Coolidge replied, “He was against it.” Coolidge’s answer is a succinct summary of Zechariah 5, which tells us what God thinks about sin… Psalm 18:21-23 (also Psalm 26) For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not done evil by turning from my God. Used with permission of the publisher. And in that moment He was banished from the presence of God, for sin cannot exist in God’s presence. It can never be used, therefore, as an argument in favor of any one of those inconsistent views and against the consistent view. They do not, indeed, surprise God by the doing of them; their doing of them is part of his eternal plan; yet in the doing of them they, and not the holy God, are responsible. The story of Sodom and Gomorrah is a cautionary tale of the destructive consequences of sin. Toll Free: 1-877-247-2426. Genesis 18:20-21 states, “The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. Is it the difficulty of harmonizing the free will of the creature with the certainty of the creature’s actions as part of God’s eternal purpose? He was without sin, for He was God in human flesh. However, we can read some passages that show us that Adam and Eve could have repented of their sins. Besides all the obvious sins described in the Bible, his (hers, or its or whatever) greatest unforgivable greatest Sin of the Universe is that each individual (with free will, and moral agent , each one of us actually) was not asked before he (she) was born if he (she) wanted to be created (born) into this world, that God has created. He turned away in complete revulsion at the ugliness of sin. Did David sin? We’ve seen two ways to understand Genesis 4:13: Cain is unrepentant yet thinks his punishment is too heavy to bear, and Cain is sorry and feels his sin is beyond God’s forgiveness. Since Jesus Christ was the greatest Person ever to set foot on the Earth—the Teacher of teachers, the Man Who has changed more lives than any other throughout the centuries, and the One Who gives mankind the opportunity to be free from the bonds of sin—everything associated with His life, His character, and His teachings has been a source of great interest to many. . BGEA is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. God knew that in creating man, man would sin. This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged. He also frequently does not stop sin from continuing when it does take place. No matter who we are, we all — without exception — commit sin and break God’s law. . The Bible, however, says that Jesus never once sinned. In other words, Jesus was different from every other person who ever lived or ever will live, because He was both fully God and fully man. How, then, can we meet the difficulty? Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in Genesis, notorious for their flagrant sin. God told Adam not to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree. We don’t see any clear scripture that answers this question. To be clear, sin is a falling short of God’s standards. But it is equally clear in the Bible that God is not the author of sin. How could a holy God, if he is all-powerful, have permitted the existence of sin? His desire is that all come to repentance and experience the blessing and joy of eternal life with Him (2 Peter 3:9). Most of our religious leaders try to convince us that man has rebelled against his Creator. That is not taught anywhere in the Bible, and when the Lord says that He forgives us and remembers our Yes, man is responsible for his wicked actions; and no, God is not the author of sin. I am afraid we shall have to do with it something that is not very pleasing to our pride; I am afraid we shall just have to say that it is insoluble. What separates Christianity from all other belief systems is the truth that God came to earth, lived perfectly though tempted, and took upon himself … “What did the preacher say about sin?” his wife persisted. The reason that her flesh was spotless is that she was fully redeemed by the death of Christ on the cross being applied back to her at the moment of her conception - the immaculate conception - across time and space. He does not cause them to do those things against their will, but he determines their will, and their freedom as persons is fully preserved when they perform those acts. (2 Now Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is near Beth Aven to the east of Bethel, and told them, “Go up and spy out the region.” Is it so surprising that there are some things that we do not know? Yes, God has told us much. 7 But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things []; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri, [] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. When God causes the bringing to pass of the evil actions of men, he does that in still a different way. It’s important for one reason: Only someone who was without sin could save us from our sins. I know the pat answer. If wicked actions of wicked men have a place in God’s plan, if they are foreordained of God, then is man responsible for them, and is not God the author of sin? But it is … But ask me why God created mankind even though He knew man would sin, and I hesitate.. Throughout the Bible, from Genesis onward, God was teaching the lesson of substitution. He has told us how at infinite cost, by the gift of his Son, he has provided a way of escape from it. Permissions Is it surprising that there are some things in his counsels about which he has bidden us be content not to know but instead just to trust him who knows all? No, I do not think that is the real difficulty. (1) God was gracious to warn Adam about sin and its consequences. He told him that if he did, he would die (Genesis 2:15-17). Is it surprising that he has not told us all? Verse 12 teaches that when Abraham made it clear he was willing to offer his only son to God, the Lord intervened: "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." By Billy Graham   •   For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him” (Colossians 1:15,19). Why is this important? I do not think so, my friends. There is only one thing that God cannot do, and that is commit sin — and because Jesus was God, He could not sin. Why is this important? Yes, of course he did. 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