Re: The puzzle of Adam

I would say that accountability comes with awareness of God's will - indicated in Gen.2 by the prohibition of the tree of knowledge. & before our ancestors were able to be aware of God's revelation (in whatever form it came) they weren't human _in a theological sense_.

& yes, salvation is not return to a pre-fall paradisal state. We are to move forward - to "grow up into Christ" (Eph.4:15)

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Don Perrett
  To: George Murphy
  Cc: ASA Discussions
  Sent: Saturday, November 27, 2004 5:01 PM
  Subject: RE: The puzzle of Adam

  George wrote:
    I think that R. Niebuhr's distinction is still helpful: Sin was "inevitable" but not "necessary." I.e., sin is not essential to what it means to be human. But even in traditional Augustinian theology, the 1st humans, while originally without sin, had the possibility of sinning - posse non peccare rather than non posse peccare. From what we know & can surmise about human evolution, that was probably only a possibility (!) that was never actualized in any "state of integrity" of significant duration.

    There are 2 components to original sin - the biological and the cultural. The more early humans yielded to biological inclinations to violence, deceit, sexual promiscuity
    and defiance of what may have been known of God's will for them, the stronger became cultural reinforcement for such behavior. This is one aspect of the fact that humanity is (as Phil Hefner puts it) a "symbiosis" of biology & culture. (Cf. his book The Human Factor.)

    Shalom
    George
    http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/

  Don P:

  Would this not bring us back to the point of accountability? Early humans, prior to Adam if one believes in them, would have performed many of the same acts that we now consider sinful. Along comes Adam and we become accountable? Query: Is it possible that God did not make us accountable, but rather man made himself accountable by seeking knowledge of Good and Evil? Had we not done so, would we have known what sin was? And once we knew, we were then accountable and must continue to be so, until redeemed, through perfect obedience (ot) or salvation (nt)? The reason I ask is that some believe that we must return to what we were supposed to have been before the fall. If however what I submit above is true then we cannot go back to what we were supposed to have been, but must go forward into a deeper religious evolution. If so, then it would beg the question of whether salvation is the next stage of this evolution or the end result.

  I would appreciate your opinions.

  Don P
Received on Mon Nov 29 10:47:42 2004