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Like I said……this is where it starts to get a bit scary…..
Paul preaches a very subtle message. His message centers on a number of things, the first of which we are going to deal with in this episode.
Paul maintains that:
Romans 5:12
12 Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
Romans 5:19
19 By one man’s disobedience many were made sinners.
1 Corinthians 15:22
22 In Adam all die.
Basically……according to Paul….. when a man is born…..he is born as a sinner…..the reason why a man is a sinner from birth…….is because Adam sinned…..and thus all of mankind after him was born in sin.
Now my question is this…..
Is this actually true?
Is a 2 week old baby who has no concept of right and wrong…..and his only perception of life is to eat, shit and sleep a sinner?
Is an aborted placenta going straight to hell because it was emerging as a sinner from birth?
No amount of hype or theological double-talk changes the fact that this whole concept is immoral and unjust.
Punishing millions of people for the acts of one person (namely Adam) is irrational.
Can a God who is love truly be presented in this fashion?
Abraham asks God concerning the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Genesis 18:25
25 “Far be it from You to do such a thing as this, to slay the righteous with the wicked, so that the righteous should be as the wicked; far be it from You! Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?”
Of course, the Judge of all the earth would never do anything unjust. Therefore, God would not judge the sins of men through the sins of Adam.
To those who have been listening, God has been correcting this misrepresentation time and again. It is stated in the Law:
Deut. 24:16, ” THE FATHERS SHALL NOT BE PUT TO DEATH FOR THE CHILDREN, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: EVERY MAN SHALL BE PUT TO DEATH FOR HIS OWN SIN.”
It is repeated again and again thereafter:
II Kings 14:6
6 But the children of the murderers he did not execute, according to what is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, in which the LORD commanded, saying, “FATHERS SHALL NOT BE PUT TO DEATH FOR THEIR CHILDREN, nor shall children be put to death for their fathers; but a person shall be put to death for his own sin.”
Ezekiel 18:20
20 “The soul who sins shall die. THE SON SHALL NOT BEAR THE GUILT OF THE FATHER, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself.
Jer 31:29-30
29 “In those days they shall say no more: ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge.’
30 “But EVERY ONE SHALL DIE FOR HIS OWN INIQUITY; every man who eats the sour grapes, his teeth shall be set on edge.
But in spite of the lack of ambiguity in God’s position, Paul has nevertheless taught Christians that there can be no way of escape from the original sin of Adam except through Jesus Christ:
Romans 5:12
12 Through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and THIS DEATH SPREAD TO ALL MEN, because all sinned.
Romans 3:10-12
10 As it is written: “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE;
11 There is none who understands; there is none who seeks after God.
12 They have all turned aside; they have together become unprofitable; there is none who does good, no, not one.”
Paul goes further to present man as a prisoner of sin.
Galatians 3:22
22 But THE SCRIPTURE DECLARES THAT THE WHOLE WORLD IS A PRISONER OF SIN, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
What scripture declares this Paul? Absolutely none in the bible. As usual, Paul forgot to read the bible once again, so he simply makes up scriptures as he goes along. Otherwise, he would have discovered that God considered so many people under the law to be righteous.
One or two examples should suffice. God declares that Job is righteous:
Job 1:1
1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and THAT MAN WAS BLAMELESS AND UPRIGHT, and one who feared God and shunned evil.
Job 1:8
8 Then the LORD said to Satan, “Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, A BLAMELESS AND UPRIGHT MAN, one who fears God and shuns evil?”
God also declares that Zacharias is righteous among others:
Luke 1:5-6
5 There was in the days of Herod, the king of Judea, a certain priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah. His wife was of the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.
6 And THEY WERE BOTH RIGHTEOUS BEFORE GOD, WALKING IN ALL THE COMMANDMENTS AND ORDINANCES OF THE LORD BLAMELESS.
There is actually an impressive list of righteous men in the bible from God’s point of view. This includes Abel, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Joseph, and Daniel. Indeed, Jesus declares that there were many righteous men under the law, including all the prophets of the Lord:
Matthew 13:17
17 “Assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and RIGHTEOUS MEN desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.
Take a look at what Jesus says here
Matthew 23:34-35
34 “Therefore, behold, I am sending you prophets and wise men and scribes; some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city,
35 that upon you may fall {the guilt of} all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of RIGHTEOUS ABEL to the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.
Now I ask this question
If Jesus is saying here…..that Abel …..who is the first son of Adam……is a righteous man……then how can Paul be teaching that every man is born a sinner?……..what about Adam’s very own son?
How can Paul say:
Romans 3:10
10 “THERE IS NONE RIGHTEOUS, NO, NOT ONE;
Is Paul telling the truth?
By the look of things……there must be a reason why Paul is trying to get us to believe that there is no one that is righteous and that it’s not possible for a man to be righteous.
Paul…..by his subtle presentation of “original sin”……managed to convince the world to be comfortable with sin……under a disguise that he called grace.
In the next episode…….we will see where Paul’s message is leading us……and we may be even more shocked to discover……that Paul….in a very subtle way…… manages to tell the world that sinning is ok…….after all….we cant help it…….so we are covered by grace……as long as we have faith.
To be continued……
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