Either they were created as sinners or they found another way to sin besides eating from the tree. Had that been the case I'm sure God would have brought it to their attention and to ours by including it in the Bible.
GOD does NOT create sinners by any means, even by the fall of Adam extending to his progeny, a blasphemy I abhor.
There for I believe we had an existence in the heavenly realms pre-earth, before our conception on earth into this world, and before GOD sowed Adam into this world on HIS breath or Spirit. During this time all sinners chose to rebel against GOD by their own free will, the onyl way anyone has ever accrued sinfulness upon themselves.
ALL sinfulness is created in the sinner BY the sinner. Perod!
How to keep this mysterious?
4. WHY DO ELEPHANTS WRITE SCRIPTURES ON THEIR TOE NAILS?
[1] [Footnotes like this follow at the end of the essay.]
In
John 16:12, Jesus said: I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth. hence, Jesus knew some truth that He was unable to disclose to us, and He also knew that this truth would someday be disclosed to the Church. In other words, Jesus knew that the Church was going to receive a new revelation in the future.
So now, this being the case, I ask: would not GOD bear witness in Their Word to a revelation that They intended to give in the future?
Well, I think They would (because They've done it this way before) and if so, then wouldn't a person like Paul (who had gone to heaven and learned the whole truth,
2 Cor 12:2) most likely be under some leading from the Holy Spirit to bear witness in his writings to these hidden heavenly truths so that, when it was time for their public disclosure later on, there would be some scriptural attestation to them?
Like, what if you had a secret that was not going to be told to the Church until the far distant future, and you knew that those persons who would receive that disclosure were going to have a hard time with it, as GOD's people have always had with every new revelation, fighting against the weight of orthodoxy and long held traditions as proof, and you knew that those people would revere your writings, wouldn't you put in something which would support the revelation when it would be made known?
Probably you would, and if you would, probably Paul would too right but, at the same time, both you and Paul would not put it in, in such a way as would disclose the secret ahead of time would you?
No, the testimony would have to be hidden somehow so that it remained a secret until the right time.
Therefore, you would hide the testimony in your writings, knowing that, until the time of the revelation, your readers would not really understand what you had written, and that would they make up interpretations which would not be entirely true.
[2]
Now, if this be a reasonable way of looking at this secret heavenly theology of Paul, we must also realise that many of the other writers of Scriptures were probably in the same position, that being, knowing the same theology which they also were not able to disclose, that is, knowing the same secrets which had to remain secret for a long time, but at the same time, under leading to give a testimony in their writings to the truth of the new revelation for the sake of the recipients of the revelation in the days to come.
Now, truly this would be a hard thing to accomplish, but not impossible by any means, for by the Spirit of GOD, we can do all things.
Philippians 4:13. I simply can not over emphasise the importance of realising this duress that most of the writers of the Scripture were under. It is very important to realise that they knew about our pre-conception existence but were forbidden to testify to it in such a way as would disclose the general knowledge of it before GOD's time.
Your experience in reading the Bible should also bear witness to this idea of some hidden theology in the Scriptures, for whenever you read them, don't you always feel that the writers knew a lot more about things than you do, yet doesn't it often seem that they are keeping things back? Don't you often feel that they were not making things half as clear as they could have, if they'd have wanted to? Doesn't it seem that they did not want you to understand fully,
[3] and doesn't this seem to be true of every Scripture writer, not just a couple?
[4] It must, if you're studying them at all!
So, for those who would like to take the time necessary to do the work of searching the Scriptures regarding this doctrine, I present the verses I do which witness to our pre-conception existence, along with some others which I feel make a lot more sense when they're interpreted in light of this doctrine.
Now, being that hardly anyone has searched the Scriptures in light of the pre-conception view, these Scriptures have rarely been interpreted this way before. Therefore, it stands to reason that such an exegesis
[5] of these Scriptures will be new and that it will be fairly unique, that is, that almost all the other interpretations of the same Scriptures will be different.
In other words, any verse that conveys the idea of pre-earth existence has rarely been interpreted this way before because almost every exegete
[6] automatically looks for a different interpretation when they read such a Scripture. This being the case, a mere list of Scriptures will not constitute proof of scriptural support for this doctrine but, to provide such proof, such a list will have to be accompanied by an in-depth exegesis of the said Scriptures. Providing such a list
without the accompanying new exegesis would only tend to prove to its searchers that this doctrine had no scriptural support, simply because they would tend to interpret the Scriptures that supply proof of our pre-conception existence, in much the same way that everybody used to interpret the Scriptures regarding the Christ King.
[7]
Now then, most people are going to find some of these verses difficult.
[8] Therefore, I suggest that people not enter into them lightly,
[9] but that you prepare yourself to spend some time in some hard thinking and searching of the Scriptures.
[10] Without this preparation and commitment, I doubt that you will be able to understand what I am trying to say, and if you can not understand what I am saying, how can you possibly inherit the blessings that only accompany such understanding?
[11]
Notes For: 4. Why Do Elephants...?
1 - So that they can hide in the Bible and nobody sees them.
This is somewhat similar to the worldly version; they paint their toenails red so they can hide in the strawberry patch. It would seem that those of the world can not see any better then we do, in spite of their proclamations to the contrary.
2 - It stands to reason that these false interpretations would endure unopposed by the truth until the time of the general disclosure, at which time the new proper interpretation would be known as well as the new revelation.
In other words, at the time of the revelation, most of the commentators would probably be in fair agreement that the best of the false interpretations was the truth of GOD and only some would change their mind. From the historical precedent regarding the incarnation of GOD you should realise that it is very easy for everyone to miss or pass over something that they are not looking for, and that this is the case for every orthodox commentator when it comes to pre-conception existence, for not very many have ever looked at the Scriptures to see if they bear witness to pre-conceptionexistence, and if any ever have it would seem that they did not see any.
3 - I think that pre-conception existence theology explains this unwillingness of knowledgeable people to openly disclose the things that they knew much better than any other theology.
Just what reason do you have for GOD hiding the Messiah's deity from the Jews?
(See
Luke 10:21 - I thank Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in Thy sight.)
As for the fact that the NT writers knew of pre-conception existence theology, I will show further on just how strongly the Scriptures show that they all knew. You are going to be quite surprised. It is a little like: Paul and the apostles saw my day, and were glad, but they could not tell you about it until now, so they slipped it in between the lines.
4 - For example, have you ever wondered why some of the disciples never wrote any OT commentaries? They must have known how little the Church would understand the law and the prophets. If they knew the correct interpretations, why didn't they open them up to the Church too?
And compare this methodology to the libraries of the saints and “reformers”. How do you account for the difference in their manner of propagating the truth?
Like, if you knew as much as Matthew, would that Gospel be your final answer? Is that all you'd have to say after three years of watching the Christ and having learned the mysteries of the kingdom? I doubt it!
5 - Exegesis: the exposition or interpretation of any literary production, but more particularly, the exposition or interpretation of Scripture; sometimes applied to the science which lays down the principles of the art of sacred interpretation, more properly called exegetics or hermeneutics. (Webster's #10).
6 - Exegete: one supposedly skilled in exegesis.
7 - In other words, not according to the illumination of the Holy Spirit, but according to their own errant, unilluminated, theological presuppositions. Of course, you wouldn't continue to do such a thing, would you?
8 - Oh that nasty word!! Why, it doesn't tickle at all! For those of you whose question is, why do we have to learn such hard stuff, please refer to Proverbs 8:11, 34-36; Isaiah 43:27,28; Hosea 4:6; John 4:23; and 1 Timothy 4:16.
Proverbs 8:11 - For wisdom is better than rubies; and all the things that may be desired are not to be compared to it.
Proverbs 8:34-36 - Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.
Isaiah 43:27,28 - Thy first father hath sinned, and thy teachers have transgressed against ME. Therefore I have profaned the princes of the sanctuary, and have given Jacob to the curse, and Israel to reproaches.
Hosea 4:6 - MY people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou has rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to ME: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy GOD, I will also forget thy children.
John 4:23 - But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship Him.
1 Timothy 4:16 - Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
9 - Although a sense of humour will be of great benefit.
10 - I think it would be rather incredible if a person got a full grasp of it in the first reading, or even in the second, third, fourth..
11 - Church history shows that the doctrinal growth of the Church has usually been the result of an error being propagated and then the Church struggling to combat the error with the truth, which we first had to figure out ourselves.
At those times, things often got a little confused and many were seduced from the best foundation simply because the faith did not have an immediate reply, that is, a reasonable, theological refutation for the errors, but it always took time to work it out (to learn the “new” truth) so that our faith remained on the solidest foundation.
Of all the errors that have or may be foisted on the Church, the greatest (strongest, most reasonable, hardest to refute, most seductive) of all will be those of the anti-Christ.
Now, in those days, there will not be time to counteract his errors afterward. In other words, if one is seduced away from the faith then, there will not be an opportunity to return later on after the Church has worked out the truth and shown the error of his ways.
This being the case, it should not be too hard to see that Jesus will change His modus operandi for those times and give us the sure foundation we need to refute his errors before we are confronted with those errors.
Blessed is the person whose house is built on the most solid rock around before the seductive flood of temptations takes place. On the other hand, we could go the easy way.