Man's transgression caused it. The cause of corruption is sin. Adam did not repent and ask for forgiveness but blamed God for giving him "that woman."
God was not behind any of this, as God is not behind any of our sins. As we continue to sin, we continue in Adam's fashion, and God continues to curse the ground for our sake, for God can not bless our sin.
And, yeah, if the Lord didn’t want it that way, it wouldn’t be that way
Then read Gen 6:6. Why was He "sorry?" Because things were going His way?
Also, I’m into the “deformed” idea that I can go on sinning and still be forgiven
Not without repentance! The deformed idea of the Reformed theology is that one doesn't have to, because the elect have been forgiven before they even existed.
The plain truth is that all the saints “go on sinning” every day. It was this FACT which prompted Paul to cry out “who will deliver me from this body of death”
And the answer is: repentance.
It is the Catholic and her sister traditions that have promoted the truly deformed ideas about our justification
I can't vouch for the Catholics, since they drifted away from the Orthodox mindset long time ago, but I can say that justification is not what Christ's work is all about.
Christ, the Messiah, is the Liberator. He offered Himself as payment for our sins, a ransom paid to death, so that we may be free (again) to come to God. In doing so, He did not "justify" us but restore us.
And when we no longer sin, God no longer curses the ground for our sake, but blesses it. Just as sin corrupts, theosis (our obedience to God) restores.
***God was not behind any of this,...***
When all else fails, actually consulting the Bible helps. The LORD himself pronounced the curse:
So the LORD God said,... you are cursed..... I will put enmity between you and the woman,.... I will greatly multiply your sorrow.... Cursed is the ground for your sake;....
If you want to pretend that the LORD did not curse creation, then you are free to do it. Unfortunately, you stand AGAINST the Bible and the Lord’s Church. Do you honestly think that puny little man could somehow curse all of Creation, the visible portion of which is now somewhere in the neighborhood of 10-14 BILLION light years across and growing?
***Then read Gen 6:6. Why was He “sorry?” Because things were going His way?***
Again, if you want to believe that the creation was cursed against God’s will, then you are free to believe it if you want. Since it is clear that the LORD spoke the curse do you think Satan or Adam was holding the “gun” to God’s head? Do you really think an anthropomorphism means that somehow God’s purposes and plans have been defeated by man?
No wonder many Atheists think our view of God is pathetic.
***The plain truth is that all the saints “go on sinning” every day. It was this FACT which prompted Paul to cry out “who will deliver me from this body of death” ~ L_C
And the answer is: repentance. ~ kosta***
So, the answer for redemption is what man can do for himself. You prove so aptly that there are only two religions in the Christian faith:
There is the religion of free grace and there is the religion which says if you ____________ then you may have redemption. We, of the Reformation, preach a salvation by grace. You preach a salvation by what you do.
***I can say that justification is not what Christ’s work is all about.***
Really!!! Too bad that is 100% against the Bible:
Romans 5:18
Therefore, as through one man’s offense judgment came to all men, resulting in condemnation, even so through one Man’s righteous act the free gift came to all men, resulting in justification of life.
My Bible speaks about the work of Christ resulting in JUSTIFICATION.
***And when we no longer sin, God no longer curses the ground for our sake, but blesses it. Just as sin corrupts, theosis (our obedience to God) restores.***
YOUR obedience....
The Reformation calls this WORKS based salvation.
The Bible calls this WORKS based salvation.
You are free to think that somehow your obedience merits something. However, I must advise you that the ONLY obedience which has ANY value is Christ’s obedience. He was the only one to perfectly obey the Law. Unless you cling to that, you introduce your own works to the perfection of Christ. You are free, of course, to believe that your repentence and obedience somehow causes your justification instead of springing out of your justification. I’ll stand on a more stable ROCK. My obedience is no better than Adam’s and I have NO illusion that I can NO LONGER sin (See 1 John).
Romans 5:19
For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous.
Christ was delivered up because of our offenses.
Christ was raised because of our justification.
Perfected FOREVER; Sanctification ongoing. Thankfully,
LC
Here is a good explanation of our view.I doubt the Orthodox have much problem with it?
Justification(from the Most Theological Collection)
By justification we become sharers in the divine nature (2 Pet 1:4), which is the case since we are “God's children now:” (1 Jn. 3:2). Children partake of the nature of their Father. He has already given us the first payment or pledge, the Spirit, in our hearts (2 Cor 1:22). It is only because the veil of flesh is still with us that we cannot directly see Him, as we shall when it is removed, so that we see Him face to face 1 Cor 13:12). But now we are temples of the Holy Spirit who dwells within us (1 Cor 3:16 and 6:19). Even our bodies can be called a temple of the Spirit (1 Cor 6:19 again) though the full effect of it is to come in the future (Rom 8:19). The Spirit within us is transforming us to be a new creation (2 Cor 5:17; Gal 6:15) so that in the next life we shall see Him “face to face” (1 Cor 13:12). That means see Him directly. But when I see a human directly I do not take him into my mind, I take in an image. However in seeing God face to face, there can be no image, for images are finite; He is infinite. So He joins Himself directly to the soul or intellect, without even an image in between. Hence the need of real purity, for as Mal 23:2 says: “Who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire”.
Contrast this with being total corruption- which logically leads to what the Missouri Synod of Lutherans feared to face (Brief Doctrinal Position, 1932, #14. ) saying “As to the question why not all men are converted and saved, seeing that God's grace is universal and all men are equally and utterly corrupt, we confess that we cannot answer it.” They could have answered, from Luther's works, but refused to answer, for they saw it meant absolute blind predestination: if all are equally corrupt, there is nothing on which God could base a decision on who is saved, who is damned. But Luther Himself was not so reticent. He said (Bondage of the Will tr. J. Packer and O. Johnston, Revell, 1957, p. 273) a human has no free will and is like a horse. Either God or the devil will ride him - and so he does good or evil - but he has no choice who rides. Hence it is heaven or hell, without any choice on his part. (ibid. pp. 103-04).
Good Night
I wish you a Blessed Evening!