WHY Does God allow Sin? What is its purpose?

What is sin, and why are we surrounded by it and must fight to remove it? Many people do not recognize sin or cold even define it today. For those who can define sin, the bigger question to consider is, why is it here? Let's look at some reminders of what we are dealing with:

Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful and desperately wicked, who can know it?

Human minds are not stable, to say the least. Paul discusses this in Rom 7 and goes to great length to describe the battle he recognizes in his own life, and why. He stated... Rom 7:18 "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not." Jump down to... :23, Paul is continuing the description of this unending battle...

Rom 7:23 "But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. :24 "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? :25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin."

He further discusses this issue in Rom 8:7 "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be."

We could go through many more scriptures to remind us of sin and its grip on humanity, however, the most important aspect of sin is our developing God's nature and mind... becoming like He and Christ in the end. So again, the question to ask is, WHY this struggle? Let's step back and look at history for a minute. We must begin before the creation of the earth or humanity. What did God create in the beginning? He created the angles before anything else. One in particular we want to look at carefully. Ezekiel speaks of someone God originally created in a "perfect" way... but obviously not "complete." Read the entire chapter for context, but let's look at :15...

Eze 28:15 "You were perfect in your ways from the day that you were created, till iniquity was found in you."

The word translated as "Perfect" means "entire (literally, figuratively or morally); integrity, truth: - without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely, sound, without spot, undefiled, upright, whole."

Do you feel your were created at that level, or are even at that level now? Let's look more to scripture to tell us about this same being God created...

Isa 14:12 "How are you fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how are you cut down to the ground, which did weaken the nations!"

This chapter goes on to describe more of this angel's eventual nature. Now, we know God always calls things what they are... The word translated "Lucifer" is a mistranslation of the Hebrew "Hilel" which comes from Haylel, and is defined as... "A primitive root; to be clear (originally of sound, but usually of color); to shine; hence to make a show; to boast; and thus to be (clamorously) foolish; to rave; causatively to celebrate; also to stultify: - (make) boast (self), celebrate, fool ,glory, be mad, rage, shine."

Does this sound like a good thing, or a bad thing? Do those definitions sound like someone who is a good example, or something else?

Why did God create mankind as he is... weak, subject to temptations, imperfect?

Rom 8:20 "For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope."

Scriptures tell us that God created things, including mankind, subject to vanity. God could have created us without this "carnal nature" so why didn't He? He created Hilel in a perfect way, didn't He? Why not us? He has a reason for all this... Let's step forward a bit in time to Adam's creation. God created Adam and Eve on the 6th day and God rested the 7th Day Sabbath, (What we know as "Saturday") and then we hit the first day of the week, what we know as Sunday. (NOTE, the days of the week we have been using for centuries are all named for pagan gods).

Now, the time line for this 8th day of creation, the first day of the second week, seems to be presumed to go something like this... Adam and Eve sleep in on this second day of their lives, wake up around 9 am, get their cappuccino and take a nice walk. They are now two days old. Things are going well. They get separated in their exploring of the garden. Around noon, the serpent (who apparently was walking upright at the time, (Gen 3:14) entices Eve to eat of the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and evil. By 3 pm, Eve found Adam and got Adam to eat of the forbidden tree as well, and they both had some kind of consciousness shake up and were embarrassed about being naked. By 6PM, God confronts them about what they did, curses the serpent to spend the rest of its days on its belly, and they were driven out of the garden, and you know the rest of the story.

Well, I somehow don't think that was the actual time line for that horrible first day of the week. Traditional Christianity views Adam and Eve as having "fallen" from their original created status... that is, somehow they were pretty alright, good, and then lost that goodness and became evil by disobeying God. A legitimate question exists regarding why Adam and Eve didn't eat of the Tree of Life in all their eating prior to disobeying God. It is obvious that they didn't up to that disobedient point because of what Genesis 3:22 says about reaching forth their hand and eating of that tree and living forever after sinning. (That will be a question for God later...)

Here's a different scenario of what took place back then, based on scriptures. We actually don't know the original time line, but it would appear it isn't likely Adam and Eve had just one chance to NOT eat of the wrong tree. That is, they may have had multiple looks at the tree over weeks or months. The choice to NOT eat of it was always there, but they remembered what God had instructed them about it, so they left it alone. Besides, they had "every" other tree for food, so they didn't really need to eat of it, right? However, enter Satan, he lies to Eve, and the "inevitable" result was that they DID eventually eat of it and sinned. Again I ask, WHY? What was missing in their created state that opened the door for this inevitable event? Christian material in the past has suggested that "if only Adam and Eve had NOT eaten of that tree, we'd all be in a much better place" or, "If I were back then I would have done a better job," but that isn't a realistic expectation, as we'll see.

What was missing in Adam and Eve? WHY did they sin? What is sin??? Scripture tells us what sin is...

1 Jn_3:4 "Whosoever commits sin transgress also the law: for sin is the transgression of law."

What law? God's way of living laws... or, another way of saying it, sin is "wrong (or incomplete) thinking and being." So, when God created Adam and Eve, it is obvious they were created is such a way that sin was a possible outcome of their thinking. One more hop back to the past... God had created that first being, (whose original name we aren't given) but was Hilel and now Satan, perfect, but obviously with free will and free choice. God could have created other beings with pre-programming to not sin. They would be like computers, simply following a program telling them what to do, what to think and how to perform. However, God told us what His plan was...

