bevan
how adam sinned
by
on 06-14-2011 at 10:32 PM (2740 Views)
i have been doing alot of study and research as to how adam could have sinned given that he had a nature that was good when GOD created him,i am still working thu this,but would like to share with you my thoughts,please correct me where you think needed.
ok here goes,we know that God created adam good obviously with the potentiality to sin,as a 5 point calvinist i also believe that GOD caused adam to sin,as God as aristotle put it is at the beginning of the causal chain and thus the ultimate cause of everything that comes to pass..Now to understand how moral evil came into the universe we first have to define what evil is,it is here that augustine enters the picture,he defined evil as not a thing,it is not a substance,it is not material but immaterial yet real,he further went on to define evil as the absense of goodness,i think this definition helps us tremendously in our understanding of Gods awesome power..
so then with this definition in mind we now have the ingredients to help us understand how adam sinned given his good nature..God wanted for evil to enter the picture but because evil is not a substance it cannot be created,so if it cannot be created then how did it come to exsist? The only answer i can think of is by way of causation and not creation.
first we need a moral law giver..God..then God needs to create a secondary moral agent with the ability to make choices,not independantly of Him tho as arminians claim,then God has to give this moral creature a moral law to obey,then God causes this moral creature to disobey his law thus the entrance of sin..now lets see if we can break this down further..I believe adam could not have chosen equally between obeying God and disobeying God as many many christians claim,i believe adam in his created state could only obey God..Jesus said a good tree cannot produce bad fruit nor a bad tree produce good fruit,the tree being the nature..So how then did adam sin? It is crucial i believe to know and understand that only God can do that which is righteous and good,that is all goodness flows out from God ALONE..
Now moving on,it is my belief that when God created adam good that it is a metaphysical goodness the bible is refering to by way of direct creation by God and not a moral goodness..adams nature was that of a seed..alive but inactive.. to activate adams nature God gave adam rules,now the only way for adam to obey God is the same way christians do,by way of God working in and thu us,and so God directly activates the dorment nature of adam with His divine influence, God being the ultimate and direct cause of adams obedience and adam being the effect..or is it that we can do that which is pleasing and good in and of ourselves? for who first gave to God that God should repay him? and what is it that we have thjat we did not recieve? ONLY God ALONE is good..
Moving on..johnathan edwards stated that we make choices in accordance with our natures our greatest desire at the time of choosing,thus the ability to choose equally between good and evil is a myth..Now God didnot create adam as we know with a sinful nature thus adam could not have chosen equally between two natures..Adam sinned i believe by way of God changing his nature from good to sinful by way of indirect causation,by way of God withdrawing His divine influence upon adam thus leaving adam alone,to himself to do as he pleases,the result is adams nature and all his desires change to sinful,adam now acts in accordance with his new defective nature..
The absense of Gods holy infuence upon adam is the ultimate and indirect cause,NOT direct cause of adams sinful nature.God did not directly inject a evil desire into adam,rather the sinful desire in adam was the result of Gods grace upon adam,leaving adam simply to himself...Adam now because of his sinful nature do only evil,just as prior to the fall he could only do good,only because God was working thu him..God now uses the evil nature in man to bring to pass HIS WILL,mans intentions being evil and Gods righteous..
NOTE..johnathan edwards gives a analogy of the sun to illustrate..dark rays do not flow out from the sun but are the result of the suns absence,the sun is the ultimate cause but not the direct cause of darkness,thus evil does NOT flow out from God but is the result of Gods absenceupon the secondary agent,the evil flows out from man..thus God is the ultimate and indirect cause of evil wile man is the direct cause.
God changes our natures at His soveriegn pleasure,He changes the nature of a non christians to a christians nature,from bad to good,thus why can He not change adams from good to bad..
any correction or further thoughts would be appreciated..
soli deo gloria.
Tags:
None
- Categories
- Uncategorized
Mark as Read
