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Author
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Topic: Why?,,,
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Carol Swenson
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Member # 6929
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posted
I love your writing lonesol- beautiful and thoughtful.
Here is something from Concise Theology that cleared up a few things for me. Hope it helps. By the way, I'm new at posting things. Let me know if I'm doing something wrong.
God Revealed As Redeemer
THE FALL
THE FIRST HUMAN COUPLE SINNED
WHEN THE WOMAN SAW THAT THE FRUIT OF THE TREE WAS GOOD FOR FOOD AND PLEASING TO THE EYE, AND ALSO DESIRABLE FOR GAINING WISDOM, SHE TOOK SOME AND ATE IT. SHE ALSO GAVE SOME TO HER HUSBAND, WHO WAS WITH HER, AND HE ATE IT.
GENESIS 3:6
Paul, in Romans, affirms that all mankind is naturally under the guilt and power of sin, the reign of death, and the inescapable wrath of God (Rom. 3:9, 19; 5:17, 21; 1:18-19; cf. the whole section, 1:18-3:20). He traces this back to the sin of the one man whom, when speaking at Athens, he described as our common ancestor (Rom. 5:12-14; Acts 17:26; cf. 1 Cor. 15:22). This is authoritative apostolic interpretation of the history recorded in Genesis 3, where we find the account of the Fall, the original human lapse from God and godliness into sin and lostness. The main points in that history, as seen through the lens of Paul’s interpretation, are as follows:
(a) God made the first man the representative for all his posterity, just as he was to make Jesus Christ the representative for all God’s elect (Rom. 5:15-19 with 8:29-30; 9:22-26). In each case the representative was to involve those whom he represented in the fruits of his personal action, whether for good or ill, just as a national leader involves his people in the consequences of his action when, for instance, he declares war. This divinely chosen arrangement, whereby Adam would determine the destiny of his descendants, has been called the covenant of works, though this is not a biblical phrase.
(b) God set the first man in a state of happiness and promised to continue this to him and his posterity after him if he showed fidelity by a course of perfect positive obedience and specifically by not eating from a tree described as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It would seem that the tree bore this name because the issue was whether Adam would let God tell him what was good and bad for him or would seek to decide that for himself, in disregard of what God had said. By eating from this tree Adam would, in effect, be claiming that he could know and decide what was good and evil for him without any reference to God.
(c) Adam, led by Eve, who was herself led by the serpent (Satan in disguise: 2 Cor. 11:3 with v. 14; Rev. 12:9), defied God by eating the forbidden fruit. The results were that, first, the anti-God, self-aggrandizing mindset expressed in Adam’s sin became part of him and of the moral nature that he passed on to his descendants (Gen. 6:5; Rom. 3:9-20). Second, Adam and Eve found themselves gripped by a sense of pollution and guilt that made them ashamed and fearful before God—with good reason. Third, they were cursed with expectations of pain and death, and they were expelled from Eden. At the same time, however, God began to show them saving mercy; he made them skin garments to cover their nakedness, and he promised that the woman’s seed would one day break the serpent’s head. This foreshadowed Christ.
Though telling the story in a somewhat figurative style, Genesis asks us to read it as history; in Genesis, Adam is linked to the patriarchs and with them to the rest of mankind by genealogy (chs. 5, 10, 11), which makes him as much a part of space-time history as were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. All the book’s main characters after Adam, except Joseph, are shown as sinners in one way or another, and the death of Joseph, like the death of almost everyone else in the story, is carefully recorded (Gen. 50:22-26); Paul’s statement “In Adam all die” (1 Cor. 15:22) only makes explicit what Genesis already clearly implies.
It may fairly be claimed that the Fall narrative gives the only convincing explanation of the perversity of human nature that the world has ever seen. Pascal said that the doctrine of original sin seems an offense to reason, but once accepted it makes total sense of the entire human condition. He was right, and the same thing may and should be said of the Fall narrative itself.
Posts: 6787 | From: Colorado | Registered: Dec 2007
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Michael Harrison
Advanced Member
Member # 6801
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posted
I really enjoyed that lonesol. Needles to say i still want to comment on something. Job made the mistake of trusting in his wealth, knowing that it was from God. But his faith was misplaced. He was righteous, he felt, evidenced by his materal blessing, but he wasn't trusting in the Lord's righteousness. Therefore he experienced the world turning upside down so that he could realize his God more realistically, and not trust in things.
