Genesis 3

[Clint.]

Genesis 3:17-19
And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; [18] Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; [19] In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

Did God create men and women to live forever or is their sin the reason they die?

[Leafrivermac]

Clint, Just so your post don't go unnoticed . . .I'll bump it back up to the top. I believe Clint first of all that God knew before hand what Adam and Eve would do. But I also believe that they had the where with all to live eternally. Once sin entered into the picture, so did death.
Now this is my present understanding, and I havn't sat here and looked up any scripture , so it's still open for scriptural reference.

[dochendrix]

Romans 5:12 tells us, "12Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned"”..."
and I corinthians 15:20-22 tells us,"20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive."

[Clint.]

It sounds like we are in rough agreement on this.
Earlier, in Genesis 2, we see these words in vs. 16-17:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: [17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

It is probably fair to assume that God intended man to live forever. God set the limits for man and told him that he would die if he did this one thing. Man didn't listen and death entered the scene. People have been dying ever since. So it is apparent that this one act changed everything for the entire human race. I often marveled (morbidly) at the fact that there is a darkness in our souls that has prohibited every single human being who ever lived, save One, from living a righteous life. Praise God for His Son who offers to clothe us with His righteousness. A righteousness that comes from faith in Him!

blessings, Clint

[Chuck7]

I often marveled (morbidly) at the fact that there is a darkness in our souls that has prohibited every single human being who ever lived, save One, from living a righteous life.

And yet still we are commanded to live a righteous life and......will be judged by our actions. Matthew 25;


25:31
When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
25:32
And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
25:33
And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
25:34
Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
25:35
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
25:36
Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
25:37
Then shall the RIGHTEOUS answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
25:38
When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
25:39
Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
25:40
And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
25:41
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
25:42
For I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink:
25:43
I was a stranger, and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, and in prison, and ye visited me not.
25:44
Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
25:45
Then shall he answer them, saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.
25:46
And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the Righteous into life eternal.

Faith and Works together produced the righteousness in these sheep. They practiced love so often that they said when Lord?,When did we feed and visit you.They obvously had made a habit of it.The goats on the other hand were Christians whose faith did not produce works. They were the excuse makers.
Chuck

[Snooky]

The whole problem starts back in verse #1 with "Yea, hath God said?". Just a little question of, did God really mean what he said?

[Leafrivermac]

The whole problem starts back in verse #1 with "Yea, hath God said?". Just a little question of, did God really mean what he said?

Obviously He did, . . .Which makes me wonder why the tree was there to start with . . .lots of preachers hate to hear "I believe", but here goes anyway. I believe that God knew that the woman would disobey and that Adam would follow suit. I'm one of those Snooky that believes that God had a foreordained plan.

[knifemakerbill]

2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.


IMHO-man would have lived forever, had he not sinned against God. God sent Adam and Eve out of the garden before they could partake of the tree of life, thereby living forever in sin, as there was at that time no way set up for man to be forgiven. he was not to sin, but to be a companion to God, but could not resist evil.

[Rem1100]

I poersonally, like to go back a tad further.... before Man...before the Garden...before the Tree... was there sin?
Yes......now we're held accountable for allowing that sin into the "world" (meaning mankind,not terrestrial body). we never discuss why God created sin to begin with? Why He placed the Pride that was "found" in Lucifer? Why it was acceptable .."In the Beginning.." to have the lesser creation(man), to eventually be tormented by the superior creation(Angels)? His word tells us that He has a Plan. It started LONG before Eve met the Serpent. Anything that God allows' is according to that Eternal plan, or it don't happen. God doesn't hap-hazzardly manage Creation, He's either in control of everything...or nothing at all. Yes, to me it's that simple. Did God deliberately cause pain on us...?.. looks that way to me, but for a VERY understandable reason.(altho I'd prefer the other option)