Re: The puzzle of Adam

George Murphy wrote:

"...For if _all_
humans beings are sinners for their entire lives, and have been all the way
back to whatever we understand the first group of humans to be, then we have
to ask _why_ humanity is in this condition. It's not enough to say "we just
are" because that implies that God created humanity sinful - i.e., that God
is the creator of sin...."

Input from an opposite corner: One can rationalize the fall, but I don't think it's ever going to sound reasonable. --So a genetic change occurs that causes pre-humans to develop a conscience and become accountable humans. But this change is not going to be big enough. That is, those accountable humans (as we all can testify) are still dragging along the baggage of the flesh that made their unaccountable ancestors behave in ways that would have been sinful if they'd been accountable. So in one way or another God made humans incapable of avoiding sin. That's reasonable.

This inevitability of sin doesn't have to be a serious problem for Christianity. People by nature are still separated from God and always have been. They still need salvation, reconciliation: a Savior. No one can come to God through his own devices.

But there remains something of a problem: "...Why does God still blame us?...." Can God legitimately condemn if no one ever stood a chance? For this reason I've gone soft on hell over the years and would much prefer simple annihilation for those who reject God. The problem is that this softness goes against many of Jesus' clear teachings in the gospels.

Putting this detail aside for the moment, we can say the world is the way it is because it couldn't be otherwise and still be compatible with God's objectives. The old paradigm says that humans are God's children, and when they do wrong they must be punished. The new paradigm says that humans collectively are adults with whom God seeks to come into a relationship; he does not punish for shortcomings but overwhelms deficiencies in those he loves by the power of his Spirit.

Don

 
Received on Sat Nov 27 04:36:53 2004