he separated himself spiritually from God.
When Adam and Eve disobeyed God's only law they tried to began to serve 2 masters. This can't be done. One can't be both holy and evil. It was the end of man's innocence. You know the rest- God DROVE them out of the garden and into the world. This physical separation from God is symbolic of the spiritual separation that also took place. Of our own free-will and disobedience to God, man turned over dominion of the earth to Satan and separated ourselves from God, both spiritually and physically. God recognizes Satan's right to rule and govern man and God is powerless to stop it once man freely and intentionally sins of his own free will.
SIN
Sin is more than just doing bad things. Sin is breaking the laws, commands, commandments, statutes and will of God. As human beings, we do this both intentionally AND unintentionally. EACH AND EVERY HUMAN BEING, IF THEY LIVE LONG ENOUGH, WILL WILLFULLY AND INTENTIONALLY CHOOSE TO SIN. This is called having a sin nature. Often Islam denies this preferring to believe that man leans toward goodness and obedience rather than evil and disobedience. God tells us that "all have sinned..." Every human being, whether they are Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist or any of a dozen other religions has sinned and is a sinner in God's eyes. I am a sinner; if you are reading this right now YOU are a sinner too! Man's sin nature is undeniable, unless you choose to lie to yourself!
SIN AND FREEDOM OF CHOICE
Sin is a "by-product" of choice- freedom of choice, to be more specific. Just as God gave all humanity; every single boy, girl, man and woman, total and absolute freedom of choice in virtually every area of our lives after we were born, He also gave the angels in heaven the same freedom, long before He created mankind. God's most trusted and beloved angel, Lucifer, exercised his freedom of choice and chose evil over obedience to God. When he did, he rebelled against God, and sin came into being as a result. It would be accurate to state that sin was PRODUCED under certain specific conditions, rather that being a creative act by an intelligent and all-powerful being, as often argued by the non-believer stating that God created sin.
Here are a couple of examples to try to illustrate this process:
1. The very first time in the history of the world that leaves on trees made a "rustling" sound as the wind blew through them. The leaves must have certain qualities and the wind must blow at a certain intensity to produce the rustle. In other words, certain conditions must previously exist for the rustle to occur. The "rustle" was not there before, but had the POTENTIAL to be there, the potential to exist; it just needed the leaves to be in a certain state and the wind to come along and bring out the noise. The same holds true for sin. It had the potential to exist, it just needed the right conditions to bring it out, or into existance. Previously, this rustle sound had never been heard on the earth. Thus, it was a by-product not a creation. Previously, there was no sin, just as there was no rustling sound made by leaves on trees or bushes.
2. Rain.
Tiny droplets of water on the suface of the ground or seas are heated up by the sun or hot wind to the point of evaporation. Wind or heat or both carry them up, up into the atmosphere. As they cool, they join together with other tiny droplets. More and more join together to form a cloud. If the cloud then becomes so saturated with water that the moisture gets too heavy, it falls back to the ground as rain- or in another form: snow, hail, sleet etc...
The rain is a result of other factors and conditions, not the result of a creation act. The rain is a by-product of water, heat, updraft, wind, condensation etc.., which is a process, not a creative act.
There are probably thousands of like examples. It's not at all uncommon.
SIN AND GUILT
Many people believe we enter into this world naked and guilty of sin. They are half right. Most of you have heard of the term "original sin". The original sin, as it pertains to mankind, was committed by the first man and first woman in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-7. the Torah). This was the fall of man from the grace of God, similar to the fall of Lucifer from heaven. It was in fact Lucifer who engineered and manipulated the event, pulling down Adam and Eve and causing them to commit the "original sin." The original sin refers to man's first sin, not the first sin or sins ever committed. These of course, were committed by Lucifer and the now fallen angels as mentioned above.
Original sin does not mean "original guilt" for the rest of us! We are not born guilty of anything! Adam and Eve passed something down to us, yes; but it was not guilt. What they passed down to us is the TENDENCY TO SIN, not the guilt from their own sin, the original sin. God Almighty is a fair and just God. He does not punish us for the sins and transgressions of others, nor are we held accountable or responsible for them. Truly, we have enough problems of our own, don't we? We are not penalized "right out of the gate", so to speak, as soon as we are born into this world.
If we live long enough from birth, each one of us will WILFULLY AND INTENTIONALLY CHOOSE TO COMMIT SIN. In effect, we are following in the footsteps of Adam and and Eve in rebellion and sin against God. When we do this, we sever our relationship with God. We can no longer receive his aid and guidence. Our sins have caused God to turn His face from us and we have taken away the opportunity for Him to hear us when we cry out to Him (Isaiah 59:2). WE ARE SEPARATED FROM GOD SPIRITUALLY! More importantly, we then need to be brought back into a correct relationship with Him. This can only be done when our sins are forgiven, and only God can forgive sin. The whole world is a partaker of this sinful behavior and has been for 6,000 years. When we make evil choices (sin) it brings consequences; not only to ourselves, but to those around us and, eventually, to the whole world. Just look around you; read todays headlines in the newspapers, online or listen to the world news. Humanity and the world were given dominion over are in the worst shape in all of history.
Q. "Why?"
A. Because sin has consequences; to individuals and to all mankind, as it is compounded daily, yearly; century on top of century. God tells us that we "reap what we sow" (Galatians 6:7-8). In other words, we can't disobey and rebell against God without it harming us in the long run. God wants us to obey Him, if only for our own sakes and well being! When we "sow" to please ourselves and our own evil, sinful nature, we will receive evil in return. When we sow wickedness, we receive wickedness (Hosea 8:7) The world is the way it is today because of our own sinful choices, decisions and selfish actions. Our evil ways have caught up to us. As our evil becomes more and more vile, so do the consequences! We continually choose sin and it's coming back to destroy us! We have been doing this for thousands of years. In Genesis 6:5 we see that "God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and the every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually." Sin resides in our flesh, but also comes from our hearts. The next verse tells of God's heartbreak, caused by man's sin. "And it repented the Lord (He was sorry) that He had made man on the earth, and it grieved Him at His heart" Our sin has been a heartbreak for God for centuries upon centuries. "The [human] heart is deceitful abouve alll things, and desperately wicked:..."(Jeremiah 17:9) Still, He loved us enough to keep us around, in spite of our sinful and selfish behavior continually. For a wise and selfish creation of God, we still haven't learned that our bad choices lead to destruction. We keep on making the same mistakes over and over and over again! Now we have come up with the brilliant idea that it is all God's fault; or that God does not exist. The longer humanity goes on "in control" of themselves, governing themselves, and rejecting God, the worst it gets for us as a race of people. For all of our intelligence and logic, we just refuse to learn!
Satan makes sin appear very attractive and harmless. It's one of many of his brilliant ways to deceive man. Let's face it- alot of what we call sin is fun and extremely pleasurable. With peer pressure on us from the time we are young, it's easier to give in than to say "no" to sin. We choose to sin. We choose to reject God. The Apostle Paul tells us the ultimate result for this in Romans- "Since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, He gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do what ought not to be done. They have become full of every kind of wickedness and evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, strife, murder, deceit and malice.... Althought they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things are worthy of death, they not only continue to do these things, but take delight in doing them" (Romans 1:28-32).
Sin is the great barrier between man and God. Sin is your enemy. Sin is a killer! SIN IS SPIRITUAL DEATH TO YOU!! Sin has not evolved or changed over the years. Furthermore, it's penalties and punishments are the same today as they were in the days of Adam and Eve. Sin separates us from God. Period.
Sin:
1. Cuts off all communication with God. If you have tried in the past to talk to God, but could never get an answer, this is why! It is vital that you realize this result of sin!
2. Stops blessings from coming into our lives
3. Is a thief. It robs us of our joy and happiness.
4. Blocks answers to prayer requests; spiritual, financial, physical and emotional.
We are to consider ourselves "dead to sin and alive to God."
Q. "Why?"
Because the penalty for sin is spiritual death.
Q. "What is spiritual death? "
A. Spiritual death is the seperation between man and God because of man's sin. Contrast this to physical death, which is the separation between man's outer, physical body and the inner man or spiritual man.
The Holy Christian Bible also mentions the second death, or eternal death. This is eternal seperation from God and cast into the lake of fire for ever (Revelations 2:11, 20:6,10 and 14). This is the ultimate and final penalty for rebellion against God, unrepentant sin and failure to accept salvation and forgivness of sin.
5. The limitations of God are a lengthy list. I have posted it as a blog on my home page. It's tremendously important for anyone everyone reading this to read this blog. It's valuable info for both the believer and the non-believer who wishes to gain knowledge of God, His nature and His characteristics. This is must reading, as it explains why God allows the most horrible acts and events to occur on earth!
Thank you for the helpful and thorough explanation; I very much appreciate the valuable information provided. While I am familiar to a certain extent about the theological concepts of free will and some of the other concepts presented, I guess one other potential follow-up question I have would be: is free will truly free will though, if having the choice to specifically *not* sin, is not and never an option? True, God granted pre-fallen Adam and Eve this quality, and they abused it, choosing to sin and to thus fall in both grace and holiness, in God's eyes. But the important part I would like to emphasize is that this initially sinless nature was granted solely to Adam and Eve -- none of of their successors (obviously except for Jesus Christ himself) were born free from the burden of having a tendency towards sin.
Why did God grant this option of "sinlessness" to Adam and Eve alone, and exclude the rest of humanity except for Jesus Christ from even having this as a viable option? Again, to repeat, does a person really have free will, if that person wants to choose to not sin at all (i.e., an impossible task for humanity alone), but can never viably do so, absent direct intercession from God? I will admit that this troubles me greatly, since God could have also easily asked individual human beings if they wanted to choose, of their own free will, to re-inherit their original sinless nature that pre-dated Adam and Eve's sin. Instead though, God chose to make the tendency to sin an inevitable genetic curse that all human beings must have and can never be free of, and even if they truly do want to return to the original sinless nature, they obviously can't. How can free will be truly free, if the only real choice that humanity has to have is to be burdened with a tendency toward evil and sin, and even if they don't want it?
Knight2009: Honestly, I'm not sure there's an answer that will satisfy. Being a Christian I'm inclined to believe that if there was any possible way for everyone to have the option of "sinlessess", God would have extended it to all. As we've just seen, God is bound and limited in some areas and maybe this is one of them. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on our part.
It might be said that we are all in this together as a genetic family and race of people. This could be one of those "it is what it is" scenarios. It's like a zebra saying "I don't want stripes!" Sorry Charlie, it is what it is. Can the lump of clay say to the potter "why did you make me this way?"
Since Adam and Eve came first, maybe it was all on their shoulders. If the quarterback fumbles the ball away the whole team loses possession, not just the quarter back, right?
There are a couple of lines of thinking that I find interesting:
1. Had Adam and Eve "held out" longer without sinning the tendency to "not sin" would have been passed down to us instead of the tendency to sin. That would have made it a whole new ball game for the entire human race!
2. Some people maintain that even now, with a changed "sinful nature" it's possible to live a sin free life in Christ. Not sure that's attainable but that's the theory anyway. What do you think?
3. For the born-again Christian who stays in Christ and who confesses sin, technically, we are without sin in God's eyes. God, in all His grace and mercy, has made a way for us to live sin free! Glory!!
Keep you question in your heart ad nd ask God whenyhou get up there.
Knight2009: Honestly, I'm not sure there's an answer that will satisfy. Being a Christian I'm inclined to believe that if there was any possible way for everyone to have the option of "sinlessess", God would have extended it to all. As we've just seen, God is bound and limited in some areas and maybe this is one of them. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking on our part.
It might be said that we are all in this together as a genetic family and race of people. This could be one of those "it is what it is" scenarios. It's like a zebra saying "I don't want stripes!" Sorry Charlie, it is what it is. Can the lump of clay say to the potter "why did you make me this way?"
Since Adam and Eve came first, maybe it was all on their shoulders. If the quarterback fumbles the ball away the whole team loses possession, not just the quarter back, right?
There are a couple of lines of thinking that I find interesting:
1. Had Adam and Eve "held out" longer without sinning the tendency to "not sin" would have been passed down to us instead of the tendency to sin. That would have made it a whole new ball game for the entire human race!
2. Some people maintain that even now, with a changed "sinful nature" it's possible to live a sin free life in Christ. Not sure that's attainable but that's the theory anyway. What do you think?
3. For the born-again Christian who stays in Christ and who confesses sin, technically, we are without sin in God's eyes. God, in all His grace and mercy, has made a way for us to live sin free! Glory!!
Keep you question in your heart ad nd ask God whenyhou get up there.
Please accept my sincere thanks and gratitude, for your post and answer above -- I am indeed quite satisfied, by your wise and positive message You are 100% correct, as to the 2. and 3. items you had referenced -- I guess I just never really thought about things like that before though, in a fully-concrete manner?
Again many thanks, for your very outstanding and excellent, very thoughtful responses to my questions!
Please accept my sincere thanks and gratitude, for your post and answer above -- I am indeed quite satisfied, by your wise and positive message You are 100% correct, as to the 2. and 3. items you had referenced -- I guess I just never really thought about things like that before though, in a fully-concrete manner?
Again many thanks, for your very outstanding and excellent, very thoughtful responses to my questions!
I'm not really sure how wise my answers were but I am truly humbled by your platitudes and kudos! Thank you so much! God bless you.
Let's call this person "Bob". You are saying that Bob will face a final "penalty" of eternal separation from God for his "rebellion against God" and "failure to accept salvation".
1 john 4:8 He who has no love has no knowledge of God, because God is love.
The person who doesn't love does not know God, because God is love
Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
Who then will truly be under judgment? Bob... or those of us who could have helped show Bob that God is real, that LOVE is real, by LOVING BOB as ourself. The commandment is love your neighbor as yourself. Do you know how many people in this world know very little of LOVE?
If a person does not know love, they do not know God.
So how can a person rebel against something they do not even know???
I guess they are actually NOT rebelling against God, are they?? No they are NOT.
LOVE God.
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR.
THAT is what we are called to DO.
THAT. and absolutely NOTHING else.
Because frankly, WHAT ELSE IS THERE???????
Interesting post -
But consider this. God set forth many commandments in the Old Testament. Joshua said " Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve." if we choose to serve God, we will obey Him. If we choose to serve Satan and the gods of this world, then we reap the consequences. Jesus said no man can serve 2 masters. He also said "If ye love me, keep my commandments,"
Last edited by Robert M Prince; 08-09-2013 at 07:09 AM..
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True, God granted pre-fallen Adam and Eve this quality, and they abused it, choosing to sin and to thus fall in both grace and holiness, in God's eyes. But the important part I would like to emphasize is that this initially sinless nature was granted solely to Adam and Eve -- none of of their successors (obviously except for Jesus Christ himself) were born free from the burden of having a tendency towards sin. 
You are 100% correct, as to the 2. and 3. items you had referenced -- I guess I just never really thought about things like that before though, in a fully-concrete manner? 
