This post is a reply to a question asked via e-mail, here it is: Okay, so my question is what are your thoughts on the whole "did God make Adam and Eve sin and does he make us sin" question? Just curious... :)...
This question has been circulating around the makenew community for the last few weeks and is in need of some clairity. Before I launch out here I want to make a disclaimer, which is this: This post is not a comprehensive theological answer to the problem of the authorship of evil, it's not even supposed to be. This is part 1 of a multi post answer to the practical question of sovereignty and free will. That said let's begin.
We will focus here on the particular question of Adam and Eve knowing that we are really speaking about humanity in a broader sense. So did God make Adam and Eve sin? NO.
That made half of you happy and the rest of you are angrily typing responses without reading the rest, please read the rest, you might even like it.
Here is another questoin that needs to be answered, could Adam and Eve have not sinned? It is not the same question because the first question asks if God made them do it, this question asks if anything else could have made them do it. (Side note, when I write 'made' I mean effectually compelled not possessed like a demon or controlled like a robot) So could they have not sinned? NO
Here is what we know:
God made man and in doing so made man both volitional and able to love himself.
God has designed us both gerally as people and specifically as individuals.
God controlls all things in that he holds all things together and 'works' all things.
God is holy and can have no relationship with sin or sinful things.
God assures us that there is alway a means of escaping sin.
Now let's attempt to sythesize this information. God made us and therefore has intimate knowledge our personal inner workings. God knew that if Adam and Eve were in the type of situation they found themself in they surely would sin. This does not eliminate the volition of Adam or Eve it validates it. God understood their self love to be strong enough that they surely would participate in the devil's scheme. This does not eliminate the possibility of a means of resistance but rather speaks to God's knowledge of his creation.
I could leave my daughter alone in room with a cookie and tell her not to eat it. I could even tell her that she could call me for help if the temptation was too strong. But my finite knowledge of my daughter tells me that cookie is gone. I wanted her to succeed, gave her every opportunity, offered my help, yet I knew she would eat the cookie. How much more precisely can God predict the response of his creation in any given circumstance. The question now becomes did God knowingly design the circumstance in which he knew His creation would sin? Yes.
He holds all things together. He works all things. He is sovereign and I wouldn't have it any other way.
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