By Brother Michel Lankford
We’re not in fact being punished for Adam and Eve’s sin. The difference is between the concept of active punishment and that of natural consequences. That is in large part a misconception or a misunderstanding. Consider this. there is a HUGE difference between the concept of natural consequences or results, and God actively punishing someone. Try not to mix up those two critical yet distinct concepts. It’s very tempting to blame God when we receive results in our lives that we don’t like. Yet, God has decreed that every plant will bear seed and fruits after its own kind. Consequently, if I desire a harvest of peas, I must plant peas, and not plant some other type of seed. If I wanted a great harvest of peas, but I insisted on planting seed corn, is it even close to righteous to get mad at God, or accuse God of wrongdoing, because I harvested the corn that I planted instead the of peas that I really wanted? That is unjust and ridiculous to expect peas if you plant corn. The SAME concept is true with this issue (Genesis 1:11; Galatians 6:7–9).
If I CHOOSE to throw a heavy brick up in the air, and CHOSE to run underneath that brick, I’m going to get CLOBBERED. I could get seriously hurt by that. However, that is NOT God punishing me. That would be the natural CONSEQUENCES of the way that I CHOSE to FUNCTION within God’s already established scientific Laws of motion and gravity. The fact that God’s Laws of gravity works, doesn’t mean that God is punishing me because I got hurt by the brick. That was a natural consequence of my own stupid choices.
The same would be true if I french kissed a light socket that had electrical power running through it. The same would be true if I chose to drink poison. I could get seriously hurt or even killed as a result of my own stupid choices. That is NOT God’s fault that He doesn’t VIOLATE His Own established Laws, to keep me safe from my own stupid choices, (Galatians 6:7–9). TRUE FREEDOM is that I am free to choose as I will, but I will have to bear with at least some of the results and consequences from the choices that I make.
- God gave dominion and stewardship of the earth to Adam and Eve.
- God also allowed Adam and Eve the freedom to choose whether they would obey God, and prosper, or they would obey the devil, and they would grant the devil partial dominion over the earth.
- Adam and Eve chose to sin, and that gave the devil partial and temporary dominion over the earth that they were supposed to control.
- As a result the devil has easier access to be able to tempt us to sin against God, which produces more and more chaos, death, and devastation.
- If a parent indulges a spirit of sin such as suicide, drugs, alcohol, infidelity, greed, abusiveness, or whatever, and they don’t overcome those with Grace through Christ, then the chances are that the devil will have much easier access to be able to tempt future members and future generations of that family, to entice them into the same sins.
Here is the thing. NONE of that is God’s Fault. it’s all OURS. God offers us a way of redemption, through His Son Jesus Christ. He offers a way out of the huge mess that WE created. He could have let us rot, and He would have been completely within His spiritual legal rights to do so. However, in His Love and mercy He chose to provide a way of redemption through His Son. Still, people try to blame Him for the natural results of the mess that WE created, even as He is trying to help us out of it all. That takes a lot of gull and arrogance to treat God that way, (Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:10).
Here is a parallel. Let’s say that your parents buy you a beautiful little house, but you live like a pig. You destroy the house you were given and wreck your lives with self indulgence. Now your house is a burned out shell of its former glory, and you need your parents to kindly rebuild what you ruined. In your infinite wisdom you blame your parents because you wrecked what they gave you, and you are unhappy with the renovation, and what it takes to rebuild. Would such a self centered and self indulgent attitude be even CLOSE to righteous? Of Course NOT. Nevertheless, that is exactly how folks are tempted to blame God over the mess that WE created ourselves.
As It Is Written:
““The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son’s iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself. (Ezekiel 18:20 NASB95)
As It Is Written:
““But if the wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed and observes all My statutes and practices justice and righteousness, he shall surely live; he shall not die. (Ezekiel 18:21 NASB95)
As It Is Written:
““But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity and does according to all the abominations that a wicked man does, will he live? All his righteous deeds which he has done will not be remembered for his treachery which he has committed and his sin which he has committed; for them he will die. (Ezekiel 18:24 NASB95)
As It Is Written:
“Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. (James 1:13–15 NASB95)
As It Is Written:
“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. For God will bring every act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it is good or evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:13–14 NASB95)
Temptation and sin is OUR own fault, NOT God’s fault.