"Preach the Word,

Recently, I was presented with this 'argument' about God, Adam, and Sin. Now the Bible says that God doesn't tempt us but is that right? James 1:13 - Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

Here is the discussion...

Genesis 2:17 - But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Why would a loving God place temptation before the very first man created knowing what the outcome would be. Isn't that making sure that man would fall? Why would that same loving God then sentence people to hell for taking advantage of something that He created? Something is not right with this picture. All that was accomplished by God creating that tree was the first humans had their lives destroyed, they were cast out of the garden that God had created for them, the first man born on earth murdered his brother, and the second man born was murdered. Now somebody please tell me this is good. And of course down through the ages man has hated, killed, and went to hell because sin was passed down by God's first creation. What was God thinking?

Why should all mankind be sentenced to having to choose between good and evil, because the first man and woman decided to eat something God forbade them to eat? We all have the power to choose and I understand that but the Bible says that sin was passed down from Adam as though we have no choice but to sin and that is exactly what the Bible says. [Romans 5:12 - Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so death was passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:] Adam was born with no sin. Why don't we all have the same choice? Why should we all be sentenced to death because one man sinned? Even our justice is better than that. A man commits a crime , is sentenced but his family isn't convicted because is.

OK first off this is the kind circle logic that gets people focusing in the wrong direction. I don't criticize or blame people for this reasoning we see that John the Baptist, the forerunner of Jesus (who boldly proclaimed Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29) even had a time of doubts and questions (Matt. 11:2-15, Luke 7:18-35 - He asked of Jesus Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?). Jesus set a great example in dealing with John's doubts but proving his heavenly power. So the first answer I would have for one who brought of these questions is that God showed His love by sending Jesus and Jesus showed His love by willingly giving His life for us. One would think that if God was setting up anyone for heartache it would be himself or Jesus...He who knew no sin yet willingly gave all He had to become the appeasement of God's righteousness (see Phil. 2:5-8 & Rom. 5:6-21).

Secondly, this reasoning can simply be answered in the same circle reasoning of man's logic. To blame God for 'setting man up for failure' is like blaming the auto industry for making engines that go much faster than the speed limit. The driver has a choice to speed even though the capabilities and opportunity is in front of the driver to go 120 MPH that doesn't mean that man is 'being set up to get a speeding ticket'. Auto manufacturers know that people are going to speed and that mankind has the capability to speed, and is presented with opportunities to speed...ultimately though it is up to the driver to choose to speed. The same with Adam's sin in the garden. He chose to tell Eve something different than what God told him (compare Gen. 2:17 & 3:3). She chose to look at it, take it, eat it and then offer it to Adam that was there with her. And he chose to take it from her and eat it as well. They simply made a choice, albeit a seriously bad choice that has affected all of us. But a choice that God was prepared for by having a plan in place before the world was formed that was fulfilled by Jesus' death on the cross.

Thirdly, if the first man didn't choose and as the person making the question asked why not give each man a choice to sin or not...God in His wisdom knew that man would sin someday if not Adam then Cain, or any other of offspring of Adam and Eve. So let's apply some of this reverse logic and say that God didn't delay the inevitable and that He actually shows great mercy and wisdom knowing (or designing) the situation with the first man sinning so that the plan would be put into place immediately for man to have a way to escape the judgement of sin. Understand that I don't think that God said "oh well, it's going to happen anyways. I guess I might as well do it now" but if one wants to discuss a silly logic I can counter with another silly logic of my own.

Fourth, to compare God's justice system to ours is ridiculous. On one hand we have wrongly accused and condemned innocent people for crimes that they didn't commit. On the other hand, when a man is condemned for a crime while the court doesn't condemn the family, the situation in essence does condemn them and they suffer greatly for it. No one sins in a vacuum. There are always effects we know it, we see it, we experience it and God knew it from the very beginning and mankind has been paying for it ever since and compounding it with our own sins making it worse for each generation.

I hope that my points are considered and would love to have you leave comments or counter points to the original item or my counter-points. Thanks for reading and God bless!