How have 'All sinned in the eyes of God'?

Question

I recently asked a question about sin and I got told that because Adam and Eve sinned, I have inherited that sin because I am descended from them.....

So how does that work? Should it not be that I have inherited the POTENTIAL to sin? I COULD go and steal a forbidden fruit and eat it, but I dont. Why am I a sinner because my ancestors were?

God makes no sense. Not because 'I don't understand God because he is far too knowledgable for me'. It doesnt take a genius to work out that it was Adam and Eve who sinned.....not everybody else.

And he definitely could have created free will that CHOSE to obey God. Seems to me that he isn't all powerful and all knowing. But if he proves it to me (and he will know how if he is all-knowing) i will happily convert and repent.

Sonfai - Thats my point, it may well be inborn that a kid wants to steal cookies from the jar, but it doesnt mean they are going to. I've never stolen anything in my life, not even as a kid

The World We Know - Forgive me, but I believe you must be incorrect. How can you think that God wants ME to find HIM? Why bother with the Bible, instructing me that I have to follow the Lord? Thats a massive contradiction

Of course its a contradiction. How could He want ME to find Him, if He told me where to look?

BlazeK - So he gave us free will but intended us to not use it? Our 'gift' of free will allows us to sin, but the teachings in the Bible tell us not to sin.....so why bother giving us free will? He doesn't want us to be robots, so he gave us free will.....but he does want us to be robots because he wants us to follow the same rules.....CONTRADICTION

Answer 1

Sin is for people who by into the bible fantasy. The rest of us are living and making choices.

Answer 2

Sin is an offense against God. Being an atheist itself is a sin. Just because you don't believe in God doesn't mean he doesn't exist.

God created us with free will, so that we can choose him or not. If he "created free will that CHOSE to obey God" it would not be free will. He doesn't want robots that blindly follow, he WANTS us to choose him, but won't make us.

Adam and Eve's sin was both personal, and inherited by us. Our first parents had reversed the divinely intended hierarchy in the human person and the human race. Now, instead of our souls governing our bodies, our bodies (and their longings, appetites, pleasures and fears) are driving our souls. This is what theologians call concupiscence. Yes, all sins are personal, but your personal sins effect others, as no one is an island. because we didn't consciencely choose their sin, we don't have to consciencely choose to repent or it, it can be removed through baptism.

He has provided enough evidence of his existence, you can't blame him if you choose to ignore it, or at the very least, not follow it.

Answer 3

I agree with you, the person who told you about Adam & Eve is well in ignorance.
I think we all have the potential to sin, & my perosonal belief by what this means is that no-one is perfect & we're human & we make mistakes & sin, even at opur best intentions, so don't be arrogant & think u r perfect.
I remember a quote in the Bible about the stoning of a man; that says something about "let the first person who is free os sin cast the first the stone"... sorry I don't remember the ecat words; I apologise for any disrespect but we have to learn not to judge oursleves & others & real;ize we're all sinners & make mistakes.
That doesn't mean there aren't evil people in the world whom we should avoid at all costs, but to undrstand that we all make mistakes, be kind to each other & forgive whenever we can & it's possible. But remember you don't have to forgive; only if you want to.

Answer 4

Did you inherit any traits from your parents, hair or eye color, physical build? Of course you did! Well like it or not you also inherited a sinful nature (sin nature or potential to sin if you prefer) that has been passed down from Adam and Eve. BUT, not only have you inherited it but it has also been imputed to you.

Adam and Eve did have the free will to choose and they chose (with a little help from Satan) to disobey. If they had made the right choice then, we would not be having this conversation now.

So to do you have free will, choose wisely my friend.

Answer 5

No one is perfect. Only God is perfect. If you think that God makes no sense, then you haven't dedicated your life to God. If you have dedicated your life to God then you would say that God makes sense.
You got to come to know Him, then you will know He is all-knowing and and all-powerful.
It says in the Bible that everyone has sinned
Some sins seem bigger than others because their obvious consequences are much more serious. Murder, for example, seems to us to be worse than hatred, and adultery seems worse than lust. BUt this does not mean that because we do lesser sins, we deserve eternal life. All sin makes us sinners, all sin cuts us off from our holy God. All sin therefore leads to death, regardless of how great or small it seems.
He could of created free will but then we would all of been robots. We wouldn't been human.
He brought you into this world, but He hasn't taken you out. Doesn't that prove He is all powerful. He is all powerful, just listen and watch a thunderstorm.

Answer 6

Even without the nice concept of original sin (God himself isn't clear on that point - he contradicts himself many times over whether sins can be inherited) there are so many obscure and ridiculous sins listed in the bible that I reckon it is impossible for anyone to avoid committing at least some of them!

Answer 7

To tell you the truth, I'm not too clear on the concept of original sin. Its a question that I hope to understand soon.

However, one thing I do know - we have all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. None of us are perfect - the standard (glory) of God is perfection. So we have all sinned.

So whether we are born sinners or not really doesn't have much bearing on our need for God.

On the other hand, God chooses not to work in a way of "proving it to you." God loves the humble and opposes the proud. He will make Himself known to you if you seek Him with your whole heart.

He asks YOU to choose to seek Him. It's not the other way around. Sometimes God will do miraculous signs - but scripture again and again bears evidence to the idea that God chooses to partner with us. He wants us to seek Him - otherwise, He would force Himself upon us. That doesn't seem to jive with free choice to me.

If you humble yourself and if you really want to know God, He will be found to you. And you don't have to commit intellectual suicide to find him. You just have to commit "pride suicide" - which, to most of us, is probably even harder.

God bless!

Edit: No contradiction at all! The bible is there for us - what easier way to seek Him than to read the most published book in the history of the world? :)

Answer 8

The sin was in disobeying God, they lost their perfection. That would have allowed then to live forever and never know death, but they blew it. That was passed on to us children.

The purpose of Jesus coming to earth was to redeem humankind by offering up a perfect human sacrifice to balance the scales of justice. It was something none of us could do coming from imperfect human parents.

God could have wiped out humans and Satan at the same time and started over. He did not for two reasons. Satan raised the question of God's right to rule His Creation. Just wiping them out and started over to do as you suggest would mean the end of free will. That is not His original purpose.

God allowed things to go on as they have to settle the issue. These few thousand years have proved man is not able to govern himself with Satan in charge. Soon at God's appointed time, He will take action to restore His original purpose for the earth and get things back on track.

Answer 9

The evidence shows that it's true though. Have you lived a 100% perfect life? I know I haven't. You don't need to teach a kid to steal cookies from the jar, it's inborn.

To the reply - Only because it's beyond reach and there are parents around! If you really believe you have never done one wrong thing in your life, you are deluded! We all have.

Answer 10

How could a baby that only lives for a few hours sin?
If there is a god (I`m an athiest) he has alot more to answer for to humans than humans do to him.