This eternal cry of man was asked by a young lady in my 8th grade Sunday School class. I gave the standard response of original sin and, in deference to the child, I threw in an analogy that Adam and Eve were “sent to their room” as a way to put it in perspective for an 8th grader. A couple of days later I awoke in the middle of the night with a better analogy. In the beginning Adam and Eve were with God from the beginning – and all was well. We all know the story of the fall; Adam should have been watching over Eve, Eve ate the apple, Adam ate the apple, etcetera. Enter a different God into the picture. A God Adam and Eve had not encountered before. A disappointed God, an angry God, a God whom they had betrayed. Now we know that God is all-knowing, all-good and all-powerful and He had to know this was coming. So, could God have simply wiped out the two troublemakers and started over?… Read More »If God is good; why evil?
Sin
Am I my brother’s keeper? Recently someone asked, “why do good people have to suffer?” I replied, “Because of original sin.” To which they said, “I know that, but why do I have to suffer when it was Eve who ate the apple, and not me?” The answer to this question is neither straightforward nor fulfilling. First off, the fall was not the result of Eve, because the covenant was made through Adam. Recall that when Eve ate the apple nothing happened, but when Adam ate the apple, the whole world fell apart. But that aside, Adam and Eve only committed one sin; how many have you committed? Besides, if we refuse our share of the sin of the first Adam, then we are also denying salvation of the second Adam.[1] This all began because Adam failed to do what he was created to do – till and keep the garden.[2] And as descendants of Adam, we must all answer for his negligence. Why? Because we are all mystically and inextricably linked and whether we… Read More »Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
Am I My Brother’s Keeper?
(NOTE: This is chapter four of my book “The Sinner’s Survival Guide“) Temptation I was hounded by temptation for most of my life. I resisted it plenty of times but many other times I gave into the temptation. But it didn’t matter. Whether I resisted or not, I always felt guilty. Guilt from temptation is something I struggled with greatly. For example, I used to read Mathew 5:28 in a very self-condemning way: But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Taken at face value, to me this meant that if I even looked at a woman and noticed she had hair like my wife’s or had a pretty dress or face that that was it! I’d sinned. I was doomed. It was as plain as anything – I looked at a woman, noticed something particular about her and because of this I was going to hell. I could have just gotten out of the confessional, simply looked at a woman… Read More »Temptation