Posted on 10/01/2018 11:17:35 PM PDT by metmom
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).
Sin is pervasive and deadly.
When the early church father Chrysostom remarked, “I fear nothing but sin,” he correctly identified sin as the greatest threat any person faces. Sin mars all the relationships people are involved in: with other people, with themselves, and, most significantly, with God. Sin causes suffering, disease, and death in the physical realm and also causes spiritual death—eternal separation from God in Hell.
Because sin is so deadly, we need to carefully define it, so we can understand and avoid it. First John 3:4 sums up the essence of sin when it says, “Sin is lawlessness.” Sin is refusing to obey God’s law; it is rejecting God’s standards; it is, in fact, living as if God did not exist.
In 1 John 5:17, the apostle John adds to his definition of sin, describing it as “unrighteousness.” James defines sin as failing to do what is good (James 4:17). Paul defines it as lack of faith (Rom. 14:23). Sin is the ultimate act of ingratitude toward the God “who richly supplies us with all things to enjoy” (1 Tim. 6:17).
Sin pollutes the sinner, prompting Paul to refer to it as that “defilement of flesh and spirit” (2 Cor. 7:1) from which sinners are in desperate need of cleansing. No amount of human effort, however, can cleanse a person of sin. Such self-effort is as futile as attempting to change the color of one’s skin (Jer. 13:23). Only through the death of Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice for sin (Heb. 10:12), is forgiveness and cleansing available (1 John 1:7).
Sin is the only thing that God hates (cf. Jer. 44:4), and so must believers (Ps. 97:10; Amos 5:15). The great Puritan writer Thomas Watson noted that a prerequisite for sanctification is such hatred for sin. Renew your commitment today to grow in your relationship with the Lord by hating evil (Prov. 8:13).
Suggestions for Prayer
Pray for yourself and others that you would not be deceived by the subtleness of sin (Heb. 3:13).
For Further Study
Identify the sins you struggle with the most. Using a concordance and other study tools, find out what the Bible says about those sins. Form a biblical plan of attack to combat them.
Mans biggest problems: women.
Oh sure, blame Eve.
Just the second sin in history.
On the sin of man.
Think about it, the very first man born of a woman became a murderer.
We are just plain doomed dead without Jesus.
"Then we can say that we give to every man, woman and child the benefit of our free institutions, giving all the benefits of our common school and the freedom to worship God under their own vine and fig tree. Then will we see written, on the banner of our free, redeemed and disenthralled country, the sublime words written, not in the blood of men, but in the sun-light of truth, that "Righteousness exalteth a nation." It will fall like the morning dew on the lowly; it will descend like the showers of May on the poor; and like the sun it will shine on the good and bad, dispensing from the hand of plenty the blessings of a government founded on the principle of justice and equality.Link to Original Library of Congress Copy of Dr. Benjamin W. Arnett's "Centennial Thanksgiving Sermon" delivered in 1876, here:"Standing on the threshold of the second century of the nation's life, with the experience of the past lying at our feet, we are saluted by the shout of triumph from the millions who left their homes and business and attended the Great Exposition of the skill and genius of the world, collected at Philadelphia. We were permitted to receive the greetings from the oldest to the youngest nation of the earth. Egypt and the United States clasped hands over the waste of 5,000 years, and lay their treasures at the feet of our civilization. The material, intellectual and mechanical deterioration of the one, and the unprecedented progress of the other, stand in great contrast; in all that makes the nation great,—morally, religiously and socially, the young nation is ahead.
"Following the tracks of righteousness throughout the centuries and along the way of nations, we are prepared to recommend it to all and assert without a shadow of doubt, that "Righteousness exalted a nation"; but on the other hand following the foot-prints of sin amid the ruins of Empires and remains of cities, we will say that "sin is a reproach to any people." But we call on all American citizens to love their country, and look not on the sins of the past, but arming ourselves for the conflict of the future, girding ourselves in the habiliments of Righteousness, march forth with the courage of a Numidian lion and with the confidence of a Roman Gladiator, and meet the demands of the age, and satisfy the duties of the hour. Let us be encouraged in our work, for we have found the moccasin track of Righteousness all along the shore of the stream of life, constantly advancing, holding humanity with a firm hand. We have seen it “through” all the confusion of rising and falling States, of battle, siege and slaughter, of victory and defeat; through the varying fortunes and ultimate extinctions of Monarchies, Republics and Empires; through barbaric irruption and desolation, feudal isolation, spiritual supremacy, the heroic rush and conflict of the Cross and Crescent; amid the busy hum of industry, through the marts of trade and behind the gliding keels of commerce.”
"And in America, the battle-field of modern thought, we can trace the foot-prints of the one and the tracks of the other. So let us use all of our available forces, and especially our young men, and throw them into the conflict of the Right against the Wrong.
"Then let the grand Centennial Thanksgiving song be heard and sung in every house of God; and in every home may thanksgiving sounds be heard, for our race has been emancipated, enfranchised and are now educating, and have the gospel preached to them!"
