Well as part of my requirements for Apologetics, I took a gander at the Apologetics blog on the Kingsley College website, and became interested in the arguments that Bob the skeptic put forward.At one point Bob asks, "All I’m sayin’ is that if nature proves God because it’s so wonderful and all, why couldn't the man upstairs have done a better job of it?"
This is a valid question, one that I have asked often before, as someone that suffers with cerebral palsy, I want to know what went wrong, just like Bob!
You see Bob that's just the thing, something went oh so very wrong. Genesis 3 gives us a glimpse, verses 1 to 7 in particular,
You see Bob that's just the thing, something went oh so very wrong. Genesis 3 gives us a glimpse, verses 1 to 7 in particular,
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, "Did God really say, 'You must not eat from any tree in the garden'?"
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Now I know what your thinking! So women are the cause of all this trouble? No, that's not what I am stating at all! What I am saying, is that what God made perfect for all his children to enjoy, they chose to reject. Which led to the downfall of creation, humanity and all that those things encompass, this rejection led to death. It is like if you give a gift to one of your children, they can either reject it, or accept it, Adam and Eve chose the former. They chose to disobey God and sin, and so do we, everyday.
This means that my mother died from cancer and why I have Cerebral Palsy, it means that children that are innocent die from cancer and people do horrid things, because we as descendants of Adam and Eve are directly affected, whether we ate the apple, or not.
Oh and by the way, I am not so prideful as to think that I wouldn't have taken that apple, if it had been me in the garden, I like knowledge and power just as much as the next person.
So what went wrong? Nothing that God did, and everything that humanity did.
Now I wouldn't blame you Bob, if you followed my long winded answer, to your question, by asking, "If that is the case, why doesn't he fix it?"
Well he has, it just doesn't look like what we humans think it should. Bare with me as I explain.
God loves us so much, and wants us to freely love and worship him in return, so instead of clicking his thumbs and taking our freedom to choose to love him, which is what would have to happen for God to make things perfect the way that humans want, God chose another way, a far more exciting and fantastic way....He died!! Scandalous isn't it?
God the Father, sent Jesus Christ, his very own son to die. Jesus who is God incarnate, chose to humble himself and die in our place, on the cross. Jesus lived a fully sinless life, as a human, yes he is God and he had the power to do whatever, but he limited himself for our sake and didn't sin even though he was tempted.
This means that we can again choose to have a relationship with God, because Jesus took our sins upon himself.
The thing is, it doesn't end there, that would be universalism. My lecturer told me that is wrong and after much thought I agree. We don't recieve forgiveness until we ask for it. We still have a choice to make! Bob, you might be a lovely person, in fact, of that I have no doubt. But it is not enough to get you to heaven...sorry, I didn't make the rules. God can only accept people without sin into heaven, we cannot get their on our own efforts. We are sinners because of what we call inherency. Because we are an offspring of Adam and Eve, we inherited their sinful make-up. Not that we don't sin in other ways, we do, bad thoughts, speaking harshly to people when we're angry....the list is endless, but the point is, even if we never sinned we'd still be guilty because of our sinfil nature inherited from Adam and Eve. (They commited a real doosy)
The woman said to the serpent, "We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, 'You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.' "
"You will not surely die," the serpent said to the woman. "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
Now I know what your thinking! So women are the cause of all this trouble? No, that's not what I am stating at all! What I am saying, is that what God made perfect for all his children to enjoy, they chose to reject. Which led to the downfall of creation, humanity and all that those things encompass, this rejection led to death. It is like if you give a gift to one of your children, they can either reject it, or accept it, Adam and Eve chose the former. They chose to disobey God and sin, and so do we, everyday.
This means that my mother died from cancer and why I have Cerebral Palsy, it means that children that are innocent die from cancer and people do horrid things, because we as descendants of Adam and Eve are directly affected, whether we ate the apple, or not.
Oh and by the way, I am not so prideful as to think that I wouldn't have taken that apple, if it had been me in the garden, I like knowledge and power just as much as the next person.
So what went wrong? Nothing that God did, and everything that humanity did.
Now I wouldn't blame you Bob, if you followed my long winded answer, to your question, by asking, "If that is the case, why doesn't he fix it?"
Well he has, it just doesn't look like what we humans think it should. Bare with me as I explain.
God loves us so much, and wants us to freely love and worship him in return, so instead of clicking his thumbs and taking our freedom to choose to love him, which is what would have to happen for God to make things perfect the way that humans want, God chose another way, a far more exciting and fantastic way....He died!! Scandalous isn't it?
God the Father, sent Jesus Christ, his very own son to die. Jesus who is God incarnate, chose to humble himself and die in our place, on the cross. Jesus lived a fully sinless life, as a human, yes he is God and he had the power to do whatever, but he limited himself for our sake and didn't sin even though he was tempted.
This means that we can again choose to have a relationship with God, because Jesus took our sins upon himself.
The thing is, it doesn't end there, that would be universalism. My lecturer told me that is wrong and after much thought I agree. We don't recieve forgiveness until we ask for it. We still have a choice to make! Bob, you might be a lovely person, in fact, of that I have no doubt. But it is not enough to get you to heaven...sorry, I didn't make the rules. God can only accept people without sin into heaven, we cannot get their on our own efforts. We are sinners because of what we call inherency. Because we are an offspring of Adam and Eve, we inherited their sinful make-up. Not that we don't sin in other ways, we do, bad thoughts, speaking harshly to people when we're angry....the list is endless, but the point is, even if we never sinned we'd still be guilty because of our sinfil nature inherited from Adam and Eve. (They commited a real doosy)
Bob, your wife will tell you that it only takes one bad egg to ruin an omelet, well it only took one bite to ruin what God made good, and one sin makes us flawed.
To be made clean again we must be willing to realise that God is god, and he is deserving of our worship and love, then we acknowedge our sins, humble ourselves and ask Jesus to forgive us and turn and follow him with the help of the Holy Spirit, who was sent by Jesus to help us walk with him.
So Bob, thanks for being a skeptic, it helps me get things straight in my mind, and hopefully some of my gibberish helped you too!
To be made clean again we must be willing to realise that God is god, and he is deserving of our worship and love, then we acknowedge our sins, humble ourselves and ask Jesus to forgive us and turn and follow him with the help of the Holy Spirit, who was sent by Jesus to help us walk with him.
So Bob, thanks for being a skeptic, it helps me get things straight in my mind, and hopefully some of my gibberish helped you too!
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