Fall of man

Natural things do nothing wicked.

The Mosaic legend of the fall of man has preserved an ancient picture representing the origin and consequence of this disunion.

The incidence of the legend form the basis of an essential article of the creed, the doctrine of original sin in man and his consequent need of succor.

It may be well at the commencement of logic to examine the story which treats of the origin and the bearings of the very knowledge which logic has to discuss.

You argue that a great deal is at stake for the Christian faith when it comes to the historical Adam.

What exactly is lost if Adam was not a real person and the Fall is merely a symbolic story?

I think the problem with treating the story of the Fall as purely symbolic is that the Apostle Paul, in Romans chapter five, clearly treats it as a historical event.

He regards Adam as a historical person through whom sin came into the world and then spread throughout humanity.

Uh, and notice that for Paul, Adam has historical consequences outside the story, and that means that he does not regard Adam as purely a literary figure.

And it all starts here in Genesis chapter 3.

And so in the message this morning, we're going to study the fall of man, what the theologians call the fall.

And we're going to look at it in its three phases this morning.

Firstly, number one, I want you to see the temptation.

That's why every human being has dignity and can display remarkable qualities, whether they're Christian or not.

Number two, the Fall brought sin and death into humanity, and Genesis 3 tells the story, and Romans 5:12 summarizes it if you wanna write those down or look them up in your Bible later.

Number three tells us, uh, that every one of us, everyone is a sinner.

Romans 3:23, I quoted it before.

I don't-

Fall of, Fall of Man? Something.

Like, I think I, like, one of those.

It had a multiplayer that was robust.

This triptych with the Garden of Eden on the left and the centre panel, which is the Garden of Earthly Delights, i.e.

Temptation, The Fall of Man.

All sorts of things going on there.

Everybody's naked and there's plenty of contortion.

But what of he our conqueror, whom I now of force believe Almighty, since no less than such could have o'erpowered such force as ours, hath left us this our spirit and strength entire strongly to suffer and support our pains, that we may so suffice his vengeful ire, or do him mightier service as his thralls by right of war; what e'er his business be, here in the heart of Hell to work in fire or do his errands in the gloomy deep? What can it then avail, though yet we feel strength undiminished, or eternal being to undergo eternal punishment?

Whereto with speedy words the Arch-Fiend replied.

Fallen Cherub, to be weak is miserable, doing or suffering: but of this be sure, to do aught good never will be our task, but ever to do ill our sole delight, as being the contrary to his high will whom we resist.

If then his providence out of our evil seek to bring forth good, our labour must be to pervert that end, and out of good still to find means of evil; which ofttimes may succeed, so as perhaps shall grieve him if I fail not, and disturb his inmost counsels from their destined aim.

But see, the angry Victor hath recalled his ministers of vengeance, and pursuit back to the gates of Heaven.

There are a couple of things that Bill Dembski does in his article for the Christian Research Journal that I should point out as well as I introduce him once again today to our radio listening audience.

In the article, which is titled Old Earth Creationism and the Fall, he puts his cards on the table.

He points out specifically that he is a biblical inerrantist.

He accepts the full verbal inspiration of the Bible and the conventional authorship of the books of the Bible.

What's important to him is whether the views expressed in his work correspond to reality, in other words, are true and defensible.

And he believes that in the end of Christianity, he is defending the truth of the Bible, and I agree with him.

That's why I'm passionate about the book, because what he has tried to do Is make peace between biblical orthodoxy and the view that the fall accounts for moral and natural evil in the world, and the fact that we live in an old universe.

And as I bring Bill Dembski back into the discussion today, that's the first question I want to talk to him about, the age of the universe.

This cannot be denied.

Mankind in general have gained by the fall of Adam a capacity of attaining more holiness and happiness on earth than it would have been possible for them to attain if Adam had not fallen.

For if Adam had not fallen, Christ had not died.

Nothing can be more clear than this, nothing more undeniable.