J> I am confused how it is injustice for the governor of the state to pardon 1 man but not the other 4 men, since all of the men are guilty criminals who have already earned justice and punishment.
N> Say those 5 people were your children Joe. ALL are guilty. Are YOU going to go to 4 of them and tell them, the governor did a RIGHTEOUS, and JUST act in allowing them to be punished while pardoning the one because he liked him. So YOU..... THEIR FATHER agrees with the governor that it was JUST considering they had no choice right from birth being BORN GUILTY.
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ON THE ORIGIN OF SIN
J> Holland and Nucc: Your statements are a denial of the doctrine of Original Sin. You are saying it is unjust of God to not give guilty criminals a chance.
N> And you're saying it is just for God to create humans that will live through life with no choice other than to end up in an ETERNAL hell. Sorry Joe I can only accept a JUST, OMNIBENEVOLENT, God.
On the topic of the Origin of Sin though. Knowing the nature of God through Scripture, Gen 1:31 states...
Gen 1:31
31 And God saw ALL that He had made, and behold, IT WAS VERY GOOD. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. (NAS)
So we KNOW that God DID NOT PRODUCE SIN. Going on, learning MORE about God, we can see from Hab 1:13 that God has NO part in the promotion of sin or evil.
Hab 1:13a
13a {Thine} eyes are too pure to approve evil, and Thou canst not look on wickedness {with favor.} (NAS)
James says; That anything to do with temptation to do evil or sin DOESN'T COME FROM GOD.....BUT...
James 1:13
13 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. (NAS)
...from Matt 6:13 we can see even in the Lord's Prayer that a PROVISION exists that God can be asked for deliverance from evil AND temptation through supplication in prayer.
Matt 6:13
13 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.]' (NAS)
So we KNOW God's relation to sin and we know that God is ALL POWERFUL. so how is it that sin STILL exists? The answer is God CAN and HAS PERMITTED SIN and EVIL to occur, and in doing so He ACCOMPLISHES HIS OWN HIGHER PURPOSE ie. His SOVEREIGN PLAN.
The Origin of Sin for HUMANS originated in the Garden....God in discussion with Adam stated ...
Gen 2:16-17
16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat FREELY;
17 but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you shall surely die." (NAS)
So Joe when God said you MAY EAT FREELY it brought about PERMISSION for man from God to FREELY CHOOSE OPPOSITE to what God commanded him to do. So Joe, does that clarify to you the ORIGIN OF SIN? It originated for man when FREELY CHOSE what he OUGHT NOT to have chosen. IOW the incorrect use of the FREE WILL given to MAN in creation (Adam) is the cause of the ORIGIN OF SIN.
Unless we LOVE the truth, we cannot know it ~~ Pascal