Gen 1:26 "And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth. 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. God is now creating a family of beings like He and Christ. All humanity has the opportunity to be molded and shaped in their minds to be like they are...

Eph_4:13 "Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ."

God couldn't reproduce Himself by simple creation of perfect minds that would be like He and Christ. That would take a special plan. That brings us back to Satan... He was created perfect but obviously still had free choice and was not yet "complete" in his character through right decision making.

John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speak a lie, he speaks of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it."

His rebellion convinced one third of the created angels to rebel with him (Rev_12:4 "And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth." (Stars... Job_38:7 "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?" Isa_14:13 "For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north.")

So, let's begin to bring this together. Satan did not have anyone to tempt him, and he did not have a body of sin... physical lusts, carnal nature or a heart deceitful or wicked in the beginning, and he did NOT have someone else around him tempting him as we do today. He was without excuse yet when tempted, when right decision making was required, he caved and he SINNED. This wasn't a single event, but most likely a process that began in him and culminated in his corrupted nature. From God's standpoint, what would He conclude about creating these angels and allowing them to make free-willed decisions? Two thirds made the right decision, but one third (millions) did not. They were NOT created like God as spirit beings, with perfect character. God cannot sin...

James 1: 3 "for God cannot be tempted with evil" Tit 1:2 "...In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie..."

So, given all that Satan had going for him, and what he did, are we going to imaging for one second that God had even the slightest question as to what Adam and Eve were going to do when allowed to be tempted, being of such a lesser nature? (Rom 8:7) Adam and eve did not "fall" as many believe. They were not created complete. God knew that for perfect, righteous, spiritual character to be formed in a created being to be like God's nature, it would take a process... a plan. Even the angels learned from Satan's rebellion, and are likely still learning from our experiences...

Mal 3:2 "But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appears? for he is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap: :3 And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness."

Read all of Jeremiah 18 about this process... Jer 18:6 "O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? says the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in mine hand, O house of Israel."

Let's look at some hints that God knew full well what He would have to accomplish, and how... This is speaking of Christ and His purpose and mission:

1 Pet 1:20 "Who truly was foreordained before the foundation of the world..."

"Foreordained" for what? To pay the death penalty and make possible the creation of God's own family in the ONLY way that could be designed to fully succeed and NOT lose millions or billions of children. But why did He have to die? What was God's command to Adam and Eve? Gen 3:3 "But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat of it, neither shall you touch it, lest you die." Adam and Eve "were" souls, they did not, nor do any humans, "have" an immortal soul ...all flesh are souls...

Eze 18:4 "Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins, it shall die."

Eze 18:20 "The soul that sins, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."

So, given that sin suffers the eternal death penalty, (Not living forever in heal fire), and that God knew full well mankind would sin and would require redemption to accomplish His will for a family, they had a plan...

Eph 1:4 "According as he has chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love..."

In other words, the Father and the Word both knew full well that if Satan and millions of demons turned from God and His way, WITHOUT all our fleshly baggage and without anyone tempting them to sin, then what chance would flesh have to do what the angels couldn't, given our purposefully created nature, and given Satan's temptations? Any betters here? God designed this entire physical scheme for the purpose of teaching free-willed and "free-choiced" beings HOW NOT TO SIN and how to make right choices, while having the way to pay for the ONLY result of sin, which is death.

Christ came to do what no other being in the universe could do... To be tempted, yet not actually fall to sin, and became our way to being as they are through this calling... They both know the perfect way to mold and shape us... refine us, and we need to merge ourselves into that process... be one with it as best we can. In a way, we have to be presented to the Father just as Christ was as our wave sheaf offering and sacrifice... perfected and without spot. Someone once said, "What's in the way, IS the Way." Trials, temptations, joys, the ups and downs of life all work together for our good.

We are begotten of spirit at baptism, and the struggle to achieve that "stature and fullness of Christ" is what the process of salvation and sanctification is all about.

This means that Christ had the same human nature as all humanity has because as we know, "God cannot be tempted" (James 1:13) and yet Christ WAS tempted, making Him fully human in His physical nature, but with God's spirit without measure, and had His own previous experience as the eternal Word of God (and God of the old testament) to do what is impossible for any of us to do.

When you were baptized, then raised out of that watery grave, did the old man stay in the grave? Did sin suddenly cease for any of us? NOPE! That battle Paul spoke about still wants to rage on, but we are "more than conquerors" as scriptures tell us in John 16:33...

That "tribulation" is the growth process we are now under way with, with the foreknowledge that we are "more than conquerors" through Christ as we recommit to this process for the sake of the whole world every year at Passover. The plan of God will be fulfilled as we submit to His word and laws... to be the very nature of God and Christ themselves...

2Pe 1:4 "Whereby are given to us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust."

Do you want that future or Satan's future?

Back to Articles Page!

TheGodKind.org web pages created and material written by Jeffrey T. Maehr. Common Law Copyright © 2014. All rights reserved. Reproduction allowed if credit to this website is listed with material. Off site material and some articles authored as stated.