A participant on www.usenetposts.com/forum asked a riddle, as follows:
> This is what just came to my mind which I would like to discuss with all
of you:
> Is human will free? If it is not free, then people cannot be held
responsible for their
> sins, as they don't have the capacity to abstain from sinning. But if
human will is
> free, then God is not all-knowing and almighty, as people might choose to
behave
> this way or that.
> Now, what is the solution to this?
And my reply was the following:
First you would need to define "free".
There is evidently no freedom to do whatever we like. Otherwise the likes of
you and me would do nothing but walk around shopping centres all day long
kissing pretty ladies on the lips with impunity.
There is freedom to make choices between possible alternatives.
When Adam sinned, I understand that he had a genuine choice between
sinfulness and sinlessness. However , since that time, man has not had
'becoming sinless in one's own strength' in the feasible region. Adam
basically did it for us with his sin in the way our parents did it for us
with all our genetic illnesses and predispositions. We do not blame our
direct parents, as they are the victims of their parents, but it goes all
the way back to the beginning of the genetic audit trail.
And that is Adam and Eve to a fundamental Christian. To an evolutionist that
trail leads them back to an impossible event where a bunch of amino acids
and a self replicating strand of DNA complex enough to recreate the simplest
cell somehow come together within a semipermeable membrane. The chances
against this ever happening being so vanishly small I don't know how many
universes would need to exist for how many brazillions of years for it ever
to happen at all. But of course the godless gloss over that aspect of
evolution, so desparate are they to get away from the idea of a creator who
may have had some purpose for them and who may call them to account.
However, fortunately, although Adam screwed everything up for us, a Second
Adam came to rescue us, and this was God in the flesh. Jesus Christ. He had
the choice to lead the sinless life or the sinful life, as the first Adam
had, and this time he made the right choice, and then in sacrificial style
was put to death on behalf of the people of God, which we become by simply
believing in His death as the only answer to our problem of sin.
And here we do have a choice. I am convinced that we are not free to be free
of sin - as nobody but Christ has ever done it, and He was and is God
Almighty. But I do believe that we have a freedom to believe. Science has
not disproven the existence of God nor the efficicacy of the glorious Gospel
of salvation by faith in Jesus. Some so-called scientists merely rant on as
if they had, but when called on it all they have is rhetoric. We can validly
choose to believe the message of the Bible. We can validly choose to
disregard our doubts and trust Jesus to forgive us when we repent. And that
regardless of the fact that through life we will disappoint God again and
again. But one day, at our resurrection, which Jesus started for us and was
the first fruits of, we will be placed into a sinless state where we can
actually be pleasing to God, true children of God, and enjoy his presence
and love in all eternity.
Jesus himself, the Alpha and Omega, is The Answer to this and every other
major riddle the world contains.
That's how I would answer your riddle
Best,
Uncle Davey
www.usenetposts.com
Anyone wishing to comment either here or there is more than welcome.
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