Bible Question: God but man on the earth and satin was already here. Why did he put us into this situation? Is it not like putting a kid into a candy store? I know we have free will to fellowship with God but why not in a place without satin? |
Bible Answer: I hope someone with better knowledge can correct me if I'm wrong! As i unerstand it, it cannot be said with any certainty whether satan's fall was before or after Creation. In either case, satan's presence was a test for Adam and Eve's obedience (note: God gave His command to Adam; Eve would only have heard it from him; it is unlikely to have been "genetically" passed to Eve when God took the rib from Adam). God wants us to love Him (Hosea6:6).Obedience should be a fruit of love. Love can only be given freely - it cannot be forced (1 Cor.13:5). Hence, either a) God needed to know if Adam and Eve would love Him by being obedient (in this case God is deliberately limiting Himself, by denying Himself foreknowledge of His creation - God often does this in respect of the free-will He gave us), or b) God wanted ADAM and EVE to discover for themselves if they loved Him enough to be obedient. Think of all the different possible results! 1) Eve could have said "I DON'T believe you, serpent! GOD, there's a serpent here trying to trick me!!". Adam's response? "Well done, Eve!!" 2)Eve could have given in to temptation but Adam could have said "Eve! What have you done?! Have you forgotten what I told you about that tree??!" 3)Eve could have said "I'll have to ask my husband about this!" - in which case Adam could have either resisted temptation, or HE could have taken the fruit and said "Seem's alright to me!!". There could have been other variations too. The important thing is that GOD knew there will be a GOOD outcome, whatever happened - just different routes to that good outcome. Option 1) is the only one where a New Creation would not be needed (because sin failed to enter the world). Any of the others, sin would have entered the world, redemption required, then a New Creation for the redeemed to live in the restoration of eternal life. By the way, your 'kid in the candy store' would only be correct if sin was ALREADY present - before the temptation was presented, Adam and Eve had no trouble leaving That Tree alone. Do we genetically inherit sin? Have you noticed how you don't need to teach kids to be naughty??! |