• Home
  • About This Blog
  • Contact Me
  • Subscribe
  • Comment Policy

Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
Home Bible Reflection By what sin?

By what sin?

Posted on December 28, 2016 Written by Mark McIntyre 1 Comment


Question 15Question 15 of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks, “By what sin did our first parents fall from their original condition?”

The answer given is, “Our first parents’ sin was eating the forbidden fruit.”

In our fallenness, we are likely to respond, “what’s the big deal about eating fruit?” Why would God kick our first parents out of the Garden for this?

We have to find the answer in the nature of God and why he created us in the first place.

Love always demands a choice. God did not create us as automatons who can only perform the tasks we are programmed to do. We are not simply a collection of Pavlovian responses. We are not merely “dancing to our DNA.”

We (as represented by our first parents) were given a choice and we chose badly.

If you look at the story in Genesis 3, you see that Satan asked a question that lead to a misunderstanding and misrepresentation of God’s character. We believed the lie that God does not have our well being in mind. Satan implied, and we believed, that God was withholding a good thing from us for no good reason.

Honesty forces us to admit that we still choose badly much of the time. We want our own way and struggle to see how obedience to God is for our benefit.

But isn’t that so like us? We know that the large dessert will move us farther away from our goal to maintain our optimum weight but we eat it anyway. We know that 20 minutes of exercise before work will go a long way toward keeping us healthy, but it is so much easier to check our social media feeds or grab 20 minutes of extra sleep.

We accept a short term pleasure at the cost of long term health.

Morally, we fare little better. We are serial idolaters, giving our best to things that draw us away from God. We want what we want when we want it and can find any number of excuses as to why it is the right course of action, even when the small voice inside us tells us we are off track.

Thankfully, there is good news. There is the Gospel (which means good news). We rebelled, but God had a plan to fix what was broken, even before we broke it.


Filed Under: Bible Reflection

About Mark McIntyre

A follower of Jesus Christ who shares observations about how Scripture should impact the church and the world. Mark is the original author and editor of Attempts at Honesty.

Follow Attempts at Honesty

Honesty in your Inbox

5 Distinguishing Marks of a Fruitful Church (link)

Recently I Tweeted a link to an article that I found helpful: Worth reading: 5 Distinguishing Marks of a Fruitful Church https://t.co/JRgCBhmZ8d via @TGC — Mark McIntyre (@mhmcintyre) March 6, 2016 I thought I would take a few moments and capture some thoughts in response to this article by Jarod Wilson. First, I would agree with […]

2nd Place

Second place is first winner

In leading the church, we need to understand that second place is first winner when we surrender to Christ and allow him to build his church. We win because Jesus can make something more beautiful than we can even imagine.

Additional thoughts on corporate prayer

So while there are pitfalls in praying in a corporate setting, it is something that still should be done. The rewards are much greater than the risks.

Give God no rest

Give God no rest

God is telling us that he wants us to bring our concerns to him. He wants us to pray for, long for, a day of ultimate peace. He wants us to beg for the ultimate establishment of his kingdom.

Putting first things first

God does not need my service to accomplish his will, nor does he need yours. In his grace, he allows us to participate with him in the accomplishment of his desires. But, we need to put first things first as we consider entering into service.

Post Series

  • Westminster Shorter Catechism Series
  • Sermon on the Mount Series
February 2023
SMTWTFS
 1234
567891011
12131415161718
19202122232425
262728 
« Jan    

Categories

Archives

Blogger Grid
Follow me on Blogarama

Copyright © 2023 · Focus Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in