... there are times you might find yourself in a crisis of belief when you encounter concepts, ideas, statements that are in conflict with what you have believed or what you have been taught. ...
you are going to have to decide where your faith is going to rest: on what the Bible teaches, on what you believe and have experienced, or on what you have been taught or is commonly accepted ...
deciding whose word you are going to believe.
-- Genesis Part 2: The Fall, the Flood, and the Nations (Chapters 3-11), pg. 21.
Lesson Two is about how evil came into the world.
Question 7 on page 25 asks who or what is specifically cursed in Genesis 3-4:
And I wrote, "the serpent, the ground and Cain." I thought two things: (1) Adam isn't cursed and (2) even if he was, his curse didn't automatically fall upon Cain who was cursed afresh or anew for his sin.
Question 8 instructs to write out Romans 5:12 -
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned--And Paul says that death reigned from Adam to Moses, even though the Law hadn't been given. Read Rev. 20:1-10 and 12:1-17 both of which refer to the red dragon as "the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan."
Question 5 on page 30 asks whether I saw anything about the serpent that I hadn't realized before and I said, "It eats dirt." Such information is helpful for reminding me that the serpent is an earth-dweller, an "inhabitant of the earth" (Rev., 6:10, 8:13, 11:10, 13:8, 13:12, 13:14, 17:2, 17:8), bound to this world.
I'm not finished with lesson two yet but I think the damage has already been done.
4 comments:
you are going to have to decide where your faith is going to rest: on what the Bible teaches, on what you believe and have experienced, or on what you have been taught or is commonly accepted ...
Teresa,
My faith is going to rest on what the Bible teaches and on what I have experienced (personally or observed in others) - nothing else. Depending upon what others believe or what is commonly taught as 'truth' is basing my faith on shaky ground. How many times we have accepted something as 'truth' only to find out later that it was error?
Well put together blog.
How many times we have accepted something as 'truth' only to find out later that it was error?
I don't know, how many times?
I'm here thinking the Orthodox could have a better understanding of The Fall than Westerners. And I'm wondering whether - I mean, how - that distinction matters.
Have we misunderstood St. Paul in Romans 5:12? Or has St. Paul misunderstood Genesis? My suspicion is that St. Paul was - somehow - working from a different text or tradition.
Have we misunderstood St. Paul in Romans 5:12? Or has St. Paul misunderstood Genesis? My suspicion is that St. Paul was - somehow - working from a different text or tradition.
My understanding of Romans 5:12 is that because of Adam's sin, all of mankind became cursed with a sin-problem. We were born in a sinful world/environment, adopted sinful habits, and a nature with the tendency to sin.
Adam, when he was created, was sinless, with a sinless nature. After sin, his nature became sinful and he passed on that sinful nature to the rest of mankind. A good analogy would be animals. Different types of animals have different types of natures. Cats tend to be affectionate, and tigers tend to be aggressive. Cats will pass on their affectionate nature to their offspring and tigers will pass on their aggressive nature to their offspring. In the same way, Adam passed on his sin nature to the rest of mankind. JMHO.
Peace.
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