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Originally Posted by Sons to Glory!
So please forgive me for coming late to the party, but can someone summarize what we've determined in these 275 posts?
To facilitate the answer, I have these three questions:
1. What is sin dwelling in man’s flesh (as per Romans 7) and where did it come from?
2. Are there only two sources in the universe?
3. Adam & Eve ate something forbidden in the garden – what got into man?
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1. Sin is rebellion against God.
2. There is only one source in the Universe -- the word of God. All things came into being through Him and apart from Him there is nothing that exists.
3. Eating from the tree was forbidden, hence it was sin to eat it. However, that does not make the tree evil. God created it, He placed it in the garden, and it was a good tree, one to make you wise, like God. Instead of two sources, lets say there are two paths to this wisdom. One path is to trust and obey. The other path is trial and error. One path we abide with the most High, the other path we are on our own. The tree of Knowledge was a requirement for a universe that includes man's free will. If God creates man with free will then the option to disobey God must be included. Taken to its logical conclusion creating the universe with free will includes creating Hitler, Stalin, and Nero. So then, how does a God in whom there is no darkness create evil men? The answer is beyond our thoughts or reasoning. He created the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Once you take that path your body becomes mortal flesh and there is a time limit on your life. This vastly reduces the amount of damage you can do as your lifetime is simply a vapor or like the flower of the field withering. Still you do have a life and so even though it is an infinitesimal amount of time relative to eternity it is still greater than 0. However, all the evil men can do is kill the body (the mortal flesh which is vanity) they cannot harm the soul or spirit which are eternal. So then the tree of Knowledge is like a laboratory which is set up with all kinds of precautions and controls where we can learn through experimentation (trial and error). It is a very hard road to take filled with pain and suffering, it is a lonely road to take including excommunication, and it is a shameful road to take. Ultimately the lesson learned is that all glory and honor belong to God the Father and our Lord Jesus.
If you like analogies to help understand complex issues I would liken the Tree of knowledge to a computer simulation. If you spend 2 hours playing a video game in which people are killed is that evil? The game may reveal evil intents of your heart, but did you do any real, lasting damage to anything? Otherwise, how could God wipe away every tear? We use computer simulations to train pilots, we don't want them to crash on the simulation, but we would much rather that happen than they crash in a real plane. Likewise we are being trained in this life to rule and reign with Christ.