: : : First of all, how could he have died for my guilt when I hadn't even been born yet? What guilt could I have acquired prior to my existence?
: I could be wrong, but isn't the correct Christian response to DDN's query that we are, by virtue of being human, tainted with the hereditary sin of Adam. In other words, DDN, you might personally live a perfect life, but you are a sinner because you've inherited the sin of Adam. Jesus Christ, however, took teh sin of Adam upon himself and died for it, so that we are no longer tainted by that sin. In other words, you need not invoke a God that can see into the future, with all the logical lacunas that involves.
Yes, we are tainted by the sin of Adam. This does not mean that there are perfect people out there that have to pay for Adam's sin. There is no one that is perfect and this is a result of the fall which began with Adam and Eve. The fall seperated us from God spiritually. Being seperated from God is spiritual death for He is of Spirit and if we don't have His spirit then we are not spiritually alive. All are born spiritually dead and all have a CHOICE to reconcille with our creator God.
God knew that Adam and Eve would fall. But He also had a plan of redemption before the foundation of the world which was in Jesus. He created us for the purpose of a relationship. In order for this to be made perfect He had to give us the choice. He desired a relationship not a slave/puppet situation. Nature has no choice. It obeys the laws God set. All things are subject to God's laws, whether it be the laws of physics, the laws of nature etc. Humans are the only creation in all the world that have choice. A tree is not going to refuse to bare leaves because it's mad or dissapointed, but man can refuse to forgive, love, be patient, and kind which is God's law of the spirit.
But just as a plant will naturally die form lack of water and light so a man is spiritually born dead from lack of his spiritual source which is only found in God's Spirit. A tree can not give birth to an animal, and an animal can not give birth to vegatable. Flesh can only give birth to flesh and His Spirit can only give birth to that which can be conceived spiritually. Only humans have the capacity to be concieved spiritually. This was God's plan. This is our destiny if we choose.
Why do you think this world is so lost and messed up? It's because we are in a time of seperation from God. Deep inside he calls us back home and we keep ignoring the call. We are frusterating our destinies and suffering. Can you imagine the damage done to a woman's womb if her baby refused to be born. Both the child and the womb would be stressed and damged beyond repair. So is man and the world as a result of our seperation that causes sin and damage.
To be born again means to let Jesus live in your heart thus being reconcilled with God and concieved of His Spirit. This is a choice that all will make whether the choice be "no", or "yes."
None.
