ttruscott
Well-known member
God pronounced a curse on the entire human race that would ever be born... that being a curse upon the earth and the curse of death. That isn't controversial (or shouldn't be) as this is spelled out in Genesis and confirmed in the New Testament, as well as being born out by personal experience.
If by the curse of death you refer to Genesis 2:17...but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." ...was the curse given to all who would be born as men or was it given to all sinners? Ie, are not angels under the same sentence of death whether they are born as human or not? The difference would be that a soul that never sinned in your theology becomes a sinner by being created as a man in Adam whereas in my theology the created person doesn't become a sinner under sentence of death unless they chose by their free will to be sinner. The difference in all men being sinners is that one theology says that all men are sinners because they were created (conceived or born) as men while the other says only sinners are born as men...the same end result but a vastly different approach of the GOD of love to HIS creation.
To accept your approach, one must accept that GOD had HIS Bride born evil for no reason, to experience sin and suffering for no reason, just to redeem her for no merit... If you can live with a God like that, many do...I think it vastly underrates GOD's loving kindness and HIS appreciation of HIS creation, HIS Bride.
I personally start with the perfection of HIS loving kindness, HIS righteousness and HIS patience and will not accept any doctrine that makes a mockery of them.
The wages of sin is death equals death proves sinfulness. Only sinners die. Saying a non-sinner dies is a contradiction of doctrinal terms, accepted by many but not logical, just a part of the mess caused by the doctrines that 1. we are created on earth and 2. we are created as sinners in Adam.The infant of days may not have yet committed a sin, but could still die from a miscarriage or the death of its mother. That infant of days is still under the curse pronounced on the race of Adam. Did it die because it personally sinned in the womb? No, it died because mankind is under the curse pronounced upon sinful mankind.
I contend no one is under the curse of death if they have not chosen by their free will to be a sinner...mankind is subject to death because only sinners are conceived, born , that is SOWN (not created as the devil sows also) into the world by the Son of Man or the devil; Matt 13:36-39.
Therefore,
contains such a mish mash of conflicting ideas, a sinless sinner, a death for a non-sinner, that it is hard to focus the hermeneutic....The infant child is sinful but has not yet sinned, yet it dies just the same.
Is there not an unforgivable sin? if it is not forgiven is it not eternal? If it is eternal and a little leaven (sin) leavens (corrupts) the whole lump (person or reality), must it not be banished from reality before it can contaminate the heavenly state?For the record, I do not share your views of "sinful elect vs. eternally evil goats." Not only does it carry the scent of Calvinism and all of its implications, but there is no such thing as eternal evil.
The serpent arrived in the garden evil and fallen...did he fall before the rest of creation or after the rest of creation? Remember, all the sons of God saw the creation of the physical universe with their own eyes Job 38:7 by the making of which YHWH proved HIS divinity and power to every creature under heaven so none has an excuse, Rom 1:20.In the beginning God pronounced his creation good and death had not yet entered the world through sin.
Simple? What is simple about being automatically condemned to death and to hell if HE doesn't give us grace, by no fault of our own, by no choice of our own, by no mens rea, ie, no guilty intent, just because HE made us man in Adam rather than as Martians or as a new new race like HE did with Adam???And as for those who are condemned already, it is because every child born of woman of the race of Adam is automatically under the curse of death. We start this life condemned unto death. It is that simple.
What is simple about contradicting scripture: Ezekiel 18:20The one who sins is the one who will die. The child willnot share the guilt of the parent, nor will the parent share the guilt of the child. And Jeremiah 31:30 Instead, each will die for his own iniquity.
How can we then die for Adam's sin???