In chapter 41 it is describing the might and certainty of the Lord, by which Job could properly trust. He was demonstrating Himself to Job so that Job would no longer misplace his confidence, in himself, his own doing, or righteousness, or thinking himself so, and rather realizing God, who IS, and does, and does for us.
About Adam: Well, you know, it is not immediately apparent by reading, but when he discovered that he was naked, it is more like he realized that he didn't have God as his covering. It is said that he then covered himself with the fig leaf, which is the system of mans trying to be self sufficient without God.
Posts: 3273 | From: Charlotte N.C. | Registered: Sep 2007
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lonlesol
Advanced Member
Member # 4511
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posted
An article I found that was written by a person while I was goggling for pictures....
Since many do ask themselves this question, I thought that it might be interesting to know how this particular individual responded...
Why?
There are several questions that we begin asking at a very early age and then continue asking throughout our lives. Everyone is familiar with the two or three year old child who responds to some request with, “Why?” And then no matter what you say over the next few minutes it is like they are stuck in a broken loop, unable to say anything in response except to repeat the same thing over and over, “Why?”
I believe it is the beginning of a child’s attempt to work out for themselves the world they have begun to realize is totally separate from them, the other. The “why” comes after the “no” which is their first attempt to see if separateness is real. Once they realize that they are independent, then suddenly their safe and orderly world is a thing of the past and they have an urgent need to know the why of things, to figure out a way that they can begin to construct a new sense of how they fit into things.
That begins a journey, which for some people is relatively short, but for others lasts a lifetime. Some of us never seem to fit perfectly anywhere we go, anywhere we “are”. Our “whys” seem to lead not to resolution but new questions as we labor to build a sense of coherency out of the world around us. Even if we become Christians, our encounter with Christ serves on one level to open an even wider world for us to try and make sense of, filled with even deeper mysteries and disconnects of the first order.
Yet, no matter how many truths we uncover, no manner how many answers we find, they are like just one more step down a long maze of fractured understanding. It is as if we are looking at a reflection in a mosaic mirror made of hundreds of shards of former mirrors set in uneven relationship, so that we never have a clear and accurate picture of who, what, and where we are, how we got here and where we are headed. Job did everything right but still did not understand why the things that happened to him occured and it seems, neither do we.
I guess this all began with our first forbearer, Adam. I have this mental picture of him after taking the bite of the fruit Eve has just brought him. Barely does the juice squirt between his teeth when a dark revelation shoots through his being. He suddenly knows so much. Looking down past the fruit still between his teeth he sees that he is naked and glancing across at Even realizes that she too is uncovered.
At that moment a question begins to form in his mind that up to that point had never existed, there was no reason. As knowledge suddenly begins filling up every nook and cranny of his thoughts, he realizes that this rush of knowing lacks an important component, the connection that gives meaning to this flood of facts, and in response his mind is filled with one overweening thought that drives out all others, yet connects to every one of them: “Why?”
“Why am I naked? Why did I eat the fruit? Why did Eve listen to the serpent? Why didn’t I resist? Why? Why? Why?” Thus begins the attempt to unravel the meaning behind our sense of separateness and how we fit into things once that has been grasped. From that point forward, existence is like an eternal onion that no matter how many whys we take off, no matter how many layers, there is another one inside.
I remember one of my favorite songs from my early Christian days, For Those Tears I Died. Verse two ends with the penultimate question.
Your goodness so great
I can’t understand
And dear Lord I know
That all this was planned
I know You’re here now
And always will be
Your love loosed my chains
And in You I’m free
But Jesus why me?
Where is all of this going? I guess it is going to my overwhelming desire to hear Jesus say to me “Come…” Not just for the joy of eternity within the family of God and all that entails, but at last being in the position to ask “Why?” and get the real undistorted answer, to know as I am known and no longer see through a mirror darkly. Sometimes when I am struggling with my faith, “Why?” becomes an aid to perseverance, since if I give up I will never get the answer.
So, if you are at all like me, struggling with the same struggle, take solace in that you are not alone and there is hope, for in Christ the answer resides and will be available. Grace and peace.
P.S. Sometimes you shouldn’t write around midnight, especially on such fundamental things as “Why?”
Posts: 478 | From: Quebec | Registered: Mar 2005
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