The following is a special excerpt from an earlier section of Dr. Arnett's Centennial:
"Withdraw from Christendom the Bible, the Church with its sacraments and ministry, and Christian morality and hopes, and aspirations for time and eternity; repeal all the laws that are founded in the Christian Scriptures; remove the Christian humanities in the form of hospitals and asylums, and reformatories and institutions of mercy utterly unknown to unchristian countries; destroy the literature, the culture, the institutions of learning, the art, the refinement, the place of woman in her home and in society, which owe their origin and power to Christianity; blot out all faith in Divine Providence, love, and righteousness; turn back every believer in Christ to his former state; remove all thought or hope of the forgiveness of sins by a just but gracious God; erase the name of Christ from every register it sanctifies—in a word annihilate all the legitimate and logical effects of Christianity in Christendom—just accomplish in fact what multitudes of gifted and learned minds are wishing and trying to accomplish by their science, philosophy, and criticism, and what multitudes of the common people desire and seek, and not only would all progress toward and unto perfection cease, but not one of the shining lights of infidelity would shine much longer. Yes, the bitterest enemies of this holy and blessed religion, owe their ability to be enemies to its sacred revelations - to the inspiration and sublimity of that faith which reflects its glories on their hostile natures. They live in the strength of that which they would destroy. They are raised to their seats of opportunity and power by the grace of Him they would crucify afresh; and is it to be thought that they are stronger than that which gives them strength? Can it be supposed that a religion which civilizes and subdues, and elevates and blesses will succumb to the enmities it may arouse and quicken in its onward march? Are we to tremble for the ark of God when God is its upholder, and protector, and preserver?” - Dr. Benjaming W. Arnett, St. Paul A.M.E. Church, Urbana, Ohio, Centennial Thanksgiving Sermon, November 1876
But Everybody gets sump'n -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWnP2jO06gc&t=2s
Umm, hers was the first sin.
Recall that Eve was “deceived’ Adam however outright sinned against God as the command was given directly to him.
see post 7
No.
God doesn’t punish someone for NOT sinning.
God doesn’t punish someone who was merely deceived and didn’t know it was wrong.
Adam ate because he knew if he didn’t, Eve was going to die alone in her sin and he’d be without her. The fist beta simp.
Further she was told Gods command through Adam, and she had to have been because she told the snake that. The fact she got it wrong and the fact she was deceived doesnt change the fact she was told the command.
And that is why God did punish her because she sinned. its like saying a person who was told “thou shalt not murder” is talking to someone and says the command is “thou shalt not murder except for Sundays” and someone decieving them says thats right, and so they go ahead and murder someone on sunday. They still sinned because they didn’t take care enough to remember the command properly, and then sinned.
I’m not saying Eve didn’t sin....but it is significant to not she was ‘deceived’....
Interesting is that the bible tells us Eve simply ‘turned’ and gave Adam the apple to Adam to eat.....so was he standing there watching the interaction between Eve and the serpent? If so why did he just stand there and not speak?
“If so why did he just stand there and not speak?”
Our pastor was just talking about that. “You know - Eve gets a bad rap, being blamed for taking the apple. Adam was standing there with her the entire time. Ya’ think he might have spoke up? ‘Um Eve, I’m not sure this is such a good idea.’”
Although in my mind I was thinking “Even Adam knew enough to keep his mouth shut once his wife had made a decision she wanted something.”
Adam and Eve both sinned, but Adam was not deceived. He sinned, quite aware all the while of the magnitude of the sin he was ‘voluntarily’ committing. Eve, on the other hand, was completely, thoroughly deceived.....The subtle serpent knew that she was “the weaker vessel”, He therefore tempted her, not Adam. However Adam sinned willfully, and against light and knowledge, without any deception and passed it on to all men.
Romans 5:12
Therefore, just as sin entered the world through ‘one man’, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people.
If you have two children who do something wrong but one of them knew better but the other was tricked into it, who is usually punished or blamed by the parent for the disobedience?.....though both did the deed.
I think it has to do with Gods order regarding males and females. The man being ‘the head’ would likely also come into play.
Keep in mind that part of Eves curse was ...”and your desire shall be to your husband and he shall rule over you”.....Women lost their equality in the garden that day and every women has that sense within them even if they cannot identify it as so.....thank God Jesus restores that!
A woman can be equal and yet understand the order of the family unit before God. Woman today without the Lord do not understand this.....and even today it’s far easier to deceive women than men.
go back to your homo friends..
I think that is correct. Adam knew he would lose Eve, so he chose her over God. It’s very likely God would have not made another woman, since the same thing would happen again, and again.
Lest we be too judgmental of Adam and Eve, if any of us had been in the Garden of Eden, we would have done the same thing they did. 😇
Here is another thing that puzzles me. Animals do not talk, yet the serpent, was physically talking to Eve (I assume Adam was there too) and she (they) understood it. I talk to my dogs all the time, they respond by barking. Since I am not fluent in “bark,” I cannot understand them. It seems to me, Adam and Eve should have freaked out, when an animal spoke to them. I don’t get it.
On the other hand, they may have misunderstood what God meant, when He said they would die. It’s possible they may have thought they would immediately fall over dead. When Adam saw that Eve didn’t die on the spot, maybe he figured it was ok to eat the fruit. We just don’t know what was in their minds. 🤔
God Bless you for sticking to Biblical principals rather than “embellishing” like so many tend to do...
In light of what’s happening these days, that thought came to me as well.
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