As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
Read Part 1.
Not only did God’s curse upon humanity entail a spiritual death; it also resulted in physical death or the dissolution of the body. You may recall God’s judicial pronouncement on Adam:
The Bible portrays death as the consequence of human sin. Death was the sanction that God tied to the Garden of Eden stipulation: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” (Gen. 2:16-17). And God’s expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden on account of their covenant breach and treason demonstrated that His threats were not empty. Death became the lot of Adam and his posterity.
There are a lot of sins in the Bible. We don’t feel the same way about all of them, though, do we? Some sins trigger strong righteous indignation or an intense “ick” response. Others we barely notice.
We’re not entirely wrong to feel that way. Though there are not really any small sins, some are bigger than others. (See Bob Gonzales’ excellent study on that topic: The Greater Sin: Are There Degrees of Sin?).
But this range of reactions to different sins should prompt us to ask some questions.
“There are Christians who live in mortal fear that they might at some point commit that sin that would cause them to lose their salvation and to lose the hope of heaven.” - RC Sproul
“It is a peculiarity of Catholicism and the issue of last rites that consigns suicide to the category of the unforgivable sin…. it is surprising how deep-seated that view of suicide is among Christians.” - Ligonier
“What is temptation? As John Owen notes, ‘It is raising up in the heart, and proposing unto the mind and affections, that which is evil; trying, as it were, whether the soul will close with its suggestions, or how far it will carry them on, though it do not wholly prevail….’” - Ref21
“No way out. Who hasn’t felt the force of these words in the midst of bitterness, lust, or a thousand other temptations?… If some lies have slain their thousands, this lie has slain its ten thousands.” - Desiring God
“Many people assume that the Catholic Church stopped granting indulgences….This comprehensive doctrine, revised in 1967 by Pope Paul VI, remains one of the church’s teachings to this day.” - The Conversation
Why do people reject the Bible? Is it because it makes extravagant claims which can be easily debunked? At one stage I thought so. But as I got older I slowly began to realize that such wasn’t the case.
When I was fishing around the New Age, I deliberately avoided reading my Bible. It was only after I found myself in a spiritual desert that God said, “Enough is enough,” and took over. I avoided the Bible because I suspected it contained truth. If that was the case, I would be compelled to change my lifestyle. So I kept looking elsewhere.
“…total depravity does not mean utter depravity…. So the idea of total in total depravity doesn’t mean that all human beings are as wicked as they can possibly be. It means that the fall was so serious that it affects the whole person.” - Ligonier
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