Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Death & Sin - A Recurring Problem


Romans 5:12-14

“Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned— for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.”

As we age and it seems strange but often it requires one to get in there thirties before recalling some of the wisdom of their dads, at least that was true with me.  My dad enjoyed history and he was a reader of history and well versed in biblical, world, and United States history.  He would say; “If one would only learn from history they would not have to repeat it.”  And he often said; “We repeat history because of our ignorance of history” and I believe that is so true in and out of the Church.

 I was reminded Sunday that a good writer will always use the (“5 W’s) when covering a topic.  Not having any claim to being a writer, but enjoying hitting keys on the computer, I’m going to try that method to give a history of how sin entered into mankind.

In the beginning Scripture gave an account of what happened, God created the heavens and the earth, no one has a time line on this, in fact it may have happened before God made time.  Next, it would be of importance to know who was there, and Scripture tells us, the players were God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  You may be wondering why did it happen, and maybe that is one you can ask the Father when you enter His presence.  You also may be wondering when did it happen, and it is clear it was in the beginning, and the where did it happen, in the vastness of nothing. 

Now you may stand with the many who do not accept God or Scripture and you allow man to give you what they believe about not only Creation but about how you were formed.  It seems one should consider these men of great learning; they believed or at least stated the very first man and woman were formed from millions of years of slime, and some how a cell came about and that is how the process began and millions of years later a monkey somehow became a man, now that is not precise, but close.  It seems no one can tell where the slime came from, when it happen, why it happen, or even if it happen, that is why it is called a theory.  Now I cannot choose for you but the slime theory requires more faith than I have.

So let’s stay with Scripture, we have this account in Genesis 1: 26, God formed the first man, and I hope it answers the (5W’s) for us, in that Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.  And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth.”  Now Scripture tells us God placed them in a garden in Eden and they were without sin, they fellowshipped with God daily, and were given work to do and commands to keep and all was good.

Then along came the serpent and he was a crafty rascal and one day while Adam was standing with His lady, the old serpent ask Eve, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden.”  And I’m sure you are not going to believe that Adam was passive, totally inactive letting Eve do the heavy lifting much like many men are doing today.  And she let the deceiver, the old serpent, the devil, the one God calls Lucifer or Satan, con her into doing it her way, she ate the forbidden fruit and gave some to Adam and for the first time in the history of mankind sin and death entered into man.

So we have a problem, and guess what, it is still in the works 100% of the time, mankind is sinning and dying, and yet we are not without hope, for in Christ we have a Redeemer.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice






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