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fulfills chis Spirirual Law (Romans
13:
lO) and which God gives only ro
chose who OBEY His Law (Accs
5:32).
Consider fu rcber: A just God could
noc have warned che fi rst humans of
che dearh penalty wichouc having
full y revealed ro chem che spiricual
Law - che Law codi fied as che Ten
Commandmenrs - che rransgression
of which carried that penalty. Re–
member, che decails are noc wrircen
here - only che highly condensed
summary of whac God caught them.
The Cause of
World 's Evils
So God had explained fully co
Adam and Eve His way of life - che
"GIVE WA
y" -
His inexorable spiri–
tual Law. God had already ser in mo–
tion che Law thar
causes
all GOOD. He
had explained also che way chac causes
evils - che
transgressitm
of chac Law
- else He could nor have cold rhem
chat for transgression they would
SURELY pay che penalty - dearh.
More clearly scaced, God gave man
his own choice.
He could
choose
co cause
every good and co receive eterna! life
in happiness. Or, he could choose co
cause evils. le is HUMANITY - noc
God - chac causes all che evils chac
befall man. The choice is man's.
Whar man sows, tbac does he reap.
Yec here's che crucial poinr: le was
necessary for chem co cake His word
for ie - che spi ricual Law is as invis–
ible as che 1aws of gravicy and inercia!
They could noc see chis Law. Buc
God had told chem che way of good,
and che way of evil.
Now come ro Genesis 3.
"Now che serpenc was more subci1
rhan any beasc of che field which che
ErernaJ God had made" (verse 1).
Much of che Bible is in symbols -
bur che Bible explains its own sym–
bols.
le
is, of course, very our-of-dace
ro believe in a devil coday, bur che
Bible plainly speaks of a devil, named
Sacan. In Revelarion 12:9 and 20:2,
che symbol
serpent
is plainly explained
co represenc che devil. (Ask for our
free anide "Did God Creare a
Devil?")
18
T he Subde Temptation
Nocice now, che cempcacion.
Sacan subdy wenc firsc ro che woman.
He gor ro che man through his wife.
"And he said unto che woman,
Yea, bath God said, Ye shall not ear
of every cree of che garden? And che
woman said unto che serpenc, We
may eacof che fruic of che crees of che
garden: buc of che fruic of che cree
which is in che midsr of che garden,
God harh said, Ye shall noc eac of ir,
neicher shall ye couch ir, lesc ye die.
And che serpenr said un to che
woman, Ye shall
not
surely die: for
God doth know rhac in che day ye ear
rhereof, rhen your eyes shall be
opened, and ye shall be as gods [mar–
gin, Goo), knowing good and evil"
(Genesis
3:1-5).
The narracion here actribuces asruce
subclecy ro che devil. Firsc, he discred–
iced God. In effecr, he said, "You
can'c rely on God's word. He said you
are morral and can die. He knows bec–
cer than chac; He knows your minds
are so perfecc chat YOU can be Goo."
lt is che prerogacive of God alone
ro determine whar's righc and what is
sin - whac is good and whac is eviJ.
God has not delegaced ro man che
righr or power ro decide WHAT is sin
- bur He
compels
us ro decide
WHETHER ro sin, or ro obey His Law.
To rightly determine whac is good
reguired che creacive power ro pro–
duce and sec in morion such inexo–
rable laws like che laws of physics and
chernisrry and chis spiricual Law - a
Law which aucomacically causes good
if obeyed, and evils when disobeyed!
Adam and Eve had only God's
word char chey were mortal and
could die. Now Sacan dispuced chis.
He said they were IMMORTAL SOULS.
Whom should they believe? They
had no proof, except God's word.
Bur now Sacan discrediced chac, and
claimed jusc che opposire.
Sacan said rheir incelleccual powers
were so greac chey could determine
for chemselves whac is good and whac
is eviJ. That is a Goo-prerogative.
"You can be Goo!" said Sacan.
Thus Sacan was appealing co cheir
human VANITY. Remember, they had
jusc been creaced, wich perfecc human
minds. Noc God minds- but perfccr
huma1z
minds. Tbey allowed che
choughc ro cocer their minds rhar
rhey possessed intel leccual powers so
GREAT rhat chey could assume che
Goo-prerogarive of producing che
knowledge of whar is good and whac
is evil!
lncellecrual vanicy seized them!
They were chrilled, enrhralled, inroxi–
caced wich vanicy at che grand prospecr.
How after all, could they be sure
God had told them che truth?
The Fi rst Scientific Experiment
They saw (verse 6) - chey used
observacion - thac che forbidden cree
was good for food, pleasanr ro rheir
eyes, and
desired to make thenz tuise.
ln–
cellecrual vaniry was scirred. In che ec–
scasy of chis vaniry they used
human
reaso11.
They decided co
reject revelation
imparted by God, and ro make che
very first SCIENTIFIC EXPERIMENT!
Thcy cook che forbidden fruir and
are ir!
They
took to themselves
rhe preroga–
rive of deciding wbac is GOOD, and
what is EVIL. In so doing, chey
rejected
rhe Goo-cencered way of God's spiri–
cual Law, and, rejecting ir, of neces–
sity chey chose
the way
thar rrans–
gresses ir!
They pioneered in deciding for
themsclves whar is
right
and whar is
wrong
-
what is righteousness and
whac is sin! And humaniry has been
doing whar seems righr in irs own
eyes ever since.
And HOW did chey do ir? They
(1)
rejected revelarion, (2) used observa–
tion, (3) used experimencarion, and
(4) used human reason. And chac is
precisely rhc "sciencific" method used
by modero science roday!
And che resulc of rhat experimenc?
THr>Y DIED! They produced the firsc
juvenile delinguent, che firsc criminal
and murderer!
The mosr VITAL dimension of
knowledge was MISSING from rheir
"sciencific" procedure!
(To
be
ctmtinued)
PLAIN TRUTH July 1972