Except that the Bible tells us that we won't have a sin nature and will be made like Christ.
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College Paper
- Thread starter Awesomegirl
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Except that the Bible tells us that we won't have a sin nature and will be made like Christ.
S
SpiritualAntiseptic
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The angels made a conscious choice. The decisions we make on Earth are completely different than that of Heaven.
Humans don't sin following a serious, conscious decision to do so. We are corrupted, imperfect and our decisions are flawed. In Heaven, our minds will be completely clear and free. We will base decisions out of pure free will, not in response to how we were treated as children, what we were told was right and wrong, not on attitude, etc etc.
The angels in Heaven didn't rebel as one might rebel on Earth.
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- Sep 5, 2007
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well thanks guys, i gotta find some Buddhist to talk to now, and then for my last one I have to find a wiccan to question. Thanks for the help!
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but it was still a choice by the angels, meh whatever, this isn't what is keeping me from becoming a christian, or any religion so Ill drop it and let it go, later guys
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Many think of evil as a polar opposite of good, like the yin-yan symbol. I would say that Christianity would show evil more like a cloud over the moon.
Evil is a destructive force. It saps a person of autonomy, of rights to live a peaceful and productive life on earth. Evil is selfish. When an act or event is termed evil, it has robbed and cheated and trampled the innocent, the hard-working, and the generous.
We are all capable of evil, without any help. A need to survive can drive people toward evil acts. More often, a desire to put oneself above others is at the root.
This is what Satan did. He wanted to push others away in order to get the glory for himself. Since he happened to be a powerful supernatural being, with no known life span, he happens to have had a strong impact in our world.
How we connect with supernatural beings is still a mystery, but it happens. People hear things.
Satan is called "the accuser of the brethren." His work is usually a very subtle corrosion of personal fortitude, of trust, of hope. If we had a tangible enemy doing visibly destructive acts, we would charge out in strength and destroy him. But instead he works more effectually, to weaken us from within.
He is an instigator, but not the source.
Evil is a destructive force. It saps a person of autonomy, of rights to live a peaceful and productive life on earth. Evil is selfish. When an act or event is termed evil, it has robbed and cheated and trampled the innocent, the hard-working, and the generous.
We are all capable of evil, without any help. A need to survive can drive people toward evil acts. More often, a desire to put oneself above others is at the root.
This is what Satan did. He wanted to push others away in order to get the glory for himself. Since he happened to be a powerful supernatural being, with no known life span, he happens to have had a strong impact in our world.
How we connect with supernatural beings is still a mystery, but it happens. People hear things.
Satan is called "the accuser of the brethren." His work is usually a very subtle corrosion of personal fortitude, of trust, of hope. If we had a tangible enemy doing visibly destructive acts, we would charge out in strength and destroy him. But instead he works more effectually, to weaken us from within.
He is an instigator, but not the source.
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Not sure if you felt the answer to this part was complete enough.
The goodness of God includes trust, and creating beings that have a high level of autonomy and creative freedom. God's choice was to make people in the image of Himself, a being with a love for design, problem-solving, imagination, and I would expect a love for exploring nooks and crannies.
With this autonomy comes choice to make wise and unwise decisions.
Fallen angels are mentioned in scriptures, so that means these supernatural beings had freedom of choice too. I don't think their choice was to suddenly embody evil, but operating from spite and anger turned into evil actions.
You know about Cain and Abel -- Cain was jealous of God's attention toward Abel, and when his face got hot with rage, God warned him to control his jealousies. Cain didn't, and ended up killing his brother. Cain wasn't the embodiment of evil -- he just let harmful emotions control his destiny.
We get frustrated with the freedom that evil personalities have, but we don't want to be stopped ourselves. It is not the human assignment to dominate over each other, but it is our right and responsibility to design ways to keep others from oppressing the innocent.
Maybe this still seems like beating around the bush, but the premise of the question follows the "Devil made me do it" perception more than thought-out theology. Compare seeing the devil as the gatekeeper of darkness, to seeing him as a very big bully.
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Satan rebelled against God out of a desire to be like God. The desire came from his own heart and his wickedness is his own. However, God planned before ever creating Satan that he would rebel, taking one third of the angels with him, later tempting Adam and Eve, bringing about the fall of man, allowing Christ to come and bear the wrath of God's righteous judgement against sin for his own glory in the praise of the voices of the redeemed. God planned every bit of Christ's sufferings before creation, and he did it so Christ could be praised the way that only a Savior can.
This is not what a lot of modern Christians teach, but it is biblical and it is historical. It is the teaching of the Reformers, such as Martin Luther and John Calvin, and the early saints, such as the apostle Paul and Saint Augustine. In modern day terms, this view of Christianity is normally called Calvinism, while the more common view (relying on a free will explanation) is called Arminianism or Pelagianism.
I'll give you some scriptural references in case they can be of help to you:
And all who dwell on earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who was slain (Revelation 13:8, emphasis added).
According to this verse, God planned to send the Lamb (Jesus) before the foundation of the world. If God had already planned to send a Lamb to be slain for the sins of the world before creation, then God had already planned that Satan would rebel and Adam would sin.
Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know—this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men (Acts 2:22-23, emphasis added).
Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place (Acts 4:27-28, emphasis added).
Again, we see that it is part of God's plan. The Bible is clear that God ordains all things that come to pass; nothing happens that is not part of his perfect and good plan. Truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and your plan had predestined to take place (Acts 4:27-28, emphasis added).
http://youtube.com/watch?v=m0jwRkPW1D4
If you're interested in learning more on this, I recommend John Piper's sermon The Fall of Satan and the Victory of Christ.
Nathan
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This is also a thread asking for our stance for a research paper. We will and should have different things to say about evil.
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Katie7725
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Calvinism seems unfair to me, I mean if God is controlling everything, and he must if he knows what is going to happen, any other explanation is illogical, than we don't really have any freedom at all. This is weird because people are talking about free will then people say God planned everything. You can't have both it is impossible. I dunno just my thoughts 
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S
SpiritualAntiseptic
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Calvinism seems unfair to me, I mean if God is controlling everything, and he must if he knows what is going to happen, any other explanation is illogical, than we don't really have any freedom at all. This is weird because people are talking about free will then people say God planned everything. You can't have both it is impossible. I dunno just my thoughts
Calvinism holds that people do not have free will on Earth. Only Adam and Eve originally had free will, as did the angels.
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This is weird because people are talking about free will then people say God planned everything. You can't have both it is impossible. I dunno just my thoughts
We don't try to have it both ways. The Arminians, Pelagians, and open theists all attempt to say God did not plan everything at the expense of his sovereignty or omniscience and in contradiction to the scriptures. Calvinists say God is sovereign, omniscient, and planned everything before the creation of the world. Calvinists do not often use the term free will because it's not a well defined term and people mean different things when they say it. The Bible does not use the term either.
Man is responsible for his sin in that he does so out of his own wickedness. But every sin, God permits through his sovereign, good will for his good purposes.
You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good (Genesis 50:20).
The same event can have two purposes behind it. Man's wicked purpose, and God's good purpose working in and through man's wicked purpose.
God bless,
Nathan
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