Adrian wrote: I really have a hard time understanding how the actual sin of
someone else (Adam) can caused me to be guilty and deserving of divine wrath.
Doesn't seem like justice to me, in my limited understanding. Am I also to be
sentenced to death because my father committed 1st degree murder?
Adrian, of course, refers to the doctrine of the "Fall." The doctrine of the
"Fall" is largely based on what I am convinced is a misunderstanding of the
apostle Paul's words in Romans 5:12-20 and 1 Corinthians 15:21,22. I believe
the key to understanding Paul's words there recorded is understanding his
words in Romans 5:19, as rendered in Bibles such as the Amplified Bible and
even the NWT. There we read, "By one man's disobedience many were constituted
sinners." To "constitute" means "to establish formally." (New American
Dictionary) Adam's disobedience formally established the fact that the entire
human race was incapable of living completely righteous lives. So, after
Adam, whom God used as a representative of the human race, failed a simple
God given test of his righteousness, God had good reason to retroactively
condemn the entire human race as being deserving of the deaths they had long
been suffering, and undeserving of eternal life, a gift God had not yet given
to any human being. For if Adam in paradise, without a problem in the world,
could not manage to obey one simple command from God, what chance does any
human being have of living their entire trouble-plagued life without sinning
either in word, thought or deed? No chance at all. And since we have no
chance of living perfectly righteous lives we have no chance of earning
eternal life by means of our own righteousness.
I believe that is the primary lesson that was illustrated in Eden. Since
human beings are less righteous than God we are not deserving of eternal
life. That means all human beings have, in effect, from their births been
condemned by God to die. Not because of anything Adam did, but because we
ourselves all fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23)
I believe that the story of Adam and Eve in Eden was also meant by God to
illustrate other important lessons. One of them is that we are always in need
of God's forgiveness even when we have not recently committed any "sinful"
act. I believe this lesson was illustrated by Adam and Eve being totally
unaware of their nakedness before God until after they had committed a
blatant act of disobedience. (Nakedness is a condition always portrayed as
shameful in the scriptures.) Then, suddenly, after they had "sinned" they
became aware of their nakedness and felt the need to "hide from God." Just as
we often only become aware of our shameful condition before God after
committing some "sinful act." And just as we then often feel ashamed of
ourselves and try to hide from God by withdrawing from Him by not praying or
by not attending Church, etc., until we finally get over our guilt. However,
the fact is, we are no more worthy to stand in the presence of a perfect God
before committing a "sinful act" than we are after doing so. Just as Adam and
Eve were, in reality, just as naked before they disobeyed God as they were
after doing so. They just didn't realize it.
To this some may respond, "That's not fair. If God made us less righteous
than Himself, and thus 'sinful,' how can He rightly condemn us to death for
being the 'sinful' way He made us?" I believe such questions are best
answered with other questions. Such as these. Is God morally obligated to
give eternal life to every creature he creates? Do you really think that
simply because God created mosquitoes, squirrels and tuna fish He should have
felt morally obligated to give them all eternal life? Maybe you don't. If you
don't, why don't you? After all, God made mosquitoes, squirrels and tuna fish
just as they are. How can you hold their "undeserving" condition against
them? Aren't mosquitoes, squirrels and tuna fish as close to us in being
"deserving" of eternal life as we are to God? Why then do some think it is
wrong for God to say that we don't deserve to live forever? Maybe they just
don't think it makes sense that God would create us as "unrighteous" people,
and thus undeserving of eternal life, if He really wanted us to live forever.
I admit that, on the surface, God's doing so does not seem to make sense.
However, I believe that when we consider all of the issues involved more
deeply it makes perfect sense that God chose to create us less righteous than
himself, and thus undeserving of eternal life.
I believe God created us "sinful" for a very good reason. The Bible tells us
that "God is love." It also tells us that God chose to create people in his
"own image." These things being so, God no doubt wanted to create people whom
He could love and who could also love Him. But real love is not able to be
coerced from someone through the use of force or threats. Neither is it a
mere automatic or robotic response resulting from some sort of previous
programming. Because of these things, I believe that in order to have loving
relationships with us, God chose to create us as truly free people. Free to
choose to love God and His ways or to not love God and His ways. In other
words, free to do both right and wrong, free to do both good and evil.
So, if mankind did not "fall," what did happen in Eden? I believe those who
adhere to the doctrine of "The Fall" misunderstand the events which
transpired in Eden. The Genesis account clearly indicates that Adam and Eve
were created mortal with a dying nature just like us. The story of Adam and
Eve told in Genesis makes clear that their being able to live forever was not
a part of their original physical nature. Rather, Adam and Eve's ability to
live forever depended entirely on their eating from a tree "in the middle of
the garden" of Eden, "the tree of life." (Genesis 2:9) Genesis tells us that
Adam and Eve were going to be allowed to eat from that tree only if they
passed a God given test, a test which we are told they failed. After failing
that test God expelled Adam and his wife from the Garden of Eden and
prevented them from eating from "the tree of life." Genesis indicates that
had Adam and Eve been allowed to eat from "the tree of life" their lives
would have been prolonged indefinitely. (Genesis 3:22-24) But when God
prevented them from eating from "the tree of life" they died what were
apparently natural deaths. A careful reading of the Genesis account shows us
that living forever would have been as unnatural for Adam and Eve as it would
now be for us. Genesis does not indicate that Adam and Eve originally had
eternal life programmed into their genetic codes by God and later had their
genetic codes reprogrammed by God in order to remove eternal life from those
codes. Rather, Genesis indicates that Adam and Eve would have lived forever
only if God had graciously given them eternal life from an outside source,
"the tree of life." Of course, that "tree of life" was meant to picture Jesus
Christ. For, as we have seen, God was going to give Adam and Eve eternal life
from an outside source, "the tree of life," only if they passed a very simple
test. And the Bible tells us that we will be given eternal life from an
outside source, Jesus Christ, only if we pass a very simple test. That test
is to simply believe in our hearts that Christ's death was sufficient payment
to buy every human being God's full forgiveness, forgiveness for both our
sinful nature and our sinful acts.
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