Repo Man said:
I've always loved this conundrum from Bertrand Russell's An Outline of Intellectual Rubbish:
There are logical difficulties in the notion of sin. We are told that sin consists in disobedience to God's commands, but we are also told that God is omnipotent. If He is, nothing contrary to His will can occur; therefore when the sinner disobeys His commands, He must have intended this to happen. St. Augustine boldly accepts this view, and asserts that men are led to sin by a blindness with which God afflicts them. But most theologians, in modern times, have felt that, if God causes men to sin, it is not fair to send them to hell for what they cannot help. We are told that sin consists in acting contrary to God's will. This, however, does not get rid of the difficulty. Those who, like Spinoza, take God's omnipotence seriously, deduce that there can be no such thing as sin. This leads to frightful results. What! said Spinoza's contemporaries, was it not wicked of Nero to murder his mother? Was it not wicked of Adam to eat the apple? Is one action just as good as another? Spinoza wriggles, but does not find any satisfactory answer. If everything happens in accordance with God's will, God must have wanted Nero to murder his mother; therefore, since God is good, the murder must have been a good thing. From this argument there is no escape.
http://www.luminary.us/russell/intellectual_rubbish.html
Sin is a transgression of law which causes a negative consequence. It is more than just an act though...it is a condition. The condition of man since the fall. An inherent affliction of the flesh that perpetuates...guarantees actually, that sin occurs. And yea, man is born with this condition and dies with it as well, no matter what. All men sin, and it is true that they can not remedy this state that they are in, and their works, as hard as they may try to remain righteous, will surely be tainted with it. That is not to say that you do not have choices in this life, or that you have no cognition or responsibility in regards to your actions. In this life, you try your best, and there is value in that. And there is value in learning from mistakes. And there is value in learning from what we know to be the horrible consequence of sin. We can realize too that we can not remedy our "condition" ourselves, no matter how hard we try...that being the most valuable lesson of all.
Yes, God knew that we would fall into this state, and allowed for it. For the purpose of experience...to gain knowledge...so that we may know the difference...and decide for ourselves.
God does not send men to hell for what they can not help. Hell is not a place of punishment for sins committed. It is a place that is void of God and His Spirit for those who chose to deny Him or reject Him. Some people unfortunately choose not to learn from this life. You could say that there is a hell on earth...to a degree. On earth, you experience good and evil. You live through it, see it, hear it, taste it, feel it, live it. And if you choose to learn the truth, you may understand it, and make a choice as to what you want for all of eternity. For in the spiritual realm, good and evil are not together and intermingled as they are here, but are separate. The Kingdom of God is without sin...hell is without God. So you live, and you choose.
Sin and it's effect is horrible...violent...bloody...deadly. That is what God wants us to
know, so that we may choose to turn from it, and to live with Him and without it eternally. You can not have both sin and eternal life, because the consequence of sin is death.
Jesus Christ is the answer...only God can remedy us...redeem us...restore us...for it is He who created us..and all that there is...and nothing is impossible with Him. And in the meantime, He can be there with us, as He is with me...if you want Him to be. He is a provider, protector, comforter, counselor, a best friend, and a loving father. And He can be there for you and see you through til it's time for you to go...no matter what your circumstance may be. He was there with me when I was frightened and in jail...He was there for me while I was emotionally devastated by a divorce...He was there with Daniel in the lion's den...and He was there with Jesus on the cross. He can be there for you too, but you have to want Him to be. You can deny Him...you can not get to know Him and yet hate Him and reject Him...or you can get to know Him and then decide. I personally would suggest the latter.
Love,
Lori