God, Evil, and Original Sin

Over on AnAtheist.net, James asks the question “How can a perfect creator produce an imperfect world?” in the recent article Adam, Eve, and Suffering. The essence of the question is essentially the problem of evil. How can a good God create a world in which evil exists? Is God the author of evil?

The Problem of Evil

James says the answer he usually hears is a reference to the story of the fall. However, that does not really seem to answer the question. As James points out, God would have known they would have sinned. Why did he create them in the first place? Furthermore, why was sin made possible? God clearly created Adam and Eve capable of sin and even provided a means for sin (the tree).

The key answer is freewill. God certainly could have created a sin free world which contained only automatons. Clearly, God valued freewill enough that freewill with the potential for evil was more valuable to Him, and therefore, more perfect, than a world without it. The purpose for the tree seems clear as well. Freewill without the potential for negative exercise is not really free.

At this point, it is reasonable to point to the fall as the first example of humans exercising the negative side of freewill and reaping the consequence (the curse) which, together with continuing sin, responsible for pain and suffering in this world. However, that really still only explains the cause of suffering and evil, not why God continues to allow it or how a perfect God could allow such an imperfect world.

Biblically, God’s primary purpose in allowed this imperfect world to continue is mercy:

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

However, that does not fully answer the question. The real question remaining is why would God choose this clearly imperfect world over any other optimal alternatives. The simple answer is: He did not. Ultimately, this is not the world that God valued the most, but it is the way to get there. This is the world God ultimately valued most:

Rev 22:3-5 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

As Ronald Rhodes writes in Who Made God?:

the fact that God has not defeated evil today does not mean He is not eliminating it in the future (see 2 Peter 3:7, Rev. 20-22). This is not the best of all possible worlds, but it is the best way to the best of all possible worlds. (pg. 39)

Determining Good and Evil

Regarding the specific case of the fall, James raises some other objections which deserve answers. One is the observation that if eating the fruit granted knowledge of what was right and what was wrong (good and evil), Eve would have been ignorant of right and wrong before eating the fruit, and therefore, at worst, her eating the fruit would have been simply a misunderstanding. However, knowledge that it was evil (rebellion against God) was given to Adam and Eve prior to the fall (Gen. 2:17) and Eve refers to this somewhat inaccurately (Gen. 3:3). Therefore, she did have knowledge that it was wrong to eat the fruit.

Furthermore, the Hebrew word “yada” translated here as “knowledge” is a relatively broad word. Many understand it here as meaning “determining”, implying “determining for yourself good and evil”. This also fits much better with the implication that this “knowing” is a divine attribute. It does not seem reasonable to argue that knowing good and evil makes one a god, but establishing a moral law is a divine attribute. Therefore, eating the fruit, did not magically give Adam and Eve perfect knowledge of God’s Law, that which was good and evil. At that point, they already knew all of God’s Law (do not eat the fruit) and they decided for themselves to break it. Rebelling against God’s Law (do not eat the fruit) and substituting their own (eat the fruit). This attempt to become one’s own law maker is the root of sin.

Original Sin

James also refers to the imputation of original sin to all humans, which Paul discusses in Rom 5:12-19, interpreting it as us being punished for Adam’s sin. There are some questions as to what exactly Paul’s discussion means mechanically. Some say that God imputes Adam’s sin to us, others argue that Adam’s one sin represents all our sins. The relevant point is that we all have sinned independently and earned the penalty of sin (death). Before chapter 5, Paul spends a lot of time demonstrating this (Rom. 2-3). Therefore, whatever Paul is saying here, he is not saying that some of us may have lived perfect lives, but because Adam sins we are damned. Even those who interpret this passage as a full imputation of guilt for the purpose of salvation, do so on this basis; that God knew all would sin independently and therefore in place of that guilt imputed the guilt of original sin, so that “as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Rom 5:19).

Iniquity of the Parents

James relates this to God’s statement in the commandments regarding “visiting the iniquity of the fathers” on following generations “of them that hate me”. As James also points out, more explicit passages distinctly state that children should not be punished for the sins of parents. The key phrase here is “of them that hate me”, which applies not only to the father, but the children. Therefore, while children should not be punished for the sins which their parents committed, they are punished for committing the sins of their parents, and the root of sin is hatred of God.