Come on, Mark, we have been through this countless times. Why did God plant that tree in the garden? Why did God establish the penalty for sin before sin was done? (Hint: If you eat of this tree you will surely die.) God knew ahead of time that man would sin, God PROVIDED the tree so that man could sin, God planned for Jesus to die before the beginning of the world. I could go on and on, but you keep asking the same questions without ever answering ours.
***Why did God plant that tree in the garden? ***
We know of two trees - the trees of life and of the knowledge of good and evil. God put them both there but He did not make Eve listen to the serpent, neither did He make either of them eat. He had the foreknowledge, but He did not make them. Why did He plant the tree? To allow Adam and Eve to choose.
***Why did God establish the penalty for sin before sin was done?***
God is outside of time and all Creation is at once to Him. There is no before and no after. Alpha and Omega. God is I AM forever and at once. It only seemed “before” to creatures placed within time.
***God planned for Jesus to die before the beginning of the world.***
You are not in any way comparing Jesus’ actions to Adam’s are you? Or are you saying that Jesus is subordinate to God in a similar fashion to the LDS folks?
***you keep asking the same questions without ever answering ours.***
I don’t see that many questions from the Reformed. In my opinion, the Reformed seem to concentrate on making statements of faith supported by non Gospel miniquotes.
God didn’t MAKE Adam sin any more than He MAKES, ie irishtenor, sin or not sin. He provides the grace that enables us to journey on the Way; He gives us sacraments and the Church to aid us. God wishes none to perish. But we have free will; we can perish if we so choose.