re: Are you talking about Adam or God? I wouldn’t say God blew it with Adam.
I am talking about God, our Heavenly Father. No, I am not saying God blew it with Adam & Eve. But by your recipe, He did, because if a child goes astray, you believe from what you said that it is the parent’s fault. They simply did not do a good enough job in parenting or they “planned for failure”.
God provided a paradise for Adam & Eve. He loved them and spent time with them. Yet, they chose to place their trust in the serpent’s words, rather than God’s and do the one thing that God had asked them not to do. It is the same with our children. We can teach them God’s ways. We can work to prepare them for adulthood. We can teach them a Biblical worldview. But one of the things you will learn as a parent is that you do not have total control over your children. While they are small you have a lot more control, but as they get older, they will necessarily have to make choices on their own. They will face influences that you did not choose for them. And factually, the world that we live in is pushing back hard against Biblical values. Just as God gave Adam & Eve freewill, He gives us all freewill to choose His ways or not.
I used to believe as you that being a dedicated and godly parent insured that none of my children would ever go astray. I too observed other parents going through some difficult times, and I assumed they must have done something wrong. I have come to conclude that teaching children what they should do and having them follow those teachings through young adulthood are two separate issues. Some of the godliest parents I know have struggled with their children once they became adolescents or young adults. Even Billy & Ruth Graham had prodigal children.
My point is that I would encourage you not to be quick to condemn other parents who truly did work to bring up their children right or accuse them of “planning to fail”. Parenting is the toughest job in the world. The hard stuff is not while your children are small. It is when they get older. It is an unspeakable joy when you see your children grow up into godly adults who love God, but it can also shred your heart when you see them make choices that do not reflect what you taught them.
I don’t know why people choose that position. I know why people use it as a defense, I understand it, I’m not condemning them, they’re not the issue, and they offer no proof of anything. You can’t erase the clear meaning of scripture through anecdotes. You can obscure it’s meaning by amending it: Well, that just means your kids won’t depart if you do everything right. In that case just bury the stupid passage because it has no meaning for us, who can’t live up to it.
You’re taking one sin of Adam (albeit costly) and comparing it to rebellious, apostate children. Did Adam go astray? Absolutely not. I never said my children, or others who claim God’s PROMISE, will never sin. We’re talking about complete rebellion: which would be the case if my daughters behaved like Miley Cyrus. Adam’s fall has many implications, but it doesn’t give any credibility to the popular opinion that rebellion or obedience is a toss up.
We’re told explicitly how Eli, Samuel, David, Solomon, Cain, etc. failed as parents and are shown the